“A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.” – Melinda Gates
“It’s vitally important to help each other. No, we can’t walk in each other’s shoes, but we can walk side-by-side and support each other.” ― Michele Sullivan
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”–Margaret Mead
It’s a late South African Airline flight out of Perth, we are standing in line waiting to go through check in when the terminals go down.
“We apologise……” the typical airline announcement comes over the PA to tell all us unsuspecting travellers that we will be standing in line while the repair to the terminals takes place. We stood in the line for three hours… waiting……
In that line, waiting, is where I met Tabeth, who I soon became aware is one amazing woman. The extent of her amazingness cannot even be touched on in a blog such as this. If you come with me on one of our Philanthropic Tours you will get to appreciate her work and her spirit.
I simply wanted to take a couple of women with me as I took my first baby steps to build momentum beginning to create my vision of how I saw The Global Women’s Voice Philanthropic Tour operate.
The Tour began a year later, almost to the day, when we arrived at The Women’s University of Africa in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Sam, the most loveable guy you will ever meet, collected us from the airport. Sam was the glue from my introduction from making a small thought into a 300 person audience in the University’s auditorium for the day on March 12 2019. The Women’s University of Africa is a self – funded organization and one with a vision to be a contemporary Alumni Association that nurtures positive interactions in order to yield progressive benefits to its members, to WUA, to industry and to society.
Why would I want to take women on a speaking Philanthropic tour? Many people have asked that question of me.
I see that when women have a clear message, with a strong tool box for self-confidence, they can make clear decisions and articulate those decisions with passion, love and clarity; their tenacity and ability to be self- sustainable are more than possible.
There are many women and men who want to take other women down who have great ideas and could do great things for our planet if only they had the support and network surrounding them. These travel experiences give the participants and the audiences the ability to build their dreams from the inside out.
You will see how people become self-sustainable after you watch this short video:
This global speaking and travelling experience does and will build out clarity from the inside out.
The next level of this travel experience is when women have a business idea they receive the opportunity to change more than their community, they will change the world through what they see, feel and learn from this global speaking and travel experience.
The Kukkura Institute is located an hour out of Harare and that’s where Tabeth waves her magic wand to transform young people with disabilities. Her institute teaches these people how to be independent. To spend the day with Tabeth and her extended family is more than an eye and heart opener for good communicators, spiritual healers, business owners, trainers of all kinds, coaches and anyone who believes that to educate the mind is to build human gold mines.
I can’t go into detail in this small blog of this Inaugural Global Women’s Voice Philanthropic Tour but you can take a glimpse of what happened and what people said:
Africa had two stops, the second stop being Mombasa, Kenya with another young, impressive woman Lul Safia Abdiwahid. Safia is a soft spoken delightful authentic women who is married to the love of her life. Together they have 4 delightful, much loved children. Words cannot describe how this couple juggle, support and live a full real and truthful life together.
Safia’s Pure Pearl Foundation was the sponsor for the all day Global Womens Voice Conference 2019. An incredible variety of speakers gave us their best during the day inspiring people from Mombasa and beyond.
What were my highlights from the African leg of the Philanthropic Tour?
I have had many people ask me this question over the past few weeks, here is my answer for you:
The two Orphanages are my first highlight, the Kukkura Institute and The Wemo Centre in Mombasa, where orphaned children are taken off the streets and literally given life. Children are taken from the dumps and fed, clothed and given a life through education, training and mainly love.
It’s exciting to be able to see how participants of the tour grow in clarity, confidence and self- direction delivering their message to any size group, in any time slot in any culture. It is applicable, it’s precise, it’s relevant and it’s obviously more than inspiring. Some people travelled to buy me a coffee to spend time with me to ask me questions, and to interview me. That says more than I could have imagined 5 years ago when I decided I wanted more in my life. I love to share this awareness and growth.
The third highlight is one from hindsight. Sometimes we have to go through challenges that show us a new way of thinking and a new way of being. I had someone sabotage my position. Someone attempted to intimidate and bully me. I call it the Tall Poppy Syndrome. The reason this was a highlight for me was that not only did other people see the exchanges and learn from them, also that I was able to really understand and embody that I have grown to be able to withstand such an onslaught. Being able to see and live with the positives and negatives of living a full life, I believe, is one of the biggest gifts available to use human beings. You can read more about The Tall Poppy Syndrome here.
Next week I will share with you the third leg of the trip which was a change of gears into Bahrain.
Mentoring from true experience is what I do while Im on the road and while Im home. You can only apply for my mentoring and only if you burn to be MORE to change lives with your ideas. Here is the application page for you
Hugs Di Downie
What I find interesting as I follow you is that it doesn’t matter where you’re from or who you are, people are always wanting more and sometimes they know they do and sometimes they don’t. Your words seem to resonate with so many people.
Regina recently posted…A Natural Anxiety Treatment for New Mothers
What I find interesting is most people cannot, for varies reason, take the time to find what is really important to them. The distractions and pressure of todays living seems to take people to places that end up asking themselves “how did I get here” and it is often places they do not want to be and situations they do not want to be in.
Once people begin to wake up they tend to untangle their lives, their situations, themselves… This is such an amazing process and one that I trust begins when I resonate with them on my tours, mentoring and posts generally.
Thankyou for your observation Regina and your time to comment.