Who is
a woman?
She
starts of as a tiny little baby girl, dresses in pink or floral dresses.
As she
starts to sit, she is commissioned into her future life as a woman. She is
taught how to sit properly ‘as a woman’.
As she
starts to walk, she starts noticing her surrounding; she starts picking up
things from her mother. She starts
playing around with utensils associated with women.
As a
young school girl, she starts noticing colours, knows how to mix and match
clothes, she starts using accessories in her hair, wears bangles and pays
attention to her looks.
She is
slowly becoming a woman.
In
school she works hard, despite facing pressures from men and society that
negatively affect young girls and young women. As she sees other girls give up
and succumb to the pressure she works hard to meet her dreams.
From
her surrounding she learns strong life lessons that will carry her through as
she grows up. Her experiences build her and make her who she is. As she fights
her way through life’s challenges, she becomes a woman. A woman of integrity, a
woman of strength, a woman full of courage and enthusiasm to face life yes as a
woman.
She
works hard to achieve her goals, when she gets there, after tears and sweat,
heartache and disappointments, she remains a woman. Soft at heart but strong in
mind, she carries a lot of pain and hurt from her past but she works hard to
face the future with joy and does not lose focus of her vision.
Her
vision is to be a woman who makes a difference. And no matter what she faces in
life, she remains a woman.
This
may be every womans’ dream, but there are challenges that can destroy this
dream.
POVERTY.
She does not know anything about girls dresses, colours and accessories.
Since
she was born all she has known is a little cloth that she uses to cover
herself.
If she wears any clothes or dresses, it's
either from donations, or what she picked up from the trash.
She
would like to go to school like the other girls but she can’t because she has
no clothes, no food, no resources, she has to help her parents to raise money
to feed the family.
She is
either sold as a child slave, sent to big cities to work as a nanny, or works
in the farms.
She
misses out on school.
She
becomes a victim of rape, child molestation, war victim and child labour.
Her
dreams are shattered, her dignity is lost, she remains a broken woman.
She
loses her self esteem and confidence, she faces life without hope, all she
knows is her pain. She is married off quickly to relieve the burden on her
family but at the cost of her brighter future.
Let us
work together to give young girls a chance so that they can be women of self esteem
and strength. Let us help these girls to be women of the future, women who will
make a difference and women who will face their future with hope.
