Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Photos: Promising young woman who was UN Secretary-General for a day in 2014 dies

Raquelina Fernando Langa, the promising young woman who came to New York in 2014 to spend a day as UN Secretary-General with Ban Ki-moon passed away on March 25, 2016.

In a tribute, Mr. Ban expressed his deep personal condolences, saying: “While her life was short, her legacy will be long. Raquelina was more than a teenager from Mozambique; she was the embodiment of why the world needs to invest in the health, well-being and future of young women everywhere.

With her passionate drive and expansive heart, she achieved a depth of character that most people, no matter their age, may never attain.”

Raquelina was a young Mozambican woman, then in grade 10, who in May 2013, during a visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to her school, Matheus Samsão Muthemba School in Polana Caniço, Maputo, Mozambique, asked, if “a girl could become Secretary-General” and, if so, what she needed to do to achieve that goal. Impressed by the question, Mr. Ban invited her to come to UN Headquarters in New York as his special guest for a day. Sponsored by UN Women, the visit materialized on 12 August 2014, International Youth Day.

“We would like to convey our condolences institutionally, and personally, for those who knew Raquelina,” said Florence Raes, UN Women Representative in Mozambique. “We will continue to honour her memory by pursuing her dream, bringing about broader access to education for girls as well as secure environments free of violence, so that any girl—whether vulnerable, disenfranchised or from the south—could aspire to one day be the United Nations Secretary-General.