Graça Machel

Graça Simbine was born on October 23, 1945, in rural Inhambane, Mozambique. Winning a Methodist scholarship to study German at the University of Lisbon in Portugal, she joined the clandestine anti-colonial liberation movement FRELIMO in 1973. Working as a freedom fighter and courier in Tanzania, she married Mozambique's revolutionary founding President Samora Machel in 1975 upon independence, becoming the nation’s first Minister of Education and Culture.

As Education Minister, Machel oversaw a dramatic reduction in illiteracy, increasing primary school enrollment from 40% to over 90%. Following Samora Machel’s tragic death in a 1986 plane crash, she dedicated her life to international child protection. In 1996, UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali appointed her to produce the groundbreaking UN Report on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, which established global protocols for rehabilitating child soldiers and protecting war-affected youth.

In 1998, on his 80th birthday, she married South Africa’s legendary anti-apartheid hero and President Nelson Mandela. A founding member of The Elders alongside Desmond Tutu and Kofi Annan, Machel was awarded the Nansen Refugee Award and continues to champion African women’s economic empowerment through the Graça Machel Trust.