Category Archives : 1000.Oceania


Hilda Lini (Vanuatu)

  Hilda Lini’s Tuvanuatu Komiuniti is a network in Vanuatu to preserve the indigenous system of peaceful co-existence based on collective ownership, shared responsibility, and community accountability. Hilda Lini coordinated the Executive Committee of the Women’s Wing of the Vanuatu Liberation Movement from 1977 until the country’s independence in 1980. She was awarded the Independence […]

Hilda Lini (Vanuatu)

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Unutea Hirshon (French Polynesia)

“Basically, I am a rebel: at school, I was always in trouble for not following the rules.” Tahitian activist Unutea Hirshon campaigns for a nuclear-free and independent French Polynesia and for peace in the wider Pacific. Unutea’s work covers many spheres: as a member of the independence party Tavini Huiraatira no Te Ao Maohi, supporting […]


Shinobu Mailo Poll (Fed. States of Micronesia)

In 2004, the governor praised Shinobu as “distinguished CWC president and chiefly woman’s leader.” She accepted for “all the women who contributed energy, time, and passion to the CWC.” Shinobu Mailo Poll, a veteran public servant with over 38 years in management and nursing posts, retired from the health field in 1996. She became president […]


Paddy Walker (Cook Islands)

Paddy Walker’s passion has always been to generate new ideas about peace so that people can become peace builders of a “world fit for children.” Paddy Walker (87) has been driven all her life by a passion to achieve lasting peace in the world around her. She founded Pacifica (1974) to help Pacific Islander immigrants […]

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Lorraine Garasu (Papua New Guinea)

Sister Lorraine, a catalyst for non-violent peace initiatives through dialogue on Bougainville, helps people find their own ways to solve problems. She creates a positive atmosphere for peace. Sister Lorraine of the Congregation of the Sisters of Nazareth in Bougainville, is trained as a community development worker. She has worked as a teacher and social […]


Josie Tankunani Sirivi (Papua New Guinea)

“Having lived and witnessed the suffering, I decided to do whatever I could to help our own unfortunate mothers and children.” Hunted by the Papua New Guinea Defense Force as bait to capture her husband, Josie Sirivi took to the jungle during the Bougainville crisis. She saw women and children suffering and organized local women […]

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Helen Hakena (Papua New Guinea)

“I believe that I have a unique gift in building bridges between communities and authorities to bring more peaceful lives for the people of Bougainville.” Helen Hakena co-founded Leitana Nehan Women’s Development Agency (LNWDA) in 1992 and is its executive director. The key area of commitment was to restore peaceful lives for the people of […]


Mary Kini (Papua New Guinea)

“We are already victims of warfare. It cannot get worse so let us give our lives to work for peace. – People in Kup refer to us as ‘Mama Peace.’ I like that.” Constant tribal fighting in her Papua New Guinea (PNG) village prevented Mary Kini from completing her agricultural studies. Instead, she worked with […]

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