Trigger Warning: I talk about genocide and mentions of SA and r*pe.

Today is International Women’s Day and boy what a year it has been for women. A lot has happened since the last women’s day and a lot has happened since the beginning of 2024.

If you also live in the Western world then you are very aware of what is happening around the world. At least, I hope so. However you get your news it is important to get it and to fact check it because it is astounding how much people can lie or twist the truth.

There are two topics that interest me this Women’s Day. The first being Palestine, Sudan, Congo and Ethiopia.

In all of those countries women are suffering right now. Of course, the men and children are also suffering, we can’t forget that, but as this is Women’s Day I am focusing on them

Women in Palestine do not have sanitary products (pads, tampons etc) and those who are pregnant are miscarrying due to the stress and horror of the genocide. I heard a horrific story of what happened to a woman in Ethiopia (to do with SA and r*pe) in the conflict going on there and I thought, how can a human being go through that and remain sane? How can a human being doing that to another human being full stop. And this is happening many times over to women in these conflict zones.

I would say there is an honest crisis worldwide for women. When the world goes to shit the crimes against women rises.

Feminism is for all women. We’re not free until we are all free.

It does make me feel helpless when I hear about all of this. Like, what can I do? How can I help? Sometimes I feel like I am just intaking information but it remains with me as I don’t know what to do with it.

One of the things I’ve discovered, or seen, that I can do is inform others about what is happening around the world. I can make sure that I do not forget what is happening and try to bring about change in any way that I can. Even if the change I bring about is just within my immediate area that’s better than nothing.

If I can bring awareness to my family and friends is that not a good first step? I bring awareness to them and they pass it and pass it on and pass it on.

There are also organisations one can donate to. For example I have heard of Friends of Congo, UNICEF, The Palestine Red Crescent Society and Red Cross. Those are the ones I have heard of the most and that I have seen actually actively helping (or trying to help as they haven’t been allowed entry of late).

Lastly I would recommend you watch Bisan’s latest video on @no2ta_fl on Instagram. There she talks about how they are on day 152 of the genocide and asks how we can celebrate an ‘International Women’s Day’ when international law is not being upheld. It’s a valid point. We are not free until we are all free. They need a permanent ceasefire. As someone who comes from a nation that suffered from a genocide, Rwanda, I will never support any nation doing it. Never. There is no justification for it. It is horrible and the effects are long lasting.

We lost half of our family, more than half. One of my grandmothers said at her sister’s, my maternal grandma, funeral that she never thought our family would recover and be so big. She saw many of her family members buried, a lot of her siblings and nieces and nephews, her parents, her friends. We couldn’t bury them one by one and a lot were buried in a mass grave. She saw that and thought we would never recover. Then years past and our family has doubled in size, hence more than a hundred people on the zoom call for grandma’s funeral (it was during Covid so we couldn’t all go in person). Those who are lost can never be replaced of course, but we are glad that as a nation we did not cease to exist.

I was born in the mist of that like so many children are right now in Gaza. I would not have survived if we did not save ourselves because the international community failed us. They said “Never again” and yet here we are. The only thing is Palestine doesn’t have its own military or rebel fighters, how are they going to save themselves? They can’t. They need a ceasefire and they need it now.