Inclusion, a concept born of selfishness.

About a month ago, my friend phoned me asking about the women that inspire me. Such a random question at the time and I said, ‘Teresa Mendoza.’ Teresa Mendoza is a lead character in the series Queen of the South, portrayed by Brazilian actor Alice Braga, which I was binge watching. I said, ‘Okay, women who’ve made history, women of the Bible but most of the time, women like Ms. Mendoza.’ The conversation evolved into an International Women’s Month brainstorming session.

I later stumbled upon the Netflix docudrama Biblical series ‘Testament: The Story of Moses.’ The production achieves a great balance in simplifying the story of Moses from a prince to a liberator as told in the Bible, the Quran, and the Torah. The series also highlights Moses’ struggles as a human being. He comes across as stubborn, easily angered, inquisitive and at the same time gentle, respectful, loving, and brave, among others. All traits with which we can relate.

The one thing I notice early in the series is the role of women as enablers and influencers for Egyptians, Hebrews, and the Midianites. When Moses wanders off into the desert after killing one of the guards, he ends up in Median at Jethro’s well, exhausted and dehydrated. Zipporah (Sephora in Arabic), allows him to have some water and he makes a quick but subtle pass at her, disguised as a thank you.

Zipporah confronts Naum, an Ishmaelite who questions her entertaining of the stranger (Moses) and proceeds to invite Moses to her father’s house. She later convinces her father to offer him her late brother’s shepherd role and eventually, they get married and bear two sons. If you ask me, Zipporah successfully shot her shot -??.

When Moses receives the instruction from God to go and deliver the Israelites, Zipporah is convinced after a few fights and walks beside her husband throughout the execution, constantly reminding him that it was God who had sent him. She quickly rises to a vision enabler by strongly supporting Moses when he got disappointed or grew weary. When they finally arrive in Egypt, Aaron, Moses’ brother, presents him to his sister Miriam who is hesitant at first but quickly becomes an ally. Moses’ biological mother, Jochebed, now old and ailing recognizes him and welcomes him home. Moses meets the elders and he’s challenged to proof that; indeed, the God of Hebrews had spoken to him. He’s sent to an old lady, who had been told of God’s identity/name by her mother as a way of confirmation and she affirms by song that Moses was God sent.

Moses then approaches his adoptive mother, Bithiah, a prince, and Ramses sister, who is the ruling Pharaoh. Not any other Pharaoh, the most ambitious, stubborn, and fierce warriors to ever rule Egypt at the time. After a bit of back and forth, they hatch a plan to meet Pharaoh on his birthday, during which he’s known to grant his subjects’ wishes. This scene is the beginning of the ten plagues. I still cannot get over the plague of frogs and lice, I wonder what was going through God’s mind with these two.

During the last plague, Miriam invites Moses’ adoptive, Bithiah, into their home, saving her from the angel of death since she was a first born. Bithiah comes across as conflicted, she loves her brother, Pharaoh, but does not agree with his ways, she also loves her now Hebrew family and believes they deserve freedom. Eventually, she chooses to go with her Hebrew family.

Zipporah, Miriam, and Bithiah become Moses’ and Aaron’s Exco throughout the journey. When they get to Median and Moses decides to go up Mt. Sinai to seek God who had now ghosted him, the Elder decides to shake up things a bit and asks Aaron to make them a god. The Exco does not agree but for peace’s sake, Aaron makes them a golden calf. Upon his return, Moses drops the ten laws in anger and again, Zipporah and Miriam become central in rewriting these laws.

When the Israelites did not have food in the desert, it is Zipporah who discovers the white powder, Manna, perched on shrubs and invites the women to collect and process it for bread.

When they get to Moab, Moses, now old, frail and in his feelings in typical Moses’ fashion, sights Canaan and calls it the promised land which he will never get to. Zipporah, (the Continuity Manager either forgot to age her or she was way younger than Moses), runs to comfort him with the assurance that his children will enjoy Canaan.

The women in this series buy into Moses’s vision more deeply than him and constantly remind him of his calling when he falters. It is also worth noting that Zipporah left Median the first time with their two sons, the youngest being months old, carrying him on her back until they returned. Moses does not at any time look at these women as ‘women,’ he constantly turns to them for advice and consultation. He does not need a class on inclusion, a concept born on the back of selfishness. I think it would have been harder for Moses to deliver the Israelites without these women, but I also think God deliberately placed them beside him.

In other news, Senegal elected 44-year-old Diomaye Faye President, making him the youngest President on the continent. He took to the podium with his two wives on either side. Not the first African leader to have to wives but the first to acknowledge and showcase them publicly. Let’s see how they do in the office/s of the first lady/ies.

Happy International Women’s Month and a blessed Good Friday.

MK’s World.

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