Graca Machel was born in 1946 in rural Mozambique. She was sent to a Methodist mission school at age 6 and later went to university in Portugal on a mission Portuguese colonies and developed her liberation politics.

Upon returning to Mozambique in 1973, Graca joined FRELIMO. Though she received military training, she worked with women and children and taught school. In 1974, she was appointed Deputy Director of the FRELIMO Secondary School at Bagamoyo.

Following independence in 1975, Graca became Minister of Education and Culture and a member of FRELIMO's Central Committee. During her tenure (she resigned in 1989), the percentage of children enrolled in primary and secondary schools doubled.

She married Samora Machel, the first President of Mozambique, in 1975, and they had three children. President Machel was killed in a plane crash in 1986; the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa is now inquiring into the plane crash, in which many believe the South African apartheid government to have been involved.

Graca entered the global spotlight as a result of her July 1998 marriage to then South African President Nelson Mandela.

Graca Machel has been very active internationally and is world-renowned for her commitment to children's and women's rights, education, and development. She served as President of the National Commission of UNESCO in Mozambique, as a delegate to the 1988 UNICEF Conference, and on the steering committee of the 1990 World Conference on Education for All.

In 1994, then UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali appointed Graca the independent expert in charge of producing the U.N. Report on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, and Graca spent 1994-96 traveling to investigate the plight of children in countries beset by war. The subject had never before been studied indepth and Graca's report was ground-breaking. As a result of her report, the General Assembly authorized the Secretary-General to appoint her a Special Representative on the impact of armed conflict on children.

For her myriad achievements, Graca Machel has received many awards. She received the 1992 Africa Prize, awarded annually to an individual who has contributed to the goal of eliminating hunger in Africa by the year 2000. In recognition of her outstanding contributions on behalf of refugee children, Graca received the 1995 Nansen Medal from the United Nations and the 1997 Global Citizen Award of the New England Circle.

Graca Machel was in Kenya alongside Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general, with Benjamin Mkapa, the former president of Tanzania, to hold talks with Kenya's political parties in an effort to find a solution to weeks of deadlock following a standoff between Hon. Mwai Kibaki, and Hon. Raila Odinga, the opposition challenger, over disputed December presidential elections.

Graca is much loved in her home country and is increasingly gaining world recognition. She has focused on the issues most critical to Africa, issues of development and particularly women's and children's rights, and she has widened her scope to effect change worldwide. Graca has already created a substantial legacy and her work continues.