“A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.” – Maya Angelou
 

It’s 1 : 02 PM on day 2002 of my journey towards independence and I managed to pray, read Hebrews 13,  learn one new thing –All jellyfish are Cnidaria, an animal phylum that contains jellies, sea anemones, and corals, among others. There are more than 10,000 species of Cnidaria, and less than 4,000 of these are Medusazoa—those animals we think of as jellyfish. Those 4,000 jellyfish can be divided into four different groups–have breakfast and work on my 25 Smiles Campaign –   raised $3 247 only $3 003 more to raise by 10 Jan 2017  (SO SO SO GRATEFUL to everyone who has supported this campaign so far   ).

Today being International Women’s Day I was thinking about all the woman who’ve impacted my life and I realized I am the sum total of all of them so I took the liberty of writing down my gratitude and some of the lessons I learned from each of them. Take a look:

Lessons from 8 Women who’ve made me 

1. My ammachi (gran [maternal]) – ammachi taught me that even when the worst happens life carries on and we’ll all be more than okay [thinking of you ammachi].
2. Mommy – mommy taught me to have faith no matter what life throws at me [thank you mommy for bringing me into this world and giving me faith, hope and love I appreciate it always].
3. Neethu (my kid sister) – Neethu taught me to speak my mind and stand up for myself even when it might piss some people off [thanks Neetz because of you I will never be anybody’s doormat].
4. Titychechi and Tinuchechi (my cousins) – Titychechi and Tinuchechi taught me how to love but most importantly they taught me to never settle for anything except the best in life [thanks so much for everything chechis I might not need you to read me Rumpelstiltskin anymore but I will always need you].
5. Gerda Bence (my physiotherapist of almost 13 years) – Gerda taught me that it only takes ONE PERSON to believe in someone’s human potential and make them live up to it (when I was younger every time I went in for my appointment Gerda would ask me how things were going with school which I can’t remember anybody else ever asking me she fully expected me to be somebody in this life) [Gerda thank you so much for believing in me even when I didn’t I now know you were only pushing me because you always saw who I could be].
6. Nadine Stander (my dentist) – Nadine taught me how infectious passion can be (I’ve been to a lot of dentists in my time but none like her I’ve never meet someone so excited about cleaning teeth there’s a light in her eyes when she works it’s really great) [thanks for the lesson in passion Doc I will carry it with me forever I love you lots always].
7. Catherine Constantinides – Catherine has taught me courage, integrity and what it means to truly be of service but most of all she has taught me humility (one minute she’s knee-deep in dirt planting food gardens and the next she’s a judge on One Day Leader not everybody who has a life like hers manages to stay grounded in the essence of who they are but somehow she does and God bless her for it) [thanks for everything my dude I can honestly say I am a better human because of you which is why you, my forever and always superhero, are stuck with me for life LOL 🙂 ] .