Midwives and doctors play a crucial role preventing unnecessary maternal deaths. They educate women about nutrition, health and family planning. And they step in when complications arise.

We should work to guarantee that there is a midwife or health worker by every woman's side during childbirth.

One thing modeling taught me is that the spotlight can change everything.

If you don't have a dream in life, I don't know what you have. You have to want something beyond your reach; it's exciting when it works out.

In a hundred years, how do you want the world to be? Everybody should get together to make the world a better place.

I don't listen to people who say my dreams are impossible; I just work to prove them wrong.

Helping others isn't a chore; it is one of the greatest gifts there is.

There's a saying in Africa: To find out you are pregnant is to have one foot in the grave.

Investing in women's lives is an investment in sustainable development, in human rights, in future generations - and consequently in our own long-term national interests.

I'm a mom. I'm from Ethiopia. I gave birth in the U.S. and had all the proper care available to me. If I had given birth in Ethiopia - I don't know if I might have even survived it.

Prenatal care is one of the most effective ways to reduce maternal mortality because it identifies complications or high risks before emergency situations.

Don't work in a restaurant if you can't control your hunger for food.

Freedom was taken away from my family until we landed in America and it was given back to us.

What I do shows people what kind of person I am.

I am a product of the "Hippie" theater movement of the '60s.

When people campaign for positions, they promise people all kinds of things.

If you are not extreme, then people will take shortcuts because they don't fear you.

Didgeridoo was something I picked up while I was on tour in Australia with Peter Gabriel in '93. I found out later that it's only meant to be played by men.

The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

I think I just have a natural operatic aesthetic. I can't help it.