Person of Faith: Fern Holland
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“I love the work and if I die, know that I’m doing precisely what I want to be doing – working to organize and educate human rights activists and women’s groups – human rights and democracy education for independents who are motivated and capable of leading this country.”
–Fern Holland
Fern Holland died at 33 years old on March 9th, 2004 in Iraq when her convoy was ambushed by five Iraqi gunmen brandishing AK-47s. Holland decided to go to Iraq immediately after the fighting stopped in May 2003, with the goal of helping women in the community. As a women’s rights specialist with the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA,) she opened women’s centers throughout the country and led the movement that established a goal of 25% female representatives in the national assembly.
The gunmen ambushed Holland after she a women’s center in Karbala. Holland died one day after the interim constitution that included the 25% goal was signed. The murder was most likely motivated by work she was doing in Iraq.
Holland was fearless throughout her life and especially in Iraq, where she declined protective convoys because they would have alienated her in the eyes of Iraqi women, and she declined a bulletproof vest because it was uncomfortable and would have made communication with the women tougher.
After graduating from Oklahoma University in 1992 with a major in psychology, Holland spent a year traveling while wrestling with the thoughts of her future: should she become a doctor or a lawyer?
While working with young victims of Chernobyl in Russia, according to Holland’s friend Marny Dunlap, Holland decided she wanted to be a lawyer. She went to the University of Tulsa Law School and, after graduation, immediately started work at the law practice of Barkley and Rodolf where she worked as a lawyer until 1999. She then moved on to the Conner and Winters law firm and practiced environmental law.
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In a move that surprised no one in her life, Holland joined the Peace Corps in 2000 and ventured to Nambia in West Africa. After mastering the local language, she moved to the city of Onamutai, where she helped organize a village school, encouraging participation from the community. Despite substandard living conditions, Holland never complained, but rather stayed upbeat, while being excited about talking to Nambians. Her stay in Africa was cut short when Holland returned home following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11th, 2001. Holland soon returned to Conner and Winters, but left not long afterwards.
Between 2002 and 2003 Holland juggled pursuit of a degree in international law from Georgetown and work for another law firm in Washington. She had difficulty keeping up with both, and before finishing her first semester Holland left for Guinea in April 2003. The American Refugee Committee sent Holland on a 10 day mission to find out about sexual exploitation of females at refugee camps. Holland then set up a legal clinic to help the victims seek justice. By Holland’s death, the clinic had handled 118 cases.
After completion of the clinic in Guinea, Holland was hired by the U.S. Agency for International Development to work for women’s rights in Iraq. She later joined the CPA and thus began the events that led to her death and touched the lives of a countless number of Iraqi women.
A site dedicated to Fern Holland's life is located at http://fernholland.newsok.com/?fern_holland_home
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Fern was the type of faithful individual one comes across very rarely in life. She absolutely believed she was doing the right thing, and once she found her true passion in life, she put all her effort into it. She had faith not only in herself, but in the people around her. She believed the community in Guinea would come together to help the victims of sexual abuse. She believed the community in Nambia would help with the school. She put the utmost amount of faith in the Iraqi people, even to the point of trusting them with her life. Where others would have sacrificed people skills for security, Fern literally put her life on the line to make a difference in people's lives. She treated everyone with respect and had love for everyone. Fern was truly a great person and the world will not be as good a place without her.
In just 33 short years, Fern Holland was able to
Fern's life is the perfect example of a life well lived to me. Before reading about her story, I thought that joining the Peace Corps might be for me. I'm pretty concerned about human rights and I think an ideal job for me would be helping the much less fortunate in areas like West Africa. While I know it would not be as easy to do as Fern's story made it seem, I would, at least, know that I was doing something for the betterment of society. Hopefully I have many opportunities to better society in my lifetime, but the Peace Corps is pretty definate opportunity. Fern was a great person, and I can honestly say she is now one of my heroes.
A great story of Fern's life can be found at http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/resources_files/Fern_Hollands_War.html
Sources:
http://fernholland.newsok.com/?fern_holland_home,
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/10/iraq/main605205.shtml,
http://wwics.si.edu/events/docs/Fern%20Holland%20Story5.doc,
http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/resources_files/Fern_Hollands_War.html,
http://www.charitywire.com/charity16/05635.html