Sally Becker

Sally Becker is the founder of Road to Peace and Save a Child. She has spent most of her life helping sick and injured children in areas of conflict and is credited with saving hundreds of lives.[1]

1993-1999

Bosnia

Moved by the images of suffering in Bosnia Herzegovina, Becker set off to the war-torn region determined to try to help. She began by delivering aid to people living close to the front line in west Mostar and soon became a familiar sight as she drove in and out of the city in an old Renault 4. As one of the only foreign aid workers able to travel freely in the area, she was asked by a UN officer to try and gain access to the east side of the city where 50,000 Bosnian Muslims were trapped. With permission from the Croatian Ministry of Defence she crossed the front line to evacuate wounded children and their families from the besieged hospital. The mission was successful and she became known as the Angel of Mostar. 10 December 1993 she led a convoy of 57 ambulances and trucks from Britain to deliver medical aid to besieged hospitals on all sides of the conflict. Amidst the carnage and the chaos she managed to arrange ceasefires where others had failed and is credited with saving hundreds of lives. The mission was dubbed Operation Angel and later became a registered charity. In February 1994 Aid convoys were grounded due to snow. 28 injured children and their families were trapped in the monastery serving as a makeshift hospital in Nova Bila. Becker managed to reach the area by helicopter and flew them to safety.

Kosovo

When Milosevic ordered his troops into Kosovo Sally led a humanitarian aid convoy to the region. When the borders were closed, she brought the convoys to Northern Albania where thousands of refugees had escaped from the fighting. Led by a soldier from the KLA, she crossed the mountains into Kosovo on foot to bring pediatric medicines to a besieged hospital in Junik. Whilst she was there, she was asked to take 25 children and their mothers across the mountains to safety. They were ambushed by Serb paramilitaries and Sally was captured and imprisoned. The families made it across the border and when Sally was eventually released she traced them to a refugee camp in Northern Albania. She arranged for them to travel to the UK for medical treatment but on 13 November 1998, the day the Greek Airforce was supposed to fly them to Britain, Home Office Minister, Jack Straw, refused to issue their visas. This was in spite of the fact that treatment would be carried out free of charge by private hospitals and the cost for food and accommodation was paid for in advance by private donors. Two days later Sally was shot by masked gunmen as she returned to her hotel with a colleague. The President of Albania sent his Minister of Health to evacuate her but she refused to leave without the children, remaining in the area until they were accepted for treatment in other countries.

1999-2012

July 1999-Sally became a mother

August 2006- She brought humanitarian aid to families trapped in shelters during the conflict between Israel and Lebanon.

2008- Sally was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for "Children of Peace", a multi-faith charity dedicated to building friendship, trust and reconciliation between Israeli and Palestinian children

2012-Sally's book Sunflowers and Snipers was published by The History Press.

Olympic Flag Bearer

In July 2012-Becker carried the Olympic flag for Peace and Justice alongside Ban Ki moon and Muhammed Ali at the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympic Games.

Road to Peace

2014 Sally founded Road to Peace, a registered British charity helping children in areas of conflict.She and her volunteers provided medical treatment for thousands of children fleeing from ISISI in Syria and Northern Iraq and in 2018 they established an emergency medical facility for Yazidi children in Sinjar ==References==

Save a Child

Sally is the founder and executive director of Save A Child a non-profit organisation using digital software to help treat children in areas of conflict.

Awards, Accolades and Honours

Olympic Flag Bearer representing Peace and Justice (2012)

Freedom of Tropoje (2001)

Woman of the Year, Blue Drop Group Sicily (1999)

Invitation to meet HRH Queen Elizabeth II (1998)

Women of the Year Awards (1993)

Unsung Heroes Award for bravery (1993)

The Ross McWhirter Award for bravery (1993)

The Variety Club of great Britain-special award for bravery (1993)

gollark: That doesn't count.
gollark: Anyway, I'm fairly sure you can't get the private key.
gollark: Elliptic curve cryptography.
gollark: Also, you can. (EDIT: can install Opus I mean)
gollark: <@151391317740486657> If you can find a flaw in ECC I think you could also steal bitcoin...

References
  1. BBC
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