WALKING IN VICTORY
Cocooned under the weight of insecure attachments, oppression, intolerance, discrimination, racism, fractured familial relationships, alienation, and displacement resulting in low self-esteem and self-worth
I lived with the brokenness that kept me in bondage by the history of cruelty, negativity, conflict and insecurity!
I am a product of a mother, my Rosebud, steadfast in her belief in education being the driver for freedom. And her legacy of aiming high is part of my DNA! A qualified teacher who was denied opportunity once in the UK, whose intellect was invisible to decision makers, authorities, whose education was unexpected, unacknowledged and consequently dismissed and negated.
That proud matriarch forced to work in a factory all her life to reunite with/and provide for her children. She instilled in her children a work ethic, embedding a sense of pride even when the environment felt like it was closing in. An environment hungry in its determination to consume but Rosebud always encouraging, inspired her children to avoid the engulfment by blessing them with a legacy where they listen and hear her silent voice reverberating loudly in the unconscious mind. That voice so familiar pleading, prodding, forcefully pushing seeking for a place of acceptance in the psyche reminding us that the greatest learning comes from the most adverse experiences.
Her legacy of pride, of determination of a success-oriented mindset driven by a hunger for a different experience for her offspring’s. A difference that showcased, that celebrated, that expected trueness, ambition, a hunger for improvement self-actualisation and personal satisfaction.
A woman who had battled the issues of colourism and rejection. That early battle resulting in her children’s father (my father) abandoning her and everything familiar to travel to the UK – a cowardly act of rejection, separation, escapism of distance from all responsibilities seeking to maintain warped value bases and short-sighted respect for those less aware and deluded. Because you see, they reconciled once she too was supported by loved ones to travel to the UK.
The 6 young fruits of their loins left with their maternal grandmother. A grandmother unaware of the turmoil of forced change, of the deception of acceptance, of the betrayal of a broken promise of limitless opportunity. Her precious grandchildren joining their mother in the UK two by two. A sacrifice both celebrated and rejected!!!! That grandmother never knowing of the aftermath of that move the beginning of a different trauma and scarring so deep, with no language of explanation – at that time!!
That grandmother a prayer warrior who prayed hared, loved fiercely, uncompromising in her vision of righteousness and expectation of excellence in school, church, at home and definitely in the village because ‘one’s standing in the community’ and reputation was everything.
She had no concept of the heavy weight of the social determinants that plagued communities, her daughter, her grandchildren in the UK, the land where the ‘streets were paved with gold’? She never knew of the teachers’ blatant disregard in their disrespect within an education system that had no expectation or commitment to the attainment of her grandchildren. She never knew of their suffering in a cold society that shunned, spat at, hailed ‘Hitler’ during those weekend National Front marches past the now familiar streets, their street, marches in areas that they were expected to call ‘home’. Marches by mothers, fathers, siblings, and other family members of their peers – and later, not too many years later, their peers also celebrating this heinous organisation spewing their hate crime joyously with pride as they too joined these marches of loathing.
My metamorphic transformation was borne out of cognitive maturity, a hunger and exposure to knowledge from supplementary schools and educated others to an awareness of the beauty within, a pride in my history, a celebration of newness, new beginnings, the beginning of wholeness.
My salvation, my reconnection with Jehovah God, my resurrection, my rebirth, reclaiming my faith, those buried dreams, reframing my mindset and perceptions guided by my almighty Father, a God of miracles, a God of rescue, a God of wholeness, a God of infinite wisdom, power, a God who never sleeps, an all-knowing God who never fails and is always on time.
My Emancipation, a freedom with a divine mandate to use self to be grounded in purpose, to harness my truth, secure in the knowledge that with my God now in control I can give myself permission to walk in a belief system that surpasses understanding, to challenge every memory that subconsciously held my dreams and perception of self hostage.
I use the light of faith and knowledge to embrace and illuminate the reality of freedom of thought, advancement of purpose and truth to view life/self through a new set of lenses. Lenses that challenged what had been accepted as the reality, the norm for that time, a learning that supported a release of awareness enough to rip away the veil of subservience, break down the stronghold of submission, to set free the chains of incarceration and strongholds of fear that shattered the glass ceilings that held one captive.
I embrace this opportunity that’s enabled me to use my journey underpinned by trauma to be the driver of my vision, the captain of my goals, the cheerleader of my aspirations and Director of Freedom to Fly (FTF). FTF a divine directive set up in obedience to enlighten, to educate, to elevate, to showcase and support one’s evolution and empowerment to tap into those internal resources because all one seeks is within self.
My evolution has enabled me to understand and communicate trauma informed approaches to galvanise thoughts, desires, mission, vision, aspiration in driving FTF to ‘see’ the invisible, hear the ‘unspoken’ and give voice to the ‘silenced’ all towards an empowering ethos that sets adults free to empower and safeguard children to enrich their experiences and enhance their life chances via a strength-based framework of knowledge and expertise.
I view self as a conduit for reflection and change because I’m purposeful in my mission and decree to reach out and ‘rescue’ God’s children. A divine order to capitalise on events like this to enable others to mirror a hunger and belief that truly sets one free.
Today, whilst ‘Walking in Victory’ I encourage you to fly high in security and faith in self. I celebrate your freedom and thank you for this experience, this unique memory on my journey of discovery! I will continue to utilise platforms like this to celebrate freedom and give God thanks for this unique memory on my journey of discovery!
And I am encouraged because I know that I am more than my story, that you are more than your story, and that EVERY child is more than their story.
Key messages of HOPE for adults
- Harness and shape reality and belief that you are the driver of change and your destiny.
- Own your dreams, aspirations and be the director/CEO of your outcomes.
- Purposefully demonstrate a hunger for a mission of self determination
- Empower self to conceptualise and believe that your support will enable children to think BIG
What we strive for self in order to instil HOPE in children.
- Resurrection of life dreams
- Understanding the source of brokenness knowing that change whilst painful is inevitable and that you are in control and deserving of your emancipation, your wholeness.
- Endurance and focus are key in acknowledging fractured early starts and using the understanding of the impact of trauma to change children’s trajectories.
- Be the slayer of every traumatic memory that subconsciously holds you captive, in bondage, enslaved by a history of maltreatment, of negativity.
- Be more purposeful in the freedom of thought and determination to challenge all notions of enslavement.
- Use insights and learning to break down submission and incarceration of dreams, goals, ambitions.
- Celebrate newness aim high for wholeness.
BECAUSE YOU aRE MORE THAN YOUR STORY
