Rosalind Wee, a Jolo-born Filipino-Chinese entrepreneur turned social advocate, joins a select group of humanitarian women as this year’s recipient of the Pearl S. Buck International (PSBI) Woman of the Year Award. The award, which has been bestowed upon the likes of Hillary Clinton, Aung Sang Suu Kyi, and Audrey Hepburn, will be presented to Wee this Sunday, September 27, at a special ceremony in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. Wee is the third Filipina to receive such an honor, following the late Corazon Aquino in 1995 and Amelia Juico Gordon in 2002.
Founded by the Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning American writer Buck, the PSBI is committed to “promoting tolerance, human rights, and inter-cultural understanding” all over the globe, particularly in the lives of women and children. In the Philippines, the organization’s primary means of outreach is the Welcome House adoption program, which finds homes for displaced children, particularly the kind less popular with adoptive parents—boys, sibling groups, older children, and children with special needs.
The association’s Woman of the Year award was conceived in 1979 as an annual recognition of women who made the most exceptional impact on the realm of humanitarian outreach. In a distinguished roster of 27 ladies and one symbol (the Statue of Liberty in 1986), Wee makes a most respectable 28th awardee.
Wee has faced her own struggles in life—she was left legally blind, with only 25% vision in both eyes, after a 14-hour brain tumor operation—yet the vibrant 61-year-old shows no signs of slowing down in her work with women and children. She has spearheaded relief missions for children displaced by conflict and calamity all over the country and has developed grassroots livelihood programs for local women. Additionally, she is a staunch supporter of gender sensitivity in the nation—allowing for increased levels of gender equality in both business and the home.
As current President of Pearl S. Buck Philippines, Wee has participated in numerous PSBI conferences around Asia to learn the best counter-practices to social injustice, cultural prejudice, and familial abuse. PSBI President Janet L. Mintzer has praised Wee for “an impressive turnaround of the Pearl S. Buck Philippine office under her leadership and her outstanding commitment to the education, health, and psychosocial development of Amerasian and displaced children.”
Wee’s passion clearly lies in the work she does for others, especially the oppressed and less fortunate. While currently President of PSBI Philippines, she also serves on the Quezon City Chapter of the Philippine National Red Cross as treasurer and on the Tagaytay Hospital and Medical Center as Board Member. She is also President of the Philippine Federation of Local Councils of Women, cementing her position in the local revolution of female economic empowerment. Asked how she stays motivated to keep up with all her commitments, she says, “My doing this is just to give back to God all the blessings He [has] given me and [being] His instrument to inspire people.”
A modern-day Wonder Woman, Wee juggles her socioeconomic endeavours with home and family life as well as her numerous businesses. While acting as founder and director of Marine Resources Development Corporation (a formulator of food ingredients) and First Marcel Properties, Inc. and W. Land Holdings, Inc. (both developers of real estate), she also manages to play loving wife to businessman husband Lee Hiong Wee, mother to six grown children, and grandmother to six even more beloved grandchildren. All this and she has time to play a mean game of golf.
Wee’s parting words should inspire anyone set to face life’s challenges: “Don't whine, don't complain, share with others what you have. You do not need a lot. One [wears only] one [pair of] shoes at a time. I have only limited vision, but I can see more than anybody else when it comes to the need of people, especially the poor.”
(Photo used with permission from Rosalind Wee)
