Ode To Women's Day
The national Women’s Day in South Africa is celebrated to commemorate the women who marched to Union Buildings in Pretoria to petition against the country’s apartheid pass laws that were a degrade to the non-white residents of the country. In essence, today- 9th August, we celebrate the strength and bravery of those women.
But…
As I grow older, the more this day becomes a reminder to celebrate the strong women in my life who continuously work towards shaping the fierce woman I am becoming. I am the strongest woman I know in my life, I don’t know what a weak woman is, and that is because I am surrounded by strong women who in the face of fear gave it a wink and kept their heads held up as though they always knew what to do next even when everything around them was falling apart.
My mom, who has been my backbone in my journey of womanhood is my biggest role model, she embodies strength like its the easiest of things to uphold. The gentle kind of strength that reminds me its okay to cry when I need to, that its okay to rest when my bones are too tired to carry me, that its okay to let myself be vulnerable and take a break away from the world when it gets too much. My mother never taught me strength as fighting to avoid all my weak days, she actually showed me how much strength there is, in breaking down, in embracing your weak moments and rising above against things meant to keep me down. I have come to learn that the strength actually comes in the rising above, in the picking yourself up and choosing to believe again.
Today, I celebrate not only my mom’s strength, but every women in my life and my virtual world that enforces the #BlackGirlMagic. I celebrate my friends who are my biggest hype baes after myself. I celebrate my mentors who are a hub of inspiration and who sees a potential in me that I often forget when I am being unfair to myself. I celebrate women like Basetsana Kumalo, Terry Pheto, Lulu Mthimkhulu, Nomzamo Mbatha, whose lives are a living testimony that ”Black girl, your dreams are valid”. I celebrate women in the Communications and Marketing industry like Nunu Ntshingila, Matalane Ngobeni and Allegro Dinkwanyane, who are making a way for us to sit in the boardrooms one day and make daring decisions and be taken serious because they have paved the way for us.
I have said a mouthful, in summary Happy Women’s Day, to every strong woman out there. And remember: “Here’s to strong women may we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.”
So, to my female readers, what does #WomensDay mean to you?
