"VOF Week 4: (I dream)."

I have a great role, and the world will be world be better when I do my part, that’s my belief.

While growing up, I was taught all human beings deserve a good life, but as I grew up I realised how far from truth this is. I remember one time I was requesting that woman who looked very needy be allowed to eat for free in a hotel! In my innocence I felt this was the way life needs to be after all the dressing showed that this she couldn’t afford a meal; yet she was hungry! This was my sister’s hotel & I knew my sister would not mind. However, the person in charge told me “Sophie, the world is fair, one day you will understand” and with this life went on ‘as usual’ she went away hungry.

Have I understood? May be not, but I have ‘known’, and that’s why I still have dreams and I dream of a better world; where everyone in the community had equal access, opportunities and capacity to make decisions. This is a dream that I believe can partly be fulfilled in my world, in my community. I strongly believe that there is a way of bringing about lesser inequalities, that the woman I experienced so many years ago, and everyday should be able to get some food. I have a dream of communities where everybody has the space to exploit their potential to the fullest, women and men, girls and boys. I envision a society whereby individual’s worth will not be judged by their gender. My personal vision is that each and every day I make a difference, positive difference in someone’s life.

Yes, like Martin Luther King, I have a dream, a big dream.

There are many disparities in the community that need to be confronted in order to transform people’s lives. Each and every day brings to me more awareness of the disparities between women and men’s lives and the unfairness of this. I experience the unfairness too in different ways in different circumstances. For the vision that I treasure to be achieved there is need to communities and individuals to all participate in their own different ways, either in telling the story for the reality to be known or in offering alternatives, hence need to be empowered & their voices amplified. Women and girls in particular are disadvantaged where they often go unheard and hence I will be more focused in the lives of women and girls which have been affected by patriarchy and where silence has been very loud, if given the chance to be a correspondent.
I believe that by being a correspondent I will play a great role in amplifying the voices that are too silent to be heard in the busy world. I will not only be touching lives but also making the world know about life of people in my community. There is a lot of misconception about women and girls lives in Africa and hence the strength they have often go unnoticed. My role will therefore be to offer both positive and not so positive experiences of women which can touch lives of others in the world and as a result get information that can make African women’s lives better and more fulfilling. The correspondence will help me to bring visibility to pertinent issues in my community

I am interested in being a correspondent as this will empower me in ways that I can also influence lives of other women and girls more positively. I have a keen interest in internet and spend a lot of time on internet hence it will be a great opportunity for me to get more empowered to make better use of the opportunity while also exploring my hobby. I believe that with this experience and personal development I will be a better leader. It will also provide me with an opportunity to network and learn from others.
I am holding my pulse, and I feel a lot energy waiting for the opportunity to soar high in company of like minded women.

This is my dream.