Young Woman Rising

Hi guys... It's silly to apologise everytime I go missing but here I am again. If you haven't liked our Facebook page... search 1Third of A Woman and press like to get all the interesting stuff young women should read. Now this is to update you on what a young pretty feminist like myself has been up to.

A few months ago I was as usual trolling the internet trying to find someone to make fun of or something to be mad about when I stumbled across a call for participants for a workshop by Young Women Rising. Of course I applied. And unexpectedly I was selected to join a group of other girls. They're so many. I now call myself a young Riser.

Young Women Rising is the baby of Portia Loeto a gender studies lecturer at the University of Botswana. Upon our first convening she expresses how slowly she is nurturing it and why Young Women Rising is important to her. "It's about creating spaces where young women can discuss and take action against the things that bother them." was a phrase that came up often in her description of the initiative.

The group has met twice so far and I fall more and more in love with the young women I've met through these workshops. Upon our first convening we discussed when we realised we were girls and what being a girl meant to us. It was interesting for me to listen to other ladies share their experiences. Considering that I've grown up in the home of a feminist I never really had gender stereotypical roles in my house.

Some of the girls shared growing up with single parents, some with male siblings, some even with their grandparents. It made me wonder how different my childhood might have been if I had had a brother. Would my father still consider me his best friend?

Some of the girls shared their hardships growing up, everything from step parents to orphanhood, to not always having the best. I actually almost felt guilty for my middle class privilege. One is a rape survivor with the most vibrant smile and laugh. She looks like she floats on candy floss clouds and tastes like blueberry cheesecake ice cream. Her happiness is so infectious I want to take her home and cuddle her on the days when my soul is grey.

A mathematician or as she says "geek" who is tired of being bullied in her male dominated field. A set of twins who are "the going" as they'd say. Comrades. Almost nearly as amazingly interested in politics as my first year classmates in POL 101. I wish I still cared about it nearly as much. But I honestly only care about amazing (black) women.

The group is large. I could talk about them all day. I mean we've even got two mother's on the team and they both have sons which makes me really fucken happy. for lack of a nicer word. Because their sons have no choice but to be amazing cause I mean dope moms. There's also two young ladies who really care about their GPAs but have time for everything else while I personally am still trying to find where it is one sees their GPA. (sorry mom)

Oh Gosh.. they're so many. All so amazing in their own way. All with such different opinions, different paths, different ambitions but so inspirational. They make me feel less alone. Maybe that's not something particularly amazing to write about. But I wish you could meet them. You'd love them almost nearly as much as I do.