The Nobel Peace Prize: Five Years On

Two Nobel Laureates

When the news came early last Friday morning that U.S. President Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, I was immediately taken back to the Friday morning, now five years ago, that Prof learned that the Norwegian Nobel Committee had named her its 2004 peace laureate. Even in a life filled with incident, like both Prof's and Obama's, that news is pretty memorable.

For Prof, it came as a total surprise -- as it seems to have been for Obama. In 2004, Prof was traveling to a meeting with some of her parliamentary constituents outside the town of Nyeri in central Kenya, about a three-hour drive from Nairobi, over rutted roads and past small villages and pineapple plantations. The line from Norway to Prof's cell phone wasn't strong. I recall her pressing the phone more closely to her ear to hear the extraordinary message.

And then, nothing was the same again . . . or at least some things weren't. Prof's name was a headline across the world; journalists began dialing in to her mobile from too many countries to mention now. I was there, too (why is perhaps a story for another time) and tried my best to keep up with the media queries. Alas, or perhaps wonderfully, Prof's constituency aide and I were in a field, literally, next to a school in a tiny village. I had to explain to the reporters that Prof had kept her schedule. True to form, and conviction, despite the news from Norway and the pleading of TV journalists that she return to Nairobi to do live interviews, she didn't. She kept her commitment to her constituents who, after all, had travelled from miles around, by foot or crowded matatu van to meet her. They didn't know anything about a Nobel prize. Prof explained it to them, but quickly returned to their agenda.

The Associated Press chartered a plane to get to that field. The media kept calling, too. "She's in a meeting," I'd explain. "Can you call back?," I'd ask. Her cell phone didn't dial internationally. Inevitably, the phone's battery died. We had to switch it with someone else's. "We've been calling," the reporters said, "and there's no answer." "We're trying our best," we'd reply. We did and of course Prof did, too: when she finished her meeting she tried to answer as many of the phone calls as she could . . . until Kenya's president communicated with one of the local officials. He was sending a helicopter for Prof. He'd like her to return to Nairobi for a press conference at State House.

On the helicopter, the phones didn't work. That short ride, I realized, was the only time Prof had a few minutes -- and not much more than that -- to reflect on what the awarding of the peace prize might mean to her life, her work, her influence. Once she was in Nairobi, winding her way through the streets to State House, people in other cars recognized her and cheered or raised their arms. No more space or time for reflection.

I know that President Obama, when he got his Nobel news, certainly had state-of-the-art infrastructure around him: the best phones, Blackberries, satellite hook-ups and video links in the world. But, he, too had, like Prof, been given an honor like no other. He, too, said he was humbled and deeply honored by the prize. He, like Prof, said it wasn't for him alone, but for the citizens of the world who shared his values. He, too, like Prof, pretty much kept to his schedule, addressing a meeting on small business that Friday afternoon. And he, too, I thought, probably also had precious little time for reflection.

It's a nice circle of five years, from Prof to the U.S. President, whose father, of course, was, like Prof, a young Kenyan student in the U.S. in the 1960s. In fact, Prof had met President Obama again in the White House just a few days before the Norwegian Nobel Committee made its call to Obama. Perhaps some Nobel magic had been transferred from one to the other . . . and then back again.

Here's to five years of Prof being a Nobel peace laureate. And to the first few days of Obama joining her. Skoll to both.

• 1.

  Comment by Prabhat on October 14, 2009 11:12am:

  Dear MacDonald sir, my heartiest congratulations to Mr. President USA, BARACK OBAMA, on winning the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2009. His selection for this prize is a "tight slap on the face of terrorism"; he is "really fighting against terrorism" for LOVE, PEACE and UNITY in the world. World community have hopes from respected OBAMA for a "BETTER AND PEACEFULL GREEN WORLD". [Prabhat Misra, District Savings Officer, Etawah, U.P., India]
• 2.

  Comment by zenith on January 23, 2010 6:34pm:

  nice wish i was also there...he deserve it
• 3.

  Comment by colonie on January 24, 2010 5:28am:

  great article. I add this blog on my bookmark.
• 4.

  Comment by doctorate degee on January 25, 2010 6:14am:

  Nice post and picture. He really deserved it.
• 5.

  Comment by PocketHacks on February 2, 2010 8:04pm:

  Great article (and picture), he deserve all of it :
• 6.

