With Gratitude to our Mothers – International Women’s Day 2021

With Gratitude to all our Courageous Mothers who paved the path of our Futures 

As we mark International Women’s Day, March 8, 2021, it’s timely to pay tribute to the strong, courageous, tenacious, caring, loving women, our Mothers, who brought us into this world and who laid the path ahead for which we have been able to tread with purpose.

Some of those inspirational women are still with us today, some are departed, but in each we draw inspiration from a myriad of qualities that have formed the pillars of our own journey – care, comfort, curiosity and courage. And even if for some, that inspiration is defined by challenges more than flow, it has in some way taught us skills of resilience, the ability to keep moving forward in dark times, to stand up for injustice and the courage to ask tough questions in order to keep growing.

This International Women’s Day, I dedicate to my two mothers – my biological mother, Zelda Gosschalk, who passed away some years ago at the age of 87 and Selina ‘Sally’ Duiker who at 88 is alive today. For I was born in Africa and was blessed with a ‘nanny’, who became one of Zelda’s greatest friends and confidantes who are still inextricably linked, even today nearly 60 years later. Both women would do anything to keep me and my siblings safe and healthy. Zelda and Sally both inspired me to live generously in spirit, be loving, giving, loyal, to work hard, to keep learning and growing, to always act with humility and to have a belief in possibility that is endless, despite challenge.

Each encountered challenges through either racism, sexism and ageism, which never deterred either of them as they fought tirelessly for equality, harmony, justice and decency focused on making a difference in their worlds and doing things that mattered.   I am lucky to have been blessed with two such enormsouly inspirational women to set the path for me in life.

On International Women’s Day 2021, we say thank you and show gratitude to all the Mothers, past and present. #iwd2021