Thread by @quotethiswoman

And our first #StorySlam is under way. MC @verashni opens proceedings, welcomes everyone. We are going to talk about how women find their voices.
#LeaveNoVoiceBehind #WomensVoicesMatter

@verashni We are the first generation coming forward - we need to support each other. Today we are telling our stories says @verashni, award-winning journalist, founder of explain.co.za, former editor Mail and Guardian and Huffpost.
#LeaveNoVoiceBehind #WomensVoicesMatter

@verashni Dr Tlalang Mofokeng is talking in a pre-recorded video - she remembers being eight in QwaQWA, learning to throw stones at a Nyala. She knew it wasn't normal. @drtlaleng #NoVoiceLeftBehind #StorySlam

@verashni @drtlaleng Dr T says people who look like her, who share her history - some of them don't make it. Doesn't sit well with her that luck is what girls need to survive - important for her to make sure her vision makes sense for the country too. #NoVoiceLeftBehind #StorySlam @drtlaleng

@verashni @drtlaleng .@drtlaleng : There is so much in the world that disempowers women - it her mission to make sure we live in a world where women can laugh from their bellies, where their voices can be heard.
#StorySlam #NoVoiceLeftBehind

@verashni @drtlaleng Next story is from Esihle Mhluzi, model, lawyer in training, writer and activist. #StorySlam #NoVoiceLeftBehind

@verashni @drtlaleng .@esihle_mhluzi says she is not here to talk about the things she can't do - she is here to say every time doors closed on her, it was worth it.
#StorySlam #NoVoiceLeftBehind

@verashni @drtlaleng @Esihle_Mhluzi I affirmed myself from a young age, being in this body didn't mean I had to embrace complacency says @Esihle_Mhluzi. "I am fighting for every kind of woman."
#StorySlam #NoVoiceLeftBehind

@verashni @drtlaleng @Esihle_Mhluzi .@verashni talks about her career - she went far, really fast. But then it want bad, she had a huge public failure. So she took some time out, made herself smaller. #StorySlam #NoVoiceLeftBehind

@verashni @drtlaleng @Esihle_Mhluzi Verashni says she took a job below her capacity - "but when we make ourselves small we forget how big we can be. I got smaller and smaller, until I had almost forgotten my voice."
#StorySlam #NoVoiceLeftBehind

@verashni @drtlaleng @Esihle_Mhluzi .@Verashni says it took the voice of another woman (@imanrappetti) to help her find her voice again.
#StorySlam #NoVoiceLeftBehind

@verashni @drtlaleng @Esihle_Mhluzi @imanrappetti Next storyteller in our #StorySlam is Cheryl Benadie is a first-generation facilitator and coach on a mission to inspire hope and foster wholeness. @WholenessAtWork #NoVoiceLeftBehind

@verashni @drtlaleng @Esihle_Mhluzi @imanrappetti @WholenessAtWork Cheryl talks about process of losing her voice... a long process of being silenced by violence. "Women's voices are muffled to protect our captors."
#StorySlam #NoVoiceLeftBehind
@WholenessAtWork

@verashni @drtlaleng @Esihle_Mhluzi @imanrappetti @WholenessAtWork "I am finally beginning to find my true voice - women's voices are dangerous because they speak love and light and healing. To live whole in a broken world is a true act of rebellion." - Cheryl Benadie on our #StorySlam #NoVoiceLeftBehind

@verashni @drtlaleng @Esihle_Mhluzi @imanrappetti @WholenessAtWork .@verashni said we would have heard from @ShireenMotara - but won't be hearing her story now - but it is on QW+ Facebook page: facebook.com/watch/?v=69797…

@verashni @drtlaleng @Esihle_Mhluzi @imanrappetti @WholenessAtWork .@KathyMagrobi - QW+ director and founder telling her story. How the pain of trigeminal neuralgia took her voice away. #StorySlam #NoVoiceLeftBehind

@verashni @drtlaleng @Esihle_Mhluzi @imanrappetti @WholenessAtWork @KathyMagrobi Idea for QuoteThisWoman+ started when she realised there would be no cure for her condition - she had lost her agency. The essence of QW+ is this: every woman whose voice needs to be heard is a mix of pain and possibility.
#StorySlam #NoVoiceLeftBehind

@verashni @drtlaleng @Esihle_Mhluzi @imanrappetti @WholenessAtWork @KathyMagrobi Thank you to everyone who attended our #StorySlam! @verashni urges everyone to keep supporting QW+ and our fundraising campaign. You can do that here: backabuddy.co.za/quote-this-wom…

@verashni @drtlaleng @Esihle_Mhluzi @imanrappetti @WholenessAtWork @KathyMagrobi And thank you to all the people who shared their inspirational stories. Take a bow: @drtlaleng @esihle_mhluzi @WholenessAtWork @ShireenMotara and @verashni , who told her story and held us all together!
#StorySlam #NoVoiceLeftBehind

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