So…
On the 8th of March 2016 which happens to be the international women day, I walked to my local convenience store to pick up a latte grande and my newspaper so i could sit on my balcony and read before making wigs. As i walked down to the store my phone started sending Facebook notifications and i had been tagged in a few posts as well as on twitter by Expressen (Sweden’s largest daily newspaper).
I clicked the notification and it took me straight to their website where my name was printed alongside people i love and admire as well as Princess Madeleine of Sweden. It turns out i was named one of the women of 2016 who were deemed to be making changes in society for the better. I couldn’t believe it! My heart was pumping so hard that i thought i would faint before reaching my destination! I walked into the corner shop and had to sit down to catch my breath! The store owners who are used to seeing me in my dark sunglasses every morning started smiling from ear to ear and ask if i knew that i was in the newspaper that day. She then ran over to the stands and gave me one of the newspapers and right there was my face smiling back at me.
So many thoughts were rushing through my head that I cannot even begin to explain half of them but the one thought that stood out before the others was ” I wonder what ya is thinking”. If you do not know Ya is my nana, my moms mom and my beloved grandmother who partially raised me in The Gambia and passed away in 2014. I kept picturing her kind face smiling at me, i fantasised about being able to call her and say “Ya guess what happened today” but of course no one would pick up on the other end of the phone. My grandmother is the kind of woman who would be proud of her grandchildren even if you only won a sack race, and i know wherever she is she is definitely with me on every milestone that i hit in my life. I only wish many times that she was beside me for another 100 years but Gods plan is something i cannot change.
My mom probably has 50 copies of the magazine in her house! and she was beaming with pride that day and repeating “mashallah” haha
The entire day transpired into a bursts of happiness throughout with friends, families and acquaintances texting, calling and wishing me well. And I can happily say that it was one of the happiest days of my life.
Thank you to everyone on the Expressen Panel who chose all these wonderful marvellous women and I am humbled to have been considered in 2016.
