Amalia Guzmán Molina fled from El Salvador with her husband and children in 1996, fearing persecution from local guerrilla forces. She arrived in the United States on a visitor’s visa, but upon arrival applied for asylum. Not long after arriving in the U.S, she and her husband were detained by U.S. immigration authorities and charged with “violating immigration laws,” although the charges were never made clear.
Her children, aged 13, 16, and 19, lived alone while she and her husband were detained. After 16 months in detention, they were finally released and granted asylum. Tragically, her husband died from cancer not long after their release.
Amalia is now very active in Los Angeles working on various detention issues. She founded Families of the Incarcerated, which is part of the Office of Restorative Justice, and operates under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of LA, and works with families of the incarcerated. Most of the individuals who are incarcerated are imprisoned as a result of the U.S. government's recent trend toward criminalizing the physical movement and assimilation efforts of immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers.
Amalia teaches workshops and classes designed to empower and educate immigrant families about criminal and immigration law. Amalia recognized the need to provide education and legal services to immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers long before anyone else in the field. She began the model of providing assistance and resources to immigrants in criminal detention so that the children of those immigrant parents are not forever lost to the foster system.
She is the author of "The Power of Love: My Experience in a U.S. Immigration Jail" and appeared along with her children in "Posada: A Night to Cross All Borders," a half-hour documentary about unaccompanied immigrant children.
Read Amalia's acceptance speech here.
Deogratias (Deo) Niyizonkiza fled his war-torn country of Burundi for the United States while still enrolled in medical school and after surviving a massacre at the hospital where he worked as an intern.
He arrived in New York with the help of a fellow medical student’s family, and after struggling to learn English, find work and support himself, he enrolled in Columbia University.
After graduating, he worked with Dr. Paul Farmer and his organization Partners in Health. Inspired by the tremendous medical care Dr. Farmer provides for Haiti’s poorest, Deo founded his own free health care clinic in Burundi.
Village Health Works (VHW), his non-profit organization, has built and staffed the Kitugu clinic, which has provided health care (mostly free of cost) to more than 28,000 patients since its opening two years ago. Many patients are refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania.
VHW works closely with the Burundi community and places a special emphasis on obstetrics, pre-natal, maternal and infant care.
Deo is the subject of Strength in What Remains, the critically acclaimed new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder. He currently attends medical school in the United States.
Read Deo's acceptance speech here.
Deo spoke with CNN Inside Africa about Village Health Works after receiving his award. Watch the interview below.
MICROSOFT was honored for bringing workforce skills to women through their Unlimited Potential efforts and providing pro bono representation to unaccompanied immigrant children through Kids In Need of Defense (KIND).
Around the world, Microsoft Unlimited Potential combines information technology and strong partnerships with governments, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, educational institutions and technology and service partners, with the goal of enabling sustained social and economic opportunity for the underserved. UP does this by focusing on programs that transform education, foster local innovation and enable jobs and opportunities.
KIND was formed by Microsoft Corp. and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie with the mission of ensuring that every child who arrives in the U.S. unaccompanied has legal representation while in immigration proceedings, and to help make sure they receive fair treatment within our immigration system.
Read Microsoft's acceptance speech here.
Read about our 20th Anniversary Voices of Courage Award Luncheon, May 2009.
