Betty Makoni is a Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

an gender activist who founded the Girl Child Network, which cares for Zimbabwe's young sex abuse victims; the organization has rescued more than 35,000 girls. She earned two degrees from the University of Zimbabwe

University of Zimbabwe

The University of Zimbabwe in Harare, is the oldest and largest university in Zimbabwe. It was founded through a special relationship with the University of London and it opened its doors to its first students in 1952. The university has ten faculties offering a wide variety of degree programmes...

, and has been awarded numerous national and international awards. Orphaned as a child and sexually abused, Makoni is the principal subject in the documentary film, Tapestries of Hope

Tapestries of Hope

Tapestries of Hope is a feature-length documentary that exposes a Zimbabwean myth that if a man rapes a virgin he will be cured of HIV/AIDS. The film focuses on the work human rights activist Betty Makoni has done to protect and re-empower girls who have been victimized through sexual abuse...

. She is married with three children.