I love my life and I love what I do. Over the past fortnight I had the privilege of speaking to five very different groups of women on the occasion of International Women’s Day. Living in a place like India and doing the work I do gives me the opportunity to meet the most interesting people from the whole spectrum of society.It all started befittingly on March 1 when I was invited to speak to a group of women at the International Church here in Delhi. These women come to India because of their job or their husband’s job. They are very well off by Indian standards and most of them really want to help while they are here. Many are involved in charity work, which is how I know them. They welcomed me and were very encouraging of the work HOPE worldwide and the church do here.
The next Women’s Day on March 9th could not have been any more different. I spoke to a group of about a hundred women in the
Sanjay Gandhi slum where HOPE worldwide runs a maternal health program. These women are amazing. They lead very challenging lives, are extremely poor, yet have a resilience of spirit which is really inspiring. Under our guidance they have taken leadership roles in their community and are leading the way to fight poverty and prejudice. The joy and the zeal in that meeting was exhilarating!The next day on March 10th I spoke to a large crowd of almost 600 women at the New Delhi Church of Christ’s Women’s Day. Many women attended for the first time. About 20 of my friends came along, some of whom were women I invited at the first women’s day I
spoke at on March 1. The crowd was eclectic but focused on reaching out to the world as Christian women. The theme was “Beyond Beauty”. I spoke along with Parimala, one of the young women’s ministry leaders here in Delhi. We talked about true beauty, what it means, and how we can achieve it. True beauty comes from inside and is not ruled by outward appearance. We also addressed the issue of the women’s role and how women are treated in view of the recent rape case which has galvanised society in India and even beyond our borders.The next day I spoke to the women who work full time for HOPE foundation and HOPE worldwide in New Delhi. These women are
real modern day heroes, reaching out to the poorest of the poor day after day in very challenging conditions. We had a fun catwalk competition. We all decided we were a lot better at the “slum walk” than the catwalk. The slum walk involves avoiding holes in the roads, raw sewage, cow pats, dead rats, etc. These women love their work. It is a calling. They spread the love of Christ through their work and exemplify what a life of sacrifice looks like.
Finally the last Women’s Day event I spoke at was in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. Here again we spoke on the topic of “true Beauty”. Kathmandu and the women of Nepal hold a special place in my heart. They are gritty courageous women who live in harsh conditions, braving 18 hour daily power cuts, soaring prices in a challenging economic situation, frequent general strikes, yet they display a joy and zest for life which is so convicting!I consider myself blessed and honoured to live in this part of the world and to be able to share with so many amazing women. The women of South Asia have changed my life. They are strong, resilient, and beautiful women!
