Betty Bigombe spent much of her career trying to negotiate peace with the notorious warlord Joseph Kony. She was born in northern Uganda as one of 11 children. Betty focused on her education from an early age as she knew without it she herself would ‘probably have had 20 children and spent her life working in the fields. Instead she won a fellowship at Harvard where she received an MA in Public Administration. On returning to Uganda, she was asked by the newly installed president to go back to the north of the country, where she grew, up to try and stop the war raging there. The only way to do that was to convince Joseph Kony to engage in peace talks.

(Photo: Betty Bigombe (R) receives from Dutch ambassador Joke Brandt (L) the Geuzen Medal 2010. Credit: Robert Vos/AFP/Getty Images) Show less