I am pleased, humbled and honoured to receive this prestigious award .I
have always admired the efforts of the Women of Wonder campaign and that makes
this award all the more special.
I would like to firstly thank my Creator for blessing me in
abundance.
My heartfelt thanks to the hosts, sponsors, organizers and attendees of
this prestigious event. I wish you further success and that this event grows
from strength to strength.
Thanks to my late grandparents, who through their example; defined what
hard work, dedication and selflessness meant. Their lessons have been and
will always be a source of inspiration.
Thank you to the rest of my family for supporting me and helping me
through this journey called life. Thank you to my staff for their hard work, perseverance, dedication and outstanding character displayed towards all our patients. Without them, Medix pharmacy will be non-existent.
Lastly and most importantly; I would not be standing where I am if it
were not for the unwavering and infinite support of my amazing parents. I have
never taken compliments to heart, because all of them actually belong to you both.
You sacrificed your own happiness, just so that I could be happy and live my
dreams. I hope to always make you smile, thank you.
As we celebrate and recognize the success of women, let us also reflect
on what defines success. I will leave you with beautiful words on success that resonates
within me, by Ralph Waldo Emerson:
What is success?
To laugh often and much,
to win the respect of elders and the affection of children,
to leave the world a better place,
to know even one life has breathed easier because of you,
this is to have succeeded.
Whilst the event was superbly organised in terms of decor,
food and entertainment, in all fairness I also need to be critical of a few
underlying flaws that I noticed. I trust and hope that the organizers of the
event will take note of the constructive criticism as there is always room for
improvement in any business or organization. I am a person who always speaks my
mind and my heart. I am always true to myself. I do not mean to
offend anyone. Please forgive me if I have.
Firstly, I was quite aghast at the fact that the guest
speaker was a recipient of the award last year. This year she received the award
once again. In fact there were a few women who received the award last year and
then again this year. My heartiest congratulations goes out to all of them.
They are truly an inspiration to many. However, with the Interpol ambassador clarifying
that this country officially has more women than men are we then saying that
there just aren’t enough women out there who are capable of receiving this
prestigious award and hence the award needs to be awarded to the same recipient
year after year. From my past
experiences I have found that the sponsors of an event receive gifts and bouquets
of appreciation but never an award.
What criterion did the organizers utilize in order to nominate
an individual for the award? Most of the women who received an award were
professional women who have excelled in their field. Yes, no doubt they do
deserve recognition. And I compliment the Panache team for making every recipient
feel special. Many of the recipients are
from influential homes and are affluent in a personal capacity. But what about
those women in our community who are not educated or from affluent homes yet
they do their bit for humanity in their own personal capacity. They are the
unsung heroines of our neighbourhoods and communities. In the past I have met a
few women who utilize their monthly income to sustain orphans in their
community. Many of these kids were given away at birth or abandoned as kids due
to the fact that their parents are addicted to drugs. These selfless women within our communities
who are struggling themselves to make ends meet yet choose to assist others, they
need to be recognized and saluted for their efforts as well. Last year I met an
elderly Zulu woman who feeds kids in a squatter camp. She suffers from a few
ailments and commutes great distances to work and home. These are the kind of
women that we need to acknowledge as well. These are the kind of women we need
to find within our neighbourhoods. We need to appreciate them and salute them
for their unselfish acts of kindness. When I see the heart they have for
others, it makes me unworthy of the award that I received on Saturday night. In my humble opinion, I think for next year’s
event every community should nominate a candidate from their suburb. This
should be done on a national level. It
should be an award for women, by women supported by the people of SA. South Africa is made up of a diaspora of
cultures . Correct me if I’m wrong, but I do not think that each race group was
adequately represented at Saturday night’s function. The
majority of the awards went to Indian South African women. Let us create an
event that represents the rainbow nation.
In so doing, we will recognize and salute women from all walks of life irrespective
of race, colour, creed,social status, educational or family background. This is how we
ultimately build a nation. This award function then becomes a super wow event by acknowledging even ordinary women. I would like to take the opportunity in complimenting
Mr Abdul Rahim Rasool for singing some of my favourite songs so beautifully.
Just a pity the audience were a tad bit stiff to cheer him along. Well done Mr.
Rasool. Hope to see more of you at future events. A big shout out to the dancers who performed at
the magical event with absolute grace and finesse. I thoroughly
enjoyed the semi classical piece that was performed by the male dancer. Every
move was executed with sheer precision. And last but not least I was blown away
by the strength and resilience portrayed by the female karate artists. They
have proven yet again that whilst a woman may be perceived as being weak or fragile,
she not only possesses inner strength but outer strength as well. The women who
performed at Saturday night’s event were all petite and elegant but wow,
absolute power houses. After all, dynamite
does come in small packages. Never ever underestimate the strength of a woman. Thank
you Panache once again for a well put together fun filled evening. All the best
in your future endeavours!
