Blog
A promise is a promise
As we had informed you in our post last friday, we had a small celebration at Mumbai Smiles to mark the occasion of International Women’s Day. This event witnessed the presence of women who are part of the SEED project training course, our balwadi teachers and the Mumbai Smiles Team.
The event started off with the expression of the thoughts by the women on the theme for this year, “A promise is a promise”: Time for action to end violence against women. All the women were invited to pen their thoughts on the board related to the theme. Women wrote different kinds of messages on various issues like violence, abuse and most importantly, female foeticide and right to education for girls.
This was followed by a small deliberation given by the Executive Director of Mumbai Smiles, Mr. Narendra Kumar. He briefed all the participants at the event about the Rights of Women. Many women also narrated the incidences of how once they raised their voice against domestic violence, eve teasing etc in their neighbourhood. It was indeed remarkable how these women have bravely faced such situations in their life.
On that note, we share with you a small poem written by Paulo Coelho,
For I am the first and the last
I am the venerated and the despised
I am the prostitute and the saint
I am the wife and the virgin
I am the mother and the daughter
I am the arms of my mother
I am barren and my children are many
I am the married woman and the spinster
I am the woman who gives birth and she
Who never procreated
I am the consolation for the pain of birth
I am the wife and the husband
And it was my man who created me
I am the mother of my father
I am the sister of my husband
And he is my rejected son
Always respect me
For I am the shameful and the magnificent one
