My cup runneth over... and over...
I was reminded of a favourite saying by Eleanor Roosevelt this week interviewing one of our strong #IAmTourism women, Asanda Daraza.
Toasty in a technicolour scarf and glowing with youthful enthusiasm in our interview, Asanda had been using it as words of encouragement for young women whose dreams of working in tourism had been temporarily derailed by the lockdown.
"We posted it on our WhatsApp group," she explained. "A woman is like a teabag. You never know how strong she is until she's in hot water." Indeed, I thought. If there was a temperature for COVID, it would be positively volcanic.
Earl Grey, Rooibos or Darjeeling - pick your poison, Eleanor. Had I been a teabag right now I would be steeped, strained and squeezed within a microfibre of my being. Come to think of it, quite possibly saved for another dunking when next it's time for tea. Hold the biscuits.
I'm not the only one, of course. So, on the eve of Women's Day, I couldn't wait for tomorrow to be the first to thank those women who have willingly allowed themselves to be steeped in that torrid bath, over and over, and got behind the #IAmTourism lobby for a safe and swift reopening of tourism so that women can reignite their livelihoods in South Africa.
Thank you to the 2,300-odd women who submitted their #IAmTourism photographs. Thank you to the 31 women who have agreed to lend their #IAmTourism voice to those women in tourism who have no voice. Thank you to the women who are transcribing interviews, writing blogs, rallying the troops, sending WhatsApps, sharing social media posts, checking in to see if we're still steeped, shrivelled and sane.
And thank you to the women who keep that ship sailing while some of us are preoccupied with fighting the fire in the engine room. You know who you are. And you know it's not over. All hands on deck.
But most of all, this Women's Day, thank you to the men, yes men, who have donned the #IAmTourism mantle with grace and enthusiasm, making the cause their own. Because of course, there's no better time to pay tribute to the men who have stood with their women colleagues in tourism, regardless of the day, and how piping hot they've found the water themselves, than Women's Day.
(We also know you've tried to sneak in the odd #IAmTourism image into the mix. It's OK. We've allowed a few #IAmTourism Labradors to get in on the action, so why shouldn't you.)
So, this Women's Day (or the night before, shall we say) we get ready for another round or 10 of dunking. We know that that teabag still has to last us a long time. And it will last a lot longer if we have each other's backs even when we least want to. Remember to breathe!
That's the lesson I've taken from this #IAmTourism journey - we are truly blessed to have the people we have in our industry. They keep giving me the energy to dive right back into that hot water and give just that little bit more. But also just to sit, wait and let things steep before I hurtle headfirst and fuel that volcano.
On this eve of Women's Day, I am filled with gratitude for everything that you do.
So whether your poison's Earl Grey, Rooibos or Darjeeling, or the biscuits of course, here's a taste of a bit of #IAmTourism gratitude for tea.
Happy Women's Day, South Africa. #IAmTourism, are you?