This week marks the 5th anniversary of the murder of 33-year old Fern Holland.
The T.U. law school graduate was fighting for women's rights in Iraq when she was gunned down.
Holland gave up a lucrative law career in Tulsa to join the Peace Corps, and to later go Africa and Iraq to use her legal skills to advocate for women's rights.
It's a cause she sacrificed her life to pursue. It's a mission that continues to help women in those countries, through an organization created in her honor called the "Fern F. Holland Charitable Trust."
Fern's sister Vi Holland tells 2NEWS, "She would come home and was passionate about what she was doing. She talked about it. She had lots of photographs." Vi's Collinsville home is filled with photographs and mementos of her sister Fern's missions across the globe.
Fern Holland fought to protect the rights of women in some very dangerous places, including a 2004 trip to Iraq.
During an interview she gave in Iraq, just months before she was killed, Fern said, "You see in their faces. Every minute you see in their faces, that energy. And they are just so bright, smiling all the time. They are hopeful for a future that includes women in Iraq."
Vi didn't want Fern's sacrifice to be in vain. She turned to Fern's close friends in the legal profession to start "The Fern L. Holland Charitable Trust."
Attorney Jim Green says nearly all of the $46,000 donated to the trust has gone directly to causes that were close to Fern's heart. "It has gone to causes that Fern actually was working on at the time that she died in Iraq and later we made some donations to projects she was working on in Africa."
That project in Africa was a legal aid clinic Fern opened to help women in a neighboring refugee camp who were being sexually abused. Following her sister's death Vi Holland traveled to Africa to visit the refugee camp and legal aid clinic that meant so much to her sister. It was an emotional experience that made Vi feel close to her late sister. "It was a sacred experience for me, retracing her steps. I understood. I got it. I understand why it was important to her and why she was passionate about it."
Jim Green says Fern's spirit lives on, not only through the charitable trust, but also through the lives she touched while she was alive, and through the young women who are inspired by her story. "Those are the kind of people that inspire young people to do great things. I believe Fern's life will serve that purpose."
In May, Vi Holland will launch a website to sell bath and body products to raise money for Fern's Charitable Trust. The business will be named after Fern and Vi. It will be called "The Violet Fern."
The FBI investigated Fern's death, but so far no arrests have been made.
