[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

NYTimes[Yvette Pierpaoli, 60, Aid W



Subject: NYTimes[Yvette Pierpaoli, 60, Aid Worker Who Devoted Life to

Refugees ]
To: burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx
X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0.2 (32)
X-Sender: strider@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



Yvette Pierpaoli, 60, Aid Worker Who Devoted Life to Refugees 
New York Times; New York; Apr 20, 1999; William H. Honan; 

Sub Title: 
               [Biography]
Edition: 
               Late Edition (East Coast)
Start Page: 
               22
ISSN: 
               03624331
Subject Terms: 
               Medicine and Health
Personal Names: 
               Yvette Pierpaoli

Abstract:
Yvette Pierpaoli, a dynamic French woman who traveled the world seeking to
help war widows, displaced persons, land-mine victims, homeless families,
street
children and other refugees, was one of three aid workers killed on Sunday
in an
automobile accident near Kukes, Albania. She was 60.

As a European representative of Refugees International, an aid
organization, Ms.
Pierpaoli had been making trips to the Balkans since last June, when she saw
some of the first refugees fleeing Kosovo.

Full Text:
Copyright New York Times Company Apr 20, 1999


Yvette Pierpaoli, a dynamic French woman who traveled the world seeking to
help war
widows, displaced persons, land-mine victims, homeless families, street
children and other
refugees, was one of three aid workers killed on Sunday in an automobile
accident near
Kukes, Albania. She was 60.

As a European representative of Refugees International, an aid organization,
Ms. Pierpaoli
had been making trips to the Balkans since last June, when she saw some of
the first
refugees fleeing Kosovo.

''She was a legend in the international refugee community,'' said Richard C.
Holbrooke,
chairman of Refugees International, President Clinton's nominee for chief
American
delegate to the United Nations and a special envoy to the Balkans. ''A small
woman of
incredible strength and enthusiasm, she carried people along with her.''

Ms. Pierpaoli's efforts to help people began when she was 19 years old and
left France for
Cambodia to operate an import-export business there. She undertook aid
missions to many
countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, including Thailand, Cambodia,
Mali and Niger.

She was forced to leave Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge came to power in
1975, and
she retired between travels to a stone house in the village of Serviers in
the south of France.

In the 1980's, she founded Tomorrow, a nonprofit foundation that provided
seed money
for development projects and emergency assistance.

One of her special interests was the plight of Tuareg refugees in the Sahara
desert of Mali
and Niger. During many visits to these countries, she helped to develop
projects for
irrigation and raising livestock.

She was a co-founder of Info Birmanie, a European human rights organization
focused on
Burma.

Ms. Pierpaoli was well known in France, partly through her 1992
autobiography, ''Woman
of a Thousand Children'' (Robert Laffont, Paris).

She is survived by a daughter, Emanuel, who lives in the New York City area,
and a son,
Oliver, who lives in Paris.