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On Sept. 19, Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel laureate and Burmese democracy activist, received the Congressional Gold Medal as a mark of her struggle for justice, democracy and political reconciliation. She then embarked on a tour of the United States. Left to right:
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Oh), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Aung San Suu Kyi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

"This is one of the most moving days of my life- to be here in a house undivided, a house joined together to welcome a stranger from a distant land. Yet I do not feel myself to be a stranger for I see many familiar faces and faces that are new to me but known through the work they have done for my country and for my cause," said Daw Suu as she received the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony held in the U.S. Capitol rotunda on Wednesday, September 19th.

While in Washington, the Nobel Laureate met with President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

On Thursday, September 20, Daw Suu appeared at American University, where the profound impact she has had on people around the world was seen in the shining eyes of Elizabeth Oo, a Burmese woman who moved to the United States with her family in search of better opportunity.

“I think this was a momentous occasion, to be proven that your hero, like Superman, was in fact real, and she was even stronger and kinder and more wonderful than you could have had imagined, ” she told AF. Burma’s dictatorship had a strong impact on everyone, she explained, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi “brought hope to the people.” Ms. Oo expressed deep pleasure at finally seeing her hero in person, explaining, “She has always been, to me, a mythical figure fighting this obstinate and obsolete force, the dictatorship, fighting just by simply existing in this house in Yangon.”