Rigoberta Menchu Tum was a political and human rights activist from Guatemala. She devoted her life to rights of native feminists during and after the Guatemalan Civil War. She also promoted indigenous rights in the country of Guatemala. Since the civil war has ended, she has also campaigned to have members of the Guatemalan political and military establishment tried in Spanish courts. Rigoberta was the first Guatemalan woman to have received the Nobel peace prize. She received the Nobel peace prize in1992 for the recognition of her work for social justice and ethno–cultural reconciliation based on respect for the rights of indigenous(ethic) people. Most people believe that she is a hero because of all the things she has done to help the females of Guatemala being able to have rights.
Menchu Tum had a hard childhood her family grew up poor and two of her brothers died from working on the plantains. One of them died from being poisoned and the other from having a poor diet. At the age of 13 she started to work as a maid for a wealthy family who made her sleep on a matt next to the family dog.
As she became politically active, what inspired her was from her religious beliefs. Like many others in Central America, she was influenced by Liberation Theology, a movement that believes the Bible should be read through the eyes of the poor and that Jesus Christ had a special message of freedom for poor people. She is very inspiring to me she took her time and effort to stand up what she thought was right and that was getting rights to the woman who didn’t have a voice. To me she most definitely deserved getting the award of the Nobel Peace prize.