For the ones...

In my work as a writer and photographer, I have been blessed to meet the most remarkable of women, each who carry their own light, each to have a gift to bring to this world. I have met them in the best of times and in the most challenging of times. I have witnessed their deep pain and experienced their enduring joy. The strength of these women and girls is the backbone of the world. Their stories are the life-giving source of healing and hope. Today, on International Women’s day, I remember and honour them, for whether man or women,they are us, and we are them. This is for you. For the ones who love. For the ones who carry us onwards. For the mothers in us. And the lovers.For the ones who endure. For the ones who sacrifice.For the ones who give birth;  to children, dreams, desires, pain and progress.For the ones who grieve for us all. For the ones who don’t give up.For the ones whose voices are never heard. Them. Always for them.For the womb which was your first home in the world, and the woman who held you.For the ones who resist. And persist.For the music makers. For the artists. For the schemers.For the activists and the changemakers. For the homemakers and the breadwinners.For the ones who trust in another way.For the fighters. For the jokers. For the paradigm shifters.For the learners and the educators, the teachers and the students. For the guides, leading from the heart.For the one who plant and the ones who tend. For the carers and the givers.For the ones whose voices are never heard. Them. Always for them.For the ones leading the way and the ones laying the paths. For the bridgemakers, the weavers, the dancers. For those who are catalysing a new level of conversation and therefore connection.For the ones whose voices are never heard. Them. Always for them.For my great-grandmother, who was silenced and shut away, for being the woman that she was.For my grandmother, who worked until her bones bore the weight of her caring.For my mother, who gave birth to all this, and more.With love.

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