sisters can do it for themselves

everyday the news is littered with stories of women, being hurt,maimed mutilated,..by men, men they know, men they don't,...chris hani baragwanath hospital,has not really achieved any security since a fifth year medical student was raped,...in a hospital? this should never have happened.brutality against women is unthinkable, religion teaches us that paradise lies under the feet of our mothers, the mother of Christ is revered, the image of the goddess is worshipped,how would humanity survive without women,

yet female infanticide is still practiced, husbands mutilate wives for dowries,it does not add up.when i read of these aggressions it makes my blood boil,..this is the type of violence that only the weak can perpetrate against what they perceive as a threat,...we can and are surviving without the need to rely on men,i do believe, that, is what parents should be encouraging,...encouraging daughters to realise that whatever we choose to do in life, we can achieve through hard work and perseverance,we need not rely on others.

the south african business woman of the year awards, have come around again, the media is filled with advertising about nominations from the public sector,...a good friend of mine, won it a couple of years back, in the field of journalism, being the first and only female editor of a newspaper in this country, she had a vision, and achieved, deserved respect from her peers,...but what of the women we deal with everyday, who are surviving despite the hardships of life. those women for me are the real achievers.

today i drove down to our old neighbourhood to pick up some homemade treats for tea, not the swanky five star deli a kilometre down the road,rather, the home of a mother, who has brought up three children, educated them, single handily, (despite the ouff of a husband who ran out on her,) she has built a little business from her own kitchen, where people like me, to occupied or impatient to make goodies for themselves, can buy delicious treats,..this is a seven day a week job, when i got there the young daughter was serving a host of clients, coming to pick up orders on a Saturday, with a smile and a pleasant disposition.this is testimony to the things women can achieve despite the disadvantages life throws at them,..(the ouff returned when business saw the rands rolling in,...)that she had the fortitude to take him back, shows me that she is a greater woman than i will ever be.

then there's auntie fati (short for Fatima), i admire and adore this woman, her heart and hearth are open to anyone that would appear on her doorstep for whatever reason,..she to producers delicious foods from her humble kitchen, and has managed to look after daughters, grandchildren, and in her case a good husband to. both of them have crippling illnesses, that have seen them in and out of hospital,...yet no matter what, fati has an open door to anyone of us who needs it,...when i got ill, it was she who got me to the right specialist, who took time out of her day, to get me to the hospital, for tests and treatment and i'm happy to say that i am healthy and happy, she never forgets to check on me though, it is a selfness that is priceless.

these women are deserving of awards, it will never happen, yet, they are the beacon to show the world that the sisters are doing it for themselves.
society has got to learn that women are our assets, our wombs provide future generations,..we toil, we nurture,we build,no religion in the world subscribes to the fact that women are less, to be locked away behind purdah,in kitchens,in the home behind closed doors, this is all a creation of culture and politics,...somewhat like Hitler who was creating a perfect Aryan race, we have allowed men, to create the false impression that the world would not exist without them,..that a rational mind is a male domain,...yet it is men who have created war,who perpetuate injustices in society, then turn to their version of scripture to give it authority.

i always believed that god is fair,...yin and yang,..the one cannot survive without the other, but the other (is not less), in the history of Islam, it was a woman that encouraged Mohammad to follow his calling, it was a woman who provided the financial security that allowed him to follow God's will. after His passing, it was Khadija people turned to for interpretation of scripture, yet today the buffoon who is the head of my local mosque has the audacity to say that women should not be elevated in the community by being members of the local mosque committee.

the guy is a freak, and no self respecting human being should be following behind him in prayer.the members of the committee who allow this unconstitutional (Islamic as well as secular) behaviour should quite frankly all be sacked. the sad thing, is that this is not isolated, it is a community issue and people think that way,..how could you have respect for the prophets teaching, if your Taliban attitude disrespects women, that, is blasphemous to say the least.

where would we be today, if it were not for the women like fati, and hafsa,..who persevered on their own despite the backwardness of our society, that is what should be preached from the pulpit, perhaps it would then sink in that violence and discrimination against women cannot be tolerated. and women can learn, to be self sufficient,

in the eyes of god we are all equal, being Muslim is not gender driven, the soul right of men, so why should prayer or the running of religious institutions be the soul right of men. the joke,... the idiotic men, are so busy fighting over who should be in control,...that they could never teach what is important, and that is respect for all human kind, respect for yourself....surely that is what the world should be about.