Connie Ning
Colorado, USA
Connie’s peacemaking was sparked when she looked in the eyes of a Vietnamese woman painfully dying of cancer where there were no medical supplies to ease her pain. Connie returned home, collected unused medical supplies to send to Vietnam and eventually founded Friendship Bridge, an organization that made micro loans and training to the poorest of women in Viet Nam.
Later, taking her loan program to the Mayan women of the Lake Atitlan area of Guatemala, Connie continues to identify the need to not only empower the mothers, but also to educate their children. With her new program, Starfish, skills and support are provided to the young Mayan women to break out of the generational poverty cycle.