As the founder and CEO of Women for Women International, social activist Zainab Salbi, 37, has been a tireless champion of the idea that strong nations require strong women. Thanks to her Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit (which she founded at the ripe age of 23), about 93,000 female survivors of war and conflict have received financial and social support, along with education and skills training.

Salbi, who most recently wrote "The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival and Hope," speaks about her transformation from college student to humanitarian.

What prompted you to start Women for Women International?
In 1993, I was a student studying the holocaust and hearing "never again." I also happened to read a story in Time magazine about rape camps in Bosnia. It said that women were given a number, and when it was called, they had to go to another room and face gang rape. It triggered a deep pain in me.

What kind of pain?
Growing up in Iraq, I saw all kinds of injustice -- my best friend's father getting executed, my mother on the verge of deportation simply because she was a Shia. As a child, I could do nothing about these things. I feared even showing my tears. But they never left my mind, and when I came to the United States, I had no excuse not to act against injustice.

Part of your campaign includes letter exchanges between sponsors and women in war-torn areas. Why is this so important?
Letters can have a powerful effect on people. When a woman in the Congo receives a letter from a woman in America, it shows her that someone from the international community cares about her, that she is not forgotten. A Rwandan woman told us that if someone from so far away loves her enough to send her a letter, how could she not love her neighbor?

Why is empowering women, both socially and economically, so important after a war?
During my childhood, I learned about the crucial role that women play on what I call the back line -- as compared to the front lines -- of war. Women are the glue that holds families and nations together during conflict, and they are the ones who pick up the pieces after the cameras are gone.

Do you have any advice for women out there who want to pitch in?
Individuals can make a difference. Sometimes a lot of us may feel helpless when we watch the cruelty of humanity. But anyone can put change into motion. It is possible; I'm a witness to it through my work.