RITA Marley, singer and wife of reggae king Bob Marley, received her African Women of Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award at a glitzy ceremony at the Warwick Hotel in New York, recently.
The event was hosted by the African Union Diaspora Africa Forum in collaboration with the United Nations.
The Marley family matriarch was bestowed the honor for her philanthropic works in Africa and Jamaica through the Rita Marley Foundation.
“I want to show some love to Africa, Jamaica and our ancestors. As Bob Marley said: ‘Africa Unite’, ’cause we’re treading on the winepress for far too long. United we stand, divided we fall,” she told the gathering.
“All of us gathered here this evening still have a great deal of work ahead of us; because, right now in Africa, young girls and women are being killed for pursuing an education. Children and women are also the most impoverished people on the continent. At this moment little girls are condemned into childhood marriages and young girls forced into prostitution. In 2015, women (Africa & the Diaspora) are victimised for being women and earn less than men for similar skills and labor. Right now in Africa, women walk long distances on lonely dangerous roads to seek food and water for their families. Also, the majority of people injured or killed during conflict are children and women,” she continued.
Madame Xernona Clayton, philanthropist and founder of Trumpet Awards, was the evening’s other Lifetime Achievement honoree. The other recipients were Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Justice Julia Sarkodie-Mensah, Ambassador Alice Dear, Dr Gloria Herndon, Dr Arikana Chihombori, Vivian Derryck, Cecilia Anim, Claudette Perry, and Florizelle Liser.
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