The board of trustees of the Louise Schroeder Medal chaired by retired Senator Ingrid Stahmer unanimously voted that this year’s award be presented to the Desert Flower Center of Waldfriede Hospital in Berlin-Zehlendorf, with Dr. Cornerlia Strunz and Mrs. Evelyn Brenda, a native of Kenya, representing the interdisciplinary team of the center opened on September 11, 2013, under the auspices of Waris Dirie.
Partnering with a foundation established by the former supermodel, the Seventh-day Adventist hospital in Berlin opened in 2013 this center to help restore victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), a cultural ritual in parts of Africa and Asia.
The Krankenhaus Waldfriede (Berlin Hospital) opened the Desert Flower Center in cooperation with the Vienna, Austria-based “Desert Flower Foundation,” which was launched in 2002 by Somali model Waris Dirie.
Dirie, herself a victim of FGM at age five, is an international activist and established the foundation to raise awareness of the ritual. Her 1997 book “Desert Flower” was made into a movie in 2009.
The President of the Berlin Parliament, Ralf Wienand, will present the distinction on April 21, 2016. The award is presented annually to a person or an institution representing the political and personal legacy of Louise Schroeder in an excellent manner.
Louise Schroeder (1887-1957) devoted her whole life to the untiring advocation of equal treatment of women. Her name is intrinsically tied to the advocacy of democracy, participation of women in politics and engagement against injustice and abuse of power.
