08/03/2016
Today is International Women's Day. So I thought I'd share some stories of some amazingly resilient women I have had the chance the meet in the last 12 months. The first is a young girl who works 12 hours a day in a silk factory, putting her hands in hot water to pull silk from worms. Working for just £2 a day, she gained my respect straight away.
The second lady is my India family Grandmother. This wonderful lady would sit with me and hold my hands and we would fight over who was doing the sweeping - she was a treasure and always made me laugh. She also taught me how to wash clothes by hand.
The 3rd lady is 'ooch-Ama', my Mother in my second village in India. She would brighten up my day at 6am while I would try to carry water through the village. She would make me coffee constantly and invited me into her home every day. This lady would go out of the way to make me feel welcome and secretly cook me chicken to keep some meat on my bones.
The fourth lady is a lady in a rural village who allowed me to take her photograph - yet you can see pain in her eyes, and only moments later, she burst into tears after losing her husband and having to keep animals inside her house to protect them. She was left with 3 children and had no steady income. A man here makes most of the family money.
The final lady was an elderly lady of a family I grew very close with in my first rural village. For 4 weeks she was led outside during the day with huge wounds on her leg after falling, which became infected. The family couldn't afford medicine and me and Charlotte Taylor did what we could with antiseptic cream and bandages for her. This ladies hair was cut as she became closer to god, and wouldn't eat or drink water.... this powerful lady came over all odds and got much better and recovered fully.
To all of the women who have touched my life and heart in the last 12 months abroad, I have much respect for you. You do work to care for your families, and still smile. You lose people and still smile. You suffer, and yet still smile. I have focused on Indian ladies here because they are some of the strongest in the world. They are powerful, resilient, emotional and touching. To all of the women in the world - keep up the great work.
