Mr. Chief Justice, Mrs. Magsaysay, Fellow Awardees, Excellencies, Trustees, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is an honor to be here with you this evening and to be part of these ceremonies simultaneously honoring the memory of the late Ramon Magsaysay, a great champion of democracy and the dignity of mankind, and the current acts of people who still care.
Let me start by invoking the spirit of the man whose memory we keep alive here, this evening. Were he with us I feel certain he would remind us that we now honor, the awaking of a people, the rebirth of hope, the evolution of a growing sense of efficacy among ordinary people, particularly among women, and the emergence of new organizations to serve community needs.
Then it would be clear that no individual can be singled out as "the one who did it." Certainly, in NTT he would be right. What has been accomplished and what is honored here is the result of many people's efforts -- people sharing in the adventure of development.
In responding to the citation I would like to share something of our journey since arriving in the province of Nusa Tenggara Timur in July 1978, a journey which started, as far as I was concerned, very much on the dark side of the mountain.
Honor and duty notwithstanding, as my husband and I left Jakarta for NH I felt that we were giving up rather too much and the task ahead was rather too daunting. I had no sense at the time of how much I would learn -- personally and professionally, how rewarding and fulfilling the job would be. Certainly, never did it occur to us that we would receive such an overwhelming honor as the Ramon Magsaysay Award, nor that there would be people who felt such would be justified.
First impressions upon arrival in NTT did nothing to relieve me. It was July, mid-point in our dry season when the environment becomes more desolate with each passing day.
To make matters worse, one heard repeatedly that the people were almost as barren, hopeless, and as unpromising as the environment.
Then one day I suddenly saw beyond the bareness. I notice the beautiful bougainvillea rising from the rocks, thriving and creating splashes of color and beauty, giving life to the scene. It seemed to send a clear message if I would but understand that no matter how bleak the situation, one can find sustenance and bring forth beauty. No matter how difficult the situation, one must persist in giving of oneself, neither counting the cost nor expecting return. This was the task : to keep hope alive.
That having become clear, the doctor in me began to take over -- observing, analyzing, and hypothesizing.
By assignment and out of a desire to help my husband in his work, my particular responsibility was concerned with the situation of women. But where and how to begin was not clear.
So we set out to get the information needed to make those decisions. We traveled extensively, seeking opportunity for discussion with village people about whom and from whom I had the most to learn. I listened -- with my eyes, with my ears, with my heart. We asked endless questions and prayed for insight.
Gradually, it became clear that to be effective we must focus our efforts on six interrelated matters: 1) Expanding activity of benefit to women at the village level; 2) Enticing women -- particularly those with leadership potential -- to rise to the challenge of our time and the work to be done in NTT; 3) Improving cooperation between men and women in all aspects of development work; 4) Institution building within the women's movement and the non-governmental social development field; 5) Building bridges for dialogue, promoting mutual respect and understanding of the complementarity between government and community efforts in NTT; 6) Identification and attracting new resources -- human and financial -- to help meet these special needs.
The activities and institutions mentioned in the citation are children of that conviction.
In time, men and women in many parts of the province came to share our vision, to improve it, to refine it and in the process we have all become winners. To the extent that we have struggled together and made some progress, to that extent has the humanity in all of us been increased.
Therefore I take this opportunity to express my profound thanks to the board of Trustees of the Magsaysay Foundation not for an honor done me personally, but for the honor paid through me to the efforts of women and men throughout NTT and beyond, people who have worked, and continue to work, to improve our community.
Finally, in closing, I thank the Foundation for the honor paid the working partnership of a husband and wife whose virtue, if there be such, is caring and trying; who, if it is given to them, would be as bougainvillea in a parched land. Thank you.