Break the Bias

The 9th of April 2022 witnessed a beautiful gathering of women when Woman Arise merged both the International Women's Day and Mother's Day celebrations into one. The theme of the meeting was Break the Bias, the theme that International Women’s Day adopted for this year's celebrations.

Mary Moyo Kachitsa, one of the director’s welcomed everyone to the celebrations. This was followed by a prayer by Eunice Neil. This was followed by welcome remarks from Barbara Makhalira. Barbara is one of the trustees of Woman Arise. In her remarks, Barbara included an activity where she asked the meeting to tell each other three facts about themselves. One of the facts, however, would have to be a lie, and the fellow woman should attempt to pick out the lie among the three facts. It was a fun event. She however explained that people are afraid to approach one another if they don’t know each other. She advised that this should not be the case, rather, women should do things that make them feel uncomfortable, as this is one of the ways that they could break the bias.

Barbara’s advice was followed by Tikha’s presentation.

Grace Tsapayi, CEO of Women Empowerment 2020

spoke about dreams and goals that everyone harbours in their minds, advising the ladies that these dreams are achievable. She advised the meeting that there is to make preparations before executing one’s dream such as:

• Replenish your body, soul and mind – healthy eating and fitness.

• Dare to be wise – Associate yourself with like-minded groups and networks and ensure that you invest some time in pursuing your dream

• Listening to your intuition and instinct.

• Get organised by creating a vision board

She advised the women that there will be challenges along the way, just like the Israelites who had spent 40 years in the desert experience. She, also stated that there are risks that emanate during the execution of the dreams. She urged the women not to give up, as this is not an option. She advised the woman to fight back. it is better to give it a go and fail rather than not chase the dream at all.

Grace further advised that there is a need to view the environment that one is in. For instance, there is a need to prune unnecessary people who are negative and discouraging. In addition, she advised that one needs to go through a self-development process. This includes the acquisition of new skills, the cultivation of confidence through self-affirmation and challenging biases. All this needs hard work on the part of the dreamer for her to achieve her goals. Grace concluded her presentation with a word of encouragement “Ladies I cannot encourage you enough. No matter what challenges or obstacles you have, the key is to BELIEVE in yourself and dreams will come true.”

Grace’s presentation was followed by Gloria Zimba. Picking up from Gloria’s presentation, Gloria’s presentation focused on the topic ‘You are Enough’, meaning that every person has everything within themselves to become who they want to be. A person needs to work on themselves to achieve this. Although some of a person’s traits may look imperfect, it does not mean that these imperfections won’t serve their purpose towards the finished product. Gloria used examples such as stock, baking soda, and the Monalisa to drive the point home. She advised the meeting to trust the process. Gloria reiterated Grace’s point that challenges will always be present because “Great things don’t come from comfort zones”, and the fact that you have failed does not define a person. Gloria finished her presentation by encouraging women to be positive about themselves and to talk to themselves from a position of love.

The talks were followed by a showcase of skills from various women.