Chapter 3

We are all gifted. We are masters of our own crafts. We were given skills according to our capabilities. We were made different on purpose for a purpose, to teach and learn from our surroundings and each other. The protest action that has arisen in South Africa has inspired me to speak about the strength the young generation has shown. They are vocal and courageous. Some have called them revolutionary in that they have done what most of us have been thinking of doing. So, I have decided to end "my month" by sharing my interpretation of strength. It's embodied in one word, which is "woman".

Women have nurtured nations for millennia. They have given pieces of yourselves to the world literally and figuratively. They work behind the scenes mainly. Loud as she may be or timid and shy, she continues to fight battles that no man can stand. Women may not be built to carry rocks, that's because they are rocks. Men were made to carry them. There is an Zulu quote, when translated says, "You strike a woman, you strike a rock". Have you ever heard of a group of women being defeated in battle? I am yet to hear of such an occurrence. On the 9th of August 1956 in South Africa, woman gathered to make their voice heard about something critical in their lives at that time - the oppressive pass law. If it were not for them, I would be required to carry a pass every time I stepped out the door. The protest action at the Pretoria High School for Girls is another revolution of that nature, in that the girls have taken a stand against the oppression they are faced with today. Girls are making their voices heard. Is that not strength? I'll leave you to answer that question.

We need to teach our children that they have nothing to prove to anyone. You are not your hair or the clothes you wear, but the character you show to the world. Our girls are beautiful and they need to be told that. They are women from the day they are born until the day their breath departs the flesh. Her wisdom is wealth!