  Comment by LegalBuds on February 4, 2010 6:06pm:

  Although I'm a fan, I am not sure that he deserves this more than some of the other candidates. Just my 2 cents.
• 7.

  Comment by tomwhite on February 23, 2010 7:31pm:

  i think he is an amazing person with great potential - but I do think you have to earn such an important prize as the Nobel Peace prize - i think he will be a truly great president but time will tell I think.
• 8.

  Comment by cybermondaydeals on February 25, 2010 8:39pm:

  great article. I add this blog on my bookmark.
• 9.

  Comment by onegawad on April 8, 2010 4:54am:

  cheerio old chap
• 10.

  Comment by Shark Cage Diving on April 14, 2010 5:36am:

  How can you win a nobel peace prize doing your job. Instead of bringing the troups back from Iraq he sent out more, really now?
• 11.

  Comment by fanie on April 18, 2010 10:15am:

  great informationnn
• 12.

  Comment by Cape Town Accommodation on April 22, 2010 7:07am:

  Thanks for posting! Obama will do a lot of good for the world even Africa I would imagine. He inspires hope in millions around the world. Go Obama!
• 13.

  Comment by William on April 28, 2010 5:08am:

  In essence, Obama's history with Africa seemed to give him freer license to speak about the continent, as if he were being honest with a friend. He gave an unsentimental account of squandered opportunities, brutality and bribery in postcolonial Africa.
• 14.

  Comment by Dental Plan Provider on May 25, 2010 5:36pm:

  This is a great post, very informative! Keep it up;-)
• 15.

  Comment by srdr53 on May 30, 2010 10:34am:

  great informationnn
• 16.

  Comment by armandnic on June 13, 2010 8:59am:

  Well, i hope she can bring goodness for him own people.
• 17.

  Comment by turistos on June 13, 2010 1:05pm:

  Tanks for this post!
• 18.

  Comment by JamesAlbert1243 on June 14, 2010 5:48am:

  I found this interesting blog which is very useful and knowledge able. I would like to appreciate for this.I like very much your way of presentation.Thanks for the blog
• 19.

  Comment by brandingvine on June 15, 2010 10:55pm:

  Wow what an accomplishment. One thing that Obama did right in his campaign is his marketing services, he really has brand awareness and build traffic to his polls. This is the first time I have ever seen such a response to a President.
• 20.

  Comment by prem953 on June 18, 2010 4:35pm:

  He really deserves it.
• 21.

  Comment by rhetoralist on July 15, 2010 4:02pm:

  Obama's Nobel Prize really surprised me. Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy- be he certainly isn't on par with Nelson Mandela (at least, not yet). Plus, it's ironic to receive a Nobel Peace prize while being the leader of an armed force actively involved in two separate wars (violent occupations?). The award would be deserved if he'd been committing to withdrawals or dramatic improvement in Iraqi/Afghani quality of life...but he hasn't, in fact, he has increased troop numbers overall and seems to be moving no closer to a peaceful resolution than Bush Jr did. Okay, the next logical argument will be "well, he's only just starting" but after nearly 1.5 years there's been no significant improvement.
  
  Just suggesting that the Nobel Prize may have been awarded a bit prematurely- especially considering the committee overlooked some pretty amazingly deserving candidates with 30+ year track records of creating peace.
  
  Roderick Campbell
  22.

  Comment by reiki on July 27, 2010 6:02am:

  is a great article
  my compliments
  lorenzo
• 23.

  Comment by reiki on July 27, 2010 6:04am:

  sono convinto che abbiate ragione
  david
• 24.

  Comment by sendsms on August 25, 2010 3:17am:

  His selection for this prize is a "tight slap on the face of terrorism"; he is "really fighting against terrorism" for LOVE, PEACE and UNITY in the world. Nice post and picture. He really deserved it.One thing that Obama did right in his campaign is his marketing services, he really has brand awareness and build traffic to his polls.
• 25.

  Comment by alyssa on August 26, 2010 6:47am:

  I found this interesting blog which is very useful and knowledge able.Your presentation is very good.Thanks for your post.
• 26.

  Comment by seothrive123 on August 26, 2010 6:54am:

  Congrats on achieving this award,as a president they really deserve this.Thanks for sharing the information.
• 27.

  Comment by rowery on August 27, 2010 7:54am:

  Nice story. i haven't heared about that before.
  thanks for sharing. keep posting