World Pulse gave me gumption

I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to World Pulse for being that force that pushed me to speak out on domestic violence and abuse even when I was too afraid to speak out in my own country.

I wasn't so much afraid of how society would see me, as much as if my abuser would have knowledge of me not only standing up against him, but fighting for the right for others to do the same.

Then I came here and felt that my fight paled in comparison to some and this changed my fears not to courage, but to gumption.

I read of women fighting for the right to an education, of girls demanding that their bodies not be mutilated, of voices shouting for basic amenities, even as life depending as clean water. I knew without a doubt I had joined a sisterhood of individuals who would encourage, inspire, educate and support me and others, even when they lived oceans apart.

This platform not only gave me an avenue to raise my voice, but to draw on my own inner courage.

I mean, think about, it I went from suffering in silence, in a country that is considered a dot on the map, to shouting out my outrage to the world!! And I thought I was a coward.

World Pulse helped me to harness both my profession as a journalist/reporter and my ordeal, marry the two and be a global voice for thousands in my country who are presently like I was...suffering in fearful silence.

I thank World Pulse and its team for being a forum for positive  global change and for continuing to be the silent voice from which we, women, advocates, sisters are heard loudly, clearly across local, regional and international waters.

You have been the global Public Announcement Speakers from which I and thousands of others have been able to speak out of, safely, freely and without persecution. Thank you on behalf of the many voices I hear and faces I see, joined in solidarity against the ills of this world.