Sonia Pierre Receives Ginetta Sagan Award

Kicking off the 2003 annual meeting, Sonia Pierre, executive director of Movimiento de Mujeres de Dominico-Haitianas, Inc (MUDHA), graciously accepted this year's Ginetta Sagan Award. "This prize is dedicated to all the people who believe in dignity," Ms. Pierre said during her address.

Former Board Chair Julianne Cartwright-Traylor presented the $10,000 award during the AGM's Welcoming Reception. The award honors women who work to protect the dignity, liberties and lives of women and children in regions of crisis. It is named after Ginetta Sagan, one of the founders of AIUSA.

As Executive Director of MUDHA, Sonia Pierre has worked to promote greater awareness of the serious and deep-rooted challenges facing women and children of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic.

Born in a batey, a cane cutters settlement, Ms. Pierre and her eleven siblings grew up experiencing the social, economic, and cultural barriers that prevent Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent from enjoying their basic rights. However, despite these challenges, she received an education in social work and founded MUDHA in the early 1980s to promote empowerment of women in the Dominico-Haitian community.

MUDHA challenges both gender discrimination and racism in the Dominican Republic by empowering women, providing them with access to basic social services. It has built schools and health clinics in bateyes, and established day care and adult education programs. MUDHA also challenges laws and practices that maintain women and children of Haitian descent in conditions of poverty. For example, Ms Pierre has led a campaign to provide Dominican-born children of Haitian descent with the Dominican birth certificates to which they are entitled.

Without them, children are excluded from schools and denied the advancement of education. Historically, the Dominican Republic has had uneasy relations with neighboring Haiti and politicians decry the "Haitian invasion" of the country and scapegoat Haitians as the source of their country's problems. Although Ms. Pierre has herself been publicly attacked and her children threatened for their mother's activism, she has continued to inspire women around her, personifying the possibilities of what struggle can achieve.

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