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This year World Women’s Day celebrates the theme of DigitALL; that is, Innovation and technology for gender equality. Now you may be asking yourself what this has to do with our trips and how we dovetail it into our adventures. Travelling with Oasis Overland will show you the answer to this.
As we share our journey with you through rural villages and communities, you will notice that it is often the women who are selling you vegetables, food stuffs and curios that make your journey all the more community integrative and fun. Despite language barriers, women are able to communicate on an intuitive level; a woman will know what you need to buy to feed a group and she will be proud of what she has harvested early that morning to be able to, not only feed you organic foodstuffs, but also to feed her own family at the end of a long working day. More often than not, the ladies selling to you in local markets along our journey will have babies and small children at their side; they are combining work and motherhood in a way that defies the rationale that multitasking is not possible. This they do through necessity not simply because they want to do it.
The women you meet are not selling their wares because they are lacking intelligence; given the opportunity, many of these ladies would be captains of industry. However, the opportunities have not been made available to them, either through formal education, reading self-help books or having the luxury of working on their self-development. But, their innate intelligence and innovation must never be underestimated – they manage on a daily basis to grow a product that is sellable, sell that product, raise children, feed their families and all the while working as a collective group that allows them to lean on each other in hard times and celebrate the good. As Robin Sharma says, “Your work is your craft. Your life is your art.” How many of us can say we have lived each day as richly, and how many of us can do it without an electronic technological device that reminds us of what we need to do and at what time?
This year, the United Nations have chosen the DigitALL theme for the 67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW-67) {IUCN.org}. There is something here that should strike you – 67 years into the commission, how much progress has been made regarding gender equality? Should 8 March not be a day to celebrate the achievement of goals rather than still trying to reach them?
As individuals, we are not able to make the global changes necessary; but we are all able to contribute towards gender equality and economic balance one step at a time – as the Chinese Philosopher Lao Tzu said “the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”. The next time you are greeted with a delightful and friendly smile from a market vendor, remember how this particular lady brightens your day and sells you much needed nourishment or travel mementos by which to remember your holiday. Ask yourself – “would I be able to do this?”