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Former First Lady of the United States of America to visit The Bahamas
By Celebrating Women International
Feb 27, 2018 - 1:21:51 PM

Former First Lady of the United States of America - Mrs. Laura W. Bush

Former First Lady of the United States of America Mrs. Laura W. Bush to visit Nassau, The Bahamas to participate in Celebrating Women International’s 2018 Women’s Noble Luncheon 

Former First Lady of the United States of America, Mrs. Laura W. Bush will make an official visit to the nation’s capital during the month of June to participate in Celebrating Women’s International, Nobel Women’s Luncheon.

On Sunday, 24th June 2018, the former First Lady will offer a keynote address on women’s rights. This highly anticipated event is projected to attract more than 1,000 women from around globe.

Mrs. Bush, will be awarded Celebrating Women International’s Women of Distinction Global Leadership Award for her invaluable contributions and commitment to women’s rights, education and literacy during the event. 

After leaving the White House, President and Mrs. Bush founded the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas. The Center is home to the Bush Presidential Museum and Library and the George W. Bush Institute, a public policy center established to solve today’s most pressing challenges by developing leaders, advancing policy, and taking action.

As Chair of the Bush Institute’s Women’s Initiative, Mrs. Bush promotes access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunity for women and girls around the world. The Women’s Initiative programs are preparing and empowering the next generation of women leaders in North Africa and the Middle East. The initiative continues to ensure the expansion and protection of women’s rights in Afghanistan, and engaging and supporting First Ladies from around the world to effectively use their unique platforms to advance issues for women and girls in their countries.

Laura Bush is a leading voice for spreading freedom and promoting human rights across the globe. For more than a decade, she has led efforts through the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council to protect the hard-earned rights of women in that country.

As First Lady, she made three trips to Afghanistan and in 2001 she delivered the President’s weekly radio address—a first for a First Lady—to direct international attention to the Taliban’s oppression of women.

Long a supporter of the people of Burma, in 2006 Laura Bush hosted a roundtable discussion on Burma at the United Nations headquarters in New York. After Cyclone Nargis devastated the country in May 2008, she held an unprecedented press conference in the White House Press Briefing Room and urged the ruling junta to accept international aid.

She then traveled to the Thai-Burma border, where she met with Burmese refugees. In 2012, Mrs. Bush helped to bestow the Congressional Gold Medal to Burmese opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The legislation awarding the medal to Daw Suu was signed by President Bush in 2008 when she was still living under house arrest in Burma.

As First Lady, Mrs. Bush advocated the importance of literacy and education to advance opportunity for America’s young people and to foster healthy families and communities. She highlighted the importance of preparing children to become lifelong learners, convening in 2001 a White House Summit on Early Childhood Cognitive Development. Laura Bush has visited schools around the world and met with students in nations from Afghanistan to Zambia, with a particular focus on the education of girls and women. Mrs. Bush worked with the Library of Congress to create the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. in 2001.

The National Book Festival continues to this day and annually attracts more than 120,000 Americans. The Texas Book Festival in Austin was founded in 1996 by Mrs. Bush while she was First Lady of Texas. At the Bush Institute in Dallas, President and Mrs. Bush’s Education Reform initiative works to improve student achievement through effective school leadership, middle school transformation, and the use of accountability.

Given that heart disease is the leading cause of death among American women, in 2003 Laura Bush partnered with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to launch The Heart Truth campaign and the Red Dress project. The Heart Truth campaign aims to raise awareness among women about their risk for heart disease.

In 2006, she also helped launch the first international partnerships for breast cancer awareness and research. As First Lady, she visited countries in Europe, the Middle East, Central and South America to support programs that help women detect breast cancer early so they can seek treatment when it has the best chance of success.

Mrs. Bush has visited more than a dozen countries to support the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the President’s Malaria Initiative. Laura and George Bush continue their work to promote women’s health through Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon, an independent affiliate of the George W. Bush Institute and a global partnership fighting women’s cancers.

Mrs. Bush is the author of the bestselling memoir, Spoken From the Heart, and bestselling children’s book, Our Great Big Backyard.

She serves on many boards, including the National Advisory Board for the Salvation Army, the Council for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Board of Trustees for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the SMU Board of Trustees. Laura Bush was born in Midland, Texas, to Harold and Jenna Welch. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Southern Methodist University and a master’s degree in library science from the University of Texas. She taught in public schools in Dallas, Houston and Austin and worked as a public school librarian. She served as First Lady of Texas from 1995 to 2000.

President and Mrs. Bush are the proud parents of twin daughters Barbara and Jenna, son-in-law Henry Hager, and happy grandparents to Margaret Laura “Mila” & Poppy Louise Hager. The Bush family also includes two cats, Bob and Bernadette.

Founded in 2013, Celebrating Women International aims to mobilize and inspire women across the globe, to honor, recognize and celebrate the contributions of women, leveraging their untapped leadership capabilities in order for them to thrive in the world so that they can lead productive lives.

Since 2014, the organization has recognized and honoured nearly 500 women inclusive of Bahamians and women from around globe who have been awarded for their stellar achievements in an array of categories which include Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Health Care, Education, Finance, Community Service, Performing Arts and more

Recipients of the 2017 Women of Distinction Award include Her Excellency Dame Cecile la Grenade, GCMG, OBE, Ph.D.  Governor General, The Commonwealth of Grenada, West Indies, 

Her Excellency Kamla Persad-Bissessar, S.C., MP Former Prime Minister, The Republic of Trinidad & Tobago, The Hon. Sharlene L. Cartwright-Robinson Premier, Turks & Caicos Islands, Her Excellency Katalin Bogyay, FRSA, FWAAS Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary of Hungary to the United Nations and the First Lady of the Republic of Malta, Her Excellency Michelle Muscat among others.

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