A Wonderful Dilemma: Nominating for World Pulse Spirit Awards

The woman who knows what to write did not show up today. It's the time of year to offer names of World Pulse women, with reasons we are putting their names forward for recognition and prizes. Their stories, their life's work, their beauty, their determination, their donation of their time, for us to find a way to describe what they are doing, and why we want to see them honoured. 

Sometimes it's not easy to face the blank page. Stories of such kindness, such devotion, such trust in the power of giving of oneself to better the world, to see all women safe, and free. To experience through her work the transformation of a woman, of a girl, from a life of violence to a life of joy. 

It's not easy to fill a blank page, to write fast enough, long enough to even begin to describe the work that my sisters are doing. It's not easy to fill a blank page to do justice to this work, to feel the collective pain of what we know, to feel the reality of what is being done, to feel the anger, the rage at why this work is being done with so little money, to feel the sorrow, to know about yet another woman who has been hurt so badly, another girl struggling to believe in herself, in her life. And to continue to find the strength to transform this to action.

The woman who knows what to write did not show up today. She began to read and could not stop reading, she revisited all the stories of women she wants to write about, to put forward to receive an award. This is the second year for the World Pulse Spirit Awards. Sometimes it is not easy to fill a blank page when there are so many names that belong on that page. The woman who knows what to write keeps reading, keeps learning, keeps adding to her list the names of these women who deserve this prize, who deserve all the funding they need for the transformational work. These works that bring hope, and food, and medicine, and sewing machines, and books, and love in all its forms to women and girls whose own hopes and dreams begin to be realized.

So this woman who knows what to write will continue to read and remember and write about women who are outstanding and what they have accomplished, grateful for all of the sisters writing too, giving us  information about the precious work being done, and contributing to the joy we have at this time of year, learning, reflecting, documenting what these women do, what all of us see and notice and are inspired by, that they are too modest to mention, themselves.

And this woman who knows what to write cannot start without mentioning our Leaders, our Team, our Board, how brilliantly this organization has been set up, how without it we may well have never met. How they have lovingly crafted this organization that is built with the ideas of all of us, which has been working ahead of us smoothing out this road to change, making it easy for us to find each other, giving us a platform to voice the world we know is possible, keeping safe and visible the work that we're doing, creating ways for us to work, and network, by being an Encourager, an Ambassador, a Change Maker, a Mentor. Opening pathways for our work to be known in the world. Opening pathways for us to collaborate with each other and grow in ways we had only dreamed of before. Answering our calls for help, from the tiniest tech problem, even problems we are embarrassed not to know how to solve, to the big question. How do we make this change happen. 

So this woman who knows what to write, will write, knowing that it would be a volume of  encyclopedias before she would feel finished, knowing what she knows, from reading and networking on World Pulse, taking solace from the lack of time and space that is the reality because of how many she wants to name, and so with this first nomination, celebrating that this is a collective celebration and that we all know that there is not enough time, there are not enough pages to do justice to everyone here, and that we also know that by describing how each other have accomplished the seemingly impossible, the celebration of one sister is a celebration of us all.

So in celebration of us all and what we have together now, this nomination for the Spirit of World Pulse, belongs to our magnificent Team and Board:  Jensine, Dawn, Manasa, Jill, Karen, Ana, Maya, Montushi, Corine, Krizelle, Emily, Tiffany, Kay, Alyssa, Lynn, Anne, Jessica, Olutosin, Shofali, Beth, Colleen, Chi Yvonne Leina, Daphne, Mahnaz, Theresa, Aparna, Jody, Shadra, Jamie, Jeanine, Joy, and Jenna.