Regina (Gina) Waldman was born in Libya and spent her early childhood there. When she was 19, following the 1967 War, she and her family fled under growing threat of violence from their neighbors and government (see her story at http://www.jimena.org/gw.htm. Having settled in the Bay Area, she co-founded the movement to free Soviet Jewry, acting as its Director from 1970 to 1987. Ten years ago she returned to her roots and founded JIMENA - Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa. She is dedicated to the preservation of Mizrahi and Sephardi culture and history. Gina has testified before the UN about the displacement and property disenfranchisement of about one million Jews of North African and Middle Eastern countries. She has received many honors including the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award and the Woman of the Year Award from the State Assembly of California.