I have fallen way back in writing about our Study Group presentations. Six nine presentations have been done since I last wrote. Five women of steel have had their stories told.
Women who inspired poetry, women who shaped their nations; women who supported their husbands, women who took to the battlefield. Women who dealt with the horrors of war.
If the Rani of Jhansi, the young Manu, joined in the fray of the Mutiny of 1857, elevating it to the First War of Independence, there was Elizabeth Choy, a school teacher who wanted no part of war. Her quiet and uneventful life turned into a nightmare when the Japanese arrived in Singapore.
If Khadijah was the pillar of strength and support for her young, visionary husband, the Prophet Mohammed, Olivia Raffles was the woman who was Stamford Raffles’ guide and mentor.
And if Sorghaktani Beki, mother of the mighty Kublai Khan and daughter-in-law of Genghis Khan himself, helped foster four mighty rulers, there are the courageous women of Afghanisthan, who seem to be fighting a battle for survival on an everyday basis!
Each of the Study Group participants has presented their hero with empathy and understanding. And each week, we have gone back with a sense of awe that regular, everyday, housewives and moms, young or middle aged, in a state of penury or otherwise, have risen to the challenges they faced. Not just risen, but faced head on and overcome those challenges. Some survived, some gave their lives, but each one left a lasting impression.
Footsteps hard to follow in…