The actress, filmmaker, and girls’ rights activist, Stephanie Linus, paves her way through life knowing that her passion aids others who don’t have as much power or influence as she does.
A known advocate for child marriage and advocate for the girl child in Nigeria, Linus employs her platform, such as the 100 films she has been flowers for, to aid those issues she finds most pertinent. Her notable movie named “Dry”, which is a based on a true, follows a dual narrative of a girl named Halima, and her mother, as they battle through their respective struggles of early child marriage trauma and sheds much needed light on Vesicovaginal fistula (VVF)- a childbirth disease that devastates majority of females in Northern Nigeria.
In light of this, Linus birthed a foundation that intends to tackle this exact problem which is called Extended Hands. Since this foundation’s inception, Linus alongst with her time, have been medical care provisioners (despite her lack of knowledge in the field) to those suffering from this disease which has paved the way for her earning multitude of awards like the Miriam Makeba Award for Excellence in 2017. the Beyond the Tears Humanitarian Award, and most recently the Prestigious Lennox K. Black International Prize for Excellence in Medicine for Her Activism and Social Impact from Thomas Jefferson University. It is awarded to those who are dedicated to promoting scientific, and medical, advancement, which is exactly what lInus has accomplished through her incessant work.
Whilst aiding many girls is the prize alone, the significance of this award lies in the fact that she is the first Black recipient of it, allowing her to make way for both the minority groups of girls and black individuals.
In the years between 2017 and 2020, she was the United Nations Population Fund regional ambassador on maternal and reproductive health where she continued her advocacy there and was able to further this work.
There is no doubt that this woman should be honored not only for her creativity in the arts, but for her persistence in helping the girl child.
