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"These three major stars have really good taste in friends&amp;amp;#8212;all of whom happen to be past Glamour Women of the Year with mega books out now. Inspiring! Photo: Carter Smith/Sony Julia Roberts When I first met Dr. Hawa Abdi, the gynecologist whose massive refugee camp has protected tens of thousands of Somalis from civil war, it was like meeting someone I&amp;#x27;d longed to know forever. Her eyes hit you like a lighthouse on the darkest night. Her voice resonates with the truest, clearest pitch. Through force of personality and wit, she survived in a country ravaged by warring militias, where no woman is safe from rape\u2014and saved so many others. That she has found the time to write a memoir, Keeping Hope Alive, is astounding, and I am so deeply grateful for it. When my life is blessed to rise to service, my hope is to be by the side of Dr. Abdi. Glamour had the chance to interview her; read on, and you\u2019ll understand why I\u2019m in awe. Glamour: You were one of Somalia\u2019s first female gynecologists. Why did you choose this line of work? Dr. Hawa Abdi: My mother died from complications of childbirth when I was young. I knew that I didn\u2019t want other children to feel that pain, so I decided to become a doctor, to help save other mothers. Thirty years ago this August, I founded my own one-room clinic. Glamour: And how did the clinic become a refugee camp? Julia Roberts&amp;#x27;s hero: Dr. Hawa Abdi, who&amp;#x27;s making Somalia safer for women. (Photo: Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Glamour magazine) Dr. Abdi: In the late 1980s, fighting broke out nearby, in our capital city of Mogadishu. People came to the clinic looking for a safe place to stay, some food, some water. We cleared out rooms for them, and when that space became full, they began sleeping under the trees. They continued to come, and by 2000 we had 90,000 people. It was as if I were the president of my own state. Glamour: After the government collapsed in 1991, militia were breaking into homes to rape the women and girls. How did you protect those at your clinic? Dr. Abdi: I locked my two teenage daughters and their friends in the hospital. I told them: \u201CDon\u2019t be afraid. God will protect us because we are right.\u201D Glamour: Why do you think you were spared? Dr. Abdi: While our society was divided by clan violence, I treated everyone who was wounded, no matter their clan. Glamour: More than once, armed gunmen were at your door. How do you face down a man with a machine gun? Dr. Abdi: I tried to stay calm and talk with them as though they were my own sons and I was their mother. Besides, I felt that it would be better to die first than to witness the destruction of my hospital. Glamour: What do you want women to take away from the book? Dr. Abdi: I want them to know that no matter their situation, they can fight. Revisiting these events was painful, but worth it. There is an old saying that when you divide your pain with your friends, the pain will be less. But when you share your happiness with other people, your happiness will be more. To support Dr. Abdi\u2019s camp, visit dhaf.org. Photo: Alexei Hay Marisa Tomei Jody Williams and I met last year; I knew she\u2019d won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for persuading countries around the world to ban land mines, and that she was now working on gender-based violence. What I didn\u2019t know was how much fun she\u2019d be. She\u2019s got a great sense of humor and this potty mouth that she lets fly and then half-apologizes for. By the end of lunch, I was eating off her plate\u2014literally and figuratively\u2014and offering to help however I could. I think everyone should read her book, My Name Is Jody Williams, and aspire to be more like this wise force of nature. Turn the page to see why. Glamour: How did you first get involved in anti-land-mine work? Jody Williams: I was a peace activist, but I\u2019d never thought about land mines. Then I learned: When the war is over, the guns go home with the soldiers, but land mines stay\u2014and can kill\u2014for up to 50 years. There are mines in Cambodia and Croatia, Bosnia, Angola, Afghanistan. Glamour: So what did you do? JW: We got 1,300 groups from around the world to unite. We got that ban in five years, and 161 countries are a part of it. Marisa Tomei is a fan of Jody Williams, badass peace activist. (Photo: Micheline Pelletier) Glamour: But not the United States. JW: Nope. We&amp;#x27;ve destroyed more than a million land mines from our stockpile, but our government will not sign. It doesn&amp;#x27;t like the thought that society can have a say in what weapons they use. Glamour: You also cofounded the Nobel Women&amp;#x27;s Initiative. Why? JW: I\u2019ve always felt awkward about the Nobel. What do I do with it? So I joined with six other Nobel Peace laureates to use our influence to support women who are working toward peace. Then we started looking at rape as a tactic of war and decided to put pressure on governments and citizens to change this thinking that women are sex objects. Glamour: You\u2019re a quote-unquote average girl from Vermont. You\u2019re on Forbes\u2019 most-powerful-women list! How do you make average life extraordinary? JW: If you want something to change, don\u2019t whine; act. Working with others on an issue you care about will change your life. It\u2019s not magic; it\u2019s just getting up off your ass and doing it. To help end rape globally, visit nobelwomensinitiative.org. Photo: Getty Images Amy Poehler I met pediatrician Dr. Jane Aronson at the 2009 Glamour Women of the Year event, and we became friends. Now I&amp;#x27;m a part of her Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO)\u2014meaning I get to help with her mission to improve the conditions for orphans around the globe. (We just returned from Haiti, where we visited orphanages with local youth groups.) Her new book, Carried in Our Hearts, is a small piece of that. It&amp;#x27;s coming out in the spring\u2014Mother&amp;#x27;s Day gift alert!\u2014and it&amp;#x27;s an unbelievable expression of love that will expand your idea of what a family is. Go buy it! But first, listen as I talk to Jane about her amazing work. Amy Poehler: I love the title of your book. How\u2019d you come up with it? Dr. Jane Aronson: \u201CCarried in our hearts\u201D is an expression in the adoption community. A mother in the book recounts her daughter telling a friend, \u201CI wasn\u2019t carried in Mommy\u2019s tummy, I was carried in her heart.\u201D AP: Can you explain what WWO is and what you do? Amy Poehler looks up to Dr. Jane Aronson, superhero to orphans everywhere. (Photo: Evan Agostini) Dr. Aronson: WWO is for the vast majority of orphans\u2014153 million around the world\u2014who are not going to get adopted. We need to be global parents and provide for the kids who don\u2019t get adopted, so they can be successful in their communities and the world. AP: I hope my generation can redefine family, whether with adoption, surrogacy, IVF, or gay marriage. I hope that\u2019s our legacy\u2014not just using up the environment and building robots that will eventually kill us. Dr. Aronson: I do too. And I want every orphan to be seen as an equal member of society. That means that every child should have shoes that fit their feet, pants that fit their hips and legs, backpacks with their names on them. We owe it to them. You\u2019re coming with me on another trip, right? AP: You know I\u2019ll go wherever you want, Jane. You\u2019re my kind of bossy. Listen, this is Glamour. So who are you wearing? Dr. Aronson: Diesel, actually, and Doc Martens. What are you wearing? AP: A North Face vest, Alexander McQueen hot pants, and nothing else. To support the Worldwide Orphans Foundation, visit wwo.org."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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