#peggielene bartels

[royal-confessions]

(Post by Christy)

"I love King Peggy and I wish more people knew her incredible story." - Submitted by Anonymous 

[womenwhokickass]

(76# Ghana) King Peggielene Bartels: Why she kicks ass

“To be a king in an African village or some places like this, it’s not like European queens where everything is on a silver platter for them … I have to really work hard to help my people. I have to give myself to people to better their lives..”

She is currently the King of Otuam, Ghana and one of only three female kings in Ghana. She has maintained her work in Ghana’s embassy in Washington, D.C. while making education affordable in Otuam, installing borehead wells to produce clean drinking water, enforcing incarceration laws to deal with domestic violence, providing the village with its first ambulance, replenishing the royal coffers by taxing Otuam’s fishing industry to improve life in the village, and appointing three women to her council.

When she encountered corruption and the threat of embezzlement to the royal funds, she declared “I’m going to squeeze their balls so hard their eyes pop!”

For 11 months out of the year she’s regular Peggy, secretary for the Ghanian Ambassador.  She works, keeps in touch with her advisors via phone every night, saves her money and accumulates her vacation time into one month-long period- where she then takes off to Ghana to fulfill her duties in-person.

When she discovered that male chauvinists wanted her to only be a figurehead, she said: “They were treating me like I am a second-class citizen because I am a woman. I said, ‘Hell no, you’re not going to do this to a woman!’”

King Penny's tale has been documented in a book written by her and author Eleanor Herman and is to be made into a film after Hollywood star Will Smith bought the rights to the book.

[vintageanchorbooks]

KING PEGGY is a real-life fairy tale of an American secretary who discovers she has been chosen king of an impoverished fishing village on the west coast of Africa. Here Peggielene Bartels chronicles her astonishing journey when she suddenly finds herself king to a town of 7,000 people on Ghana's central coast, half a world away. Upon arriving for her crowning ceremony in beautiful Otuam, she discovers the dire reality: there's no running water, no doctor, no high school, and many of the village elders are stealing the town's funds. To make matters worse, her uncle (the late king) sits in a morgue awaiting a proper funeral in the royal palace, which is in ruins. Peggy's first two years as king of Otuam unfold in a way that is stranger than fiction. In the end, a deeply traditional African town is uplifted by the ambitions of its decidedly modern female king, and Peggy is herself transformed, from an ordinary secretary to the heart and hope of her community.

[shortformblog]

It never ever occurred to me [that I'd be Otuam's king]. I realized that on this earth, we all have a calling. We have to be ready to accept it because helping my people has really helped me a lot to know that I can really touch their lives. I would have really regretted it if I hadn't really accept this calling.

Peggielene Bartels • Discussing the process that led her from becoming a U.S. citizen with a modest secretary job at the Ghanan embassy to the first female king of the Ghanam fishing village of Otuam. When her uncle, the former king, died in 2008, she accepted the position after a 4 a.m. phone call. Bartels, who had lived in the U.S. since her early 20s, became a U.S. citizen in 1997, and while she continues to work her secretary job, she makes one monthlong trip per year to the city that calls her king — where she wears a crown and holds a scepter, but also works hard to improve the situation for people in the community. A movie about her life (starring Queen Latifah) is expected to be released next year, and it already sounds like a better premise than King Ralph.

[ladyjournos]

Wait, aren’t kings usually men? Clearly, Peggielene Bartels isn’t your average monarch.

mental_floss || December 27, 2012

[whathaveyoudonelately]

King Peggy is a Push Girl. Are you?

[stitch--craft]

Peggielene Bartels, A.K.A. King Peggy, is currently the King of Otuam, Ghana. She was chosen to be one of only three female kings in Ghana, and when she discovered that male chauvinists wanted her to only be a figurehead, she said: "They were treating me like I am a second-class citizen because I am a woman. I said, 'Hell no, you're not going to do this to a woman!'" When she encountered corruption and the threat of embezzlement to the royal funds, she declared "I'm going to squeeze their balls so hard their eyes pop!"

King Peggy has maintained her work in Ghana's embassy in Washington, D.C. while making education affordable in Otuam, installing borehead wells to produce clean drinking water, enforcing incarceration laws to deal with domestic violence, replenishing the royal coffers by taxing Otuam's fishing industry to improve life in the village, and appointing three women to her council.

"Nobody should tell you, 'You're a woman, you can't do it,'" she insists. "You can do it. Be ready to accept it when the calling comes."

Quoted from the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of Ms. Magazine.

[colbertnewshub]

February 27, 2012 — Peggielene Bartels

EPISODE NUMBER: 8062 (February 27, 2012) GUESTS: Peggielene Bartels SEGMENTS: Movies That Are Destroying America - Oscar Edition - "The Artist" | Movies That Are Destroying America - Oscar Edition - "A Separation" & "The Lorax" | Indecision 2012 - Mitt Romney's & Rick Santorum's Michigan Campaigns | Sign Off - Goodnight SUIT REPORT: Dart suit | White shirt | Navy with white polka dot tie VIDEOS: Monday, February 27, 2012

Sorry Hubsters, I wont be able to get the ep guide done until tomorrow. My flash player has decided to crash on me, hopefully I can get it fixed soon.

Original Article