Women's with a message...

I am Anusha Seechurn, a lady with dreams bigger than herself. Since childhood I have been having that strong will to fulfill my dreams and by early adulthood, I developed the desire to have an actively passionate and purposeful life. Walking through the curve of life with elevated troughs and hitting hard the rock bottom, I consistently kept my my faith in God, Universe, life, my family's love and myself alive. With that attitude and trust, I have changed mountainous obstacles into vast oceans of opportunities. Being bullied about being overweight in high school, being set aside by classmates as I was a class topper in school, being look down upon as an artist because of being chubby to adulthood bigger challenges, I always kept my light alive and with confidence, I aced whatever I wanted to do. I have discovered the beautiful diversity and similitudes of the world by travelling. With conviction and gratitude, I create a life I love; a passionate dancer, an ex Miss, a Teacher, a social and environmental activist, a young leader in Africa and now professionally I work in the field of Agricultural Research. Dear young girls and ladies, my wish to you on this special day is that you realise your own potential, have faith in your power, love yourself, set healthy boundaries and trust that you too can have a life that you truly desire. Aim for excellency through constant improvement in life. You are all beautiful, own it. The best thing to do is to be true to yourself, be yourself, leave sparkles of gold and spread your magic in the world.

Sitting back in my chair in the staff room I can't help but feel grateful.
I'm in reminiscence of the days where women had no right to education, and some parts of the world they are still deprived that right.
That girl could easily have been me, and here I am a woman no less, teaching to a bunch of pimpled boys and girls. I can't help thinking about the other rights which was once considered priviledge. I can't help thinking how many women have been beaten to death or burnt at stake just for asking what was rightful.
I can't help thinking that indeed we've come a long way. That in this blessed country allows room for equity. However, I can't help thinking that we still have a long way to go too; for in my country we have a knack of murdering women. Domestic violence is so common these days that if it makes the news, no one bats ann eye.
I van't help thinking that, indeed, even if we no longer burn women at the stakes; she is still a pebble in a shoe. There is always something wrong going on...
She is too loud or too shy, not girly enough or she has to much make up. Too ambitious or bashed for wanting to be a stay - at - home mom. She's always too much for anything. Guess what? She always will be.
Sitting back in my chair in the staff room I can't help but ponder on what my students answered to what makes a woman. For most it begins and ends with motherhood. Then what about the woman who does not want to have children? What about those who dare to step out of the designated world?
I, kirty Koonjbeeharry, am a teacher, a woman daring to question the status again. Daring to think differently.

I am Seelarbokus Hoursha. Firstly, I would like to say we women, we rule! We are the one. There's no limit to what we, as woman, can accomplish..whether it's running a house, dealing with situations, our job etc.
Often, we tend to depend on people to be happy and live our life, especially a man without realising that we don't find our worth in a man, we find our worth in ourself and then find man who's worthy enough to walk and be with us for lifetime. We are strong, if we have problems we stand up fiercely, we deal, fight and rise.
As a woman, I am proud for what I am today. Back then, I was so timide, easily be fooled, underestimated myself, lacked of self confidence and motivation for doing things and accepting challenges or doing something new. Dealing with real situations and facing problems were something rigorous and burdensome..I've always tend to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen. I lacked the positivity in my life.
But today when I see myself, I am proud. I'm no more the pessimistic person..Im still growing and improving myself but there's a drastic change in myself, the way I think, the way I take things and deal with real situations. Facing problems is not something worrisome anymore, I know I can go through it, how to not take it too personally and deal with it. I believe that the tough times I had in my life made me the person for what I am today. I've learned and grown up to someone strong, positive mindset, nicer, has the empathy for someone and so on. I faced lot's of issues in life, sometimes I take it for things which i didn't deserve in life, but if I didn't face those problems I would not have those changes in myself..I've gone through really tough times..But if we realise that we have the power to control our life and be the happiness for ourself, we will definitely succeed.
For the future generation I would like to say, it's very difficult to be strong especially when we are a woman because we are sensitive and emotional at times but we should bear in mind that a strong woman always knows how to use all her exceptional abilities which no man has..Everyone make mistakes, if we woman, we think that we sin if we make mistakes, we will never be strong, learn, and grow. We learn through our mistakes. You should be fearless, you should not b afraid of storms, in storms you will know how to sail your ship. Be passionate, caring, loving, ambitious, and independent!

Hello, I am Neha Ballgobin, a final year student in civil engineering at UoM.
Since childhood I was always passionate of science subjects and mathematics and as I finished my HSC I wanted to pursue my further studies in engineering. However, I was told that this field is very difficult and challenging for a woman, and also it is a male-dominated field.
I was not interested in any other field at that time and it became very difficult for me to take a decision. With the advice of a few family members working in the STEM fields, I decided to go for an engineering course itself and here I am after four years. I never regretted this decision even though it is challenging and male-dominated.
I also know that the path ahead is even more difficult but as long you are passionate and confident, you can do anything. So to any girl/woman who wants to go for a career in a male-dominated field, do not ever feel intimidated just because there is more man than woman. You can become even better than a man in that field if you are really passionate about it.

I am Yaminee Hoolash, the Tomboy. As a child, I was always loud and energetic hence was constantly nagged by relatives not to do this or act like that, behave like a lady. However, my parents have always supported and trusted me in whatever I wanted to uptake. My life has been full of things I wanted to accomplish which was weird for others but enjoyable for me. For instance, I was always interested in football which lead to an important part of my life, becoming a part-time football referee. It was a proud moment when I was appointed to be part of the refereeing for the final of MPFL women's competition. I saw my dream turning into reality. I climbed another step towards my goal. I also listen to metal music and love wearing band shirts. This is where people started seeing me as a "dark person". However, attending local concerts and headbanging is one of my favourite way of socialising where I meet most of my friends. The metalheads as we call them are 'normal' people with just a different taste in music.

I, now work at FAREI as Assistant Research Scientist but has been an ex holistic teacher. I can say that our girls nowadays lack compassion. They lack the strength to stand on their own, be independent. The reason we should educate not only our girls but also our boys to make them understand that it is okay to be different.
On this 8 March 2019, I would like to request our girls to follow their dreams. To be exactly the person they have always wanted to be. Don't worry about being the next Joan of Arc or Beyonce, be the next YOU. Celebrate yourselves.