Ladies of Hive Community Contest #127

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Women form the majority living in poverty,

although they comprise 51% of people in the world.

Ideas taken from African Proverbs

Sotho diaspora South Africa’s official languages, “Mosadi o tshwara thipa ka bogaleng”, which loosely translates to “a woman holds the knife at the sharp end”. Given the hardships that women and girls have to face in their lifetime - everything from period, poverty, and gender-based violence, to higher levels of unemployment and the burden of unpaid care work - such an idiom could not be more fitting.

isiZulu saying, “Izandla ziyagezana” meaning “hands wash each other”, we know that we are here, on this planet, to help each other, and build each other up.

There’s many ways to say it: “Motho ke motho ka batho” in seSotho, or “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” in isiZulu — this phrase roughly translates to “A person is a person because of other people”, or "I am, because you are." This proverb is the bedrock of South Africa’s society, which is rooted in community.

Africans have the spirit of Ubuntu without having to try, it is part of who we have always been, and the acknowledgement of the fact that we are a product of each other’s actions and decisions. Ubuntu is a reflection of what it takes to live in true unity, and explores what it means to work, live, and thrive together.

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"𝑨 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏; 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕.”

–African Proverb

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Women are gifted in being home makers, keeping some African adages and meanings. Which one would you select to describe yourself in your village or town?

Women often face challenges organizing themselves in communities, fighting domestic violence, child abuse, unemployment, HIV/AIDS or gender discrimination, poverty, working through church groups, welfare organizations, international, local or similar.

1️⃣ Are we assisting to defend our rights, equity, defeating poverty or sitting on the sidelines, supporting each other, and how?