WEEK 3: DIGNITY, WORTH & EMERGENCE
Theme: Healing self-worth and rediscovering what it means to thrive
“What if you stopped proving your worth — and simply believed it?”
This week, we reflect on what it means to hold dignity in a world shaped by trauma, poverty, and generations of survival. So often, we tie our worth to what we give, endure, or sacrifice. Poverty trauma especially tells women: your value lies in how much you carry.
But is that true?
Nature shows us something different.
This week, two animals are honoured on global observance days:
The Orangutan – large, intelligent, deeply communal
The Mosquito – tiny, often feared, yet critical to ecological balance
At first glance, they seem like opposites. But both belong. Both trust the earth to provide. They are not burdened with beliefs of being too much or not enough. They aren’t trying to be worthy – they just are.
Neither is a slave to scarcity. They act with instinct and certainty, not shame. They do not apologise for needing, resting, or existing.
So why do we?
Why do so many women question their value? Why are so many told that dignity must be earned – or that it belongs only to those who work the hardest, give the most, or suffer silently?
Never Give Up Day (August 18) reminds us that courage is not just about effort – it’s about self-belief.
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition (August 23) reminds us that systems of oppression once defined people by their usefulness – and that trauma still echoes.
And yet, women everywhere are quietly reclaiming their dignity:
Through rest.
Through small businesses born of faith, not wealth.
Through saying no without guilt.
Through wearing colour, creating art, asking for help.
REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS
What would it mean if you were already worthy of comfort, rest, and support – just by being alive?
How have you been taught to prove your value?
Where can you soften this belief – even slightly?
Like the orangutan and mosquito, you are part of something bigger. You were not meant to earn your place – you were born into it.
“There is no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its women.” – Nelson Mandela
Next week, we’ll explore how poverty trauma shapes our voice – and what it means to speak for ourselves again.
We’ll align it with powerful international days that centre voices, language, and the courage to express our truth.