My dear #SOS family, today is National Women’s Day in South Africa. 🇿🇦❤️
Seventy years ago, on 9 August 1956, more than 20,000 women of different races, cultures and backgrounds marched together to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest the oppressive pass laws of apartheid.
They stood together in extraordinary silence before giving us words that would echo through generations:
Wathint’ Abafazi, Wathint’ Imbokodo — You strike a woman, you strike a rock.
Today, as South Africa commemorates 70 years since that historic Women’s March, I find myself thinking about our #SOS family and the many stories of courage, resistance and resilience that connect us across Africa and Wales.
The women of 1956 remind us that movements for justice are built when ordinary people refuse to accept injustice as inevitable. They remind us that change is born when we find one another, organise, tell our stories, challenge the systems that exclude us, and stand together — particularly with those whose voices have too often been pushed to the margins.
As disability activists, we know something about that.
We know that our stories are not merely accounts of what has happened to us. They are instruments of change. They challenge stereotypes, expose inequality, reclaim narratives and remind the world that nothing about our lives, our rights or our futures should ever be decided without us.
And perhaps that is where the spirit of 1956 and the spirit of Share Our Stories (#SOS) meet.
Different countries. Different generations. Different disabilities. Different identities and experiences. Yet a shared understanding that liberation is never complete while some of us remain excluded.
Today, I especially honour the women with disabilities whose contributions to liberation movements, disability rights and community life have so often gone undocumented or unrecognised. I honour those whose names history recorded — and the countless others whose stories may never have been written down, but whose courage helped carry our societies forward.
And to the men in our #SOS family who stand alongside women as colleagues, comrades and allies in the continuing struggle for equality and inclusion — this history belongs in our collective memory too. ❤️
May we continue to share our stories, amplify one another’s voices, cross borders, build solidarity and leave behind a more inclusive world than the one we inherited.
We carry the courage of those who came before us.
We build upon their legacy.
And through the stories we tell and the change we make,
we help shape the future for those still to come.
To all the extraordinary women in our #SOS family, I wish you a very Happy South African Women’s Day. 🌍❤️
And to our entire #SOS family — thank you for continuing to remind the world that every story matters, every voice belongs, and every person has the right to participate fully and equally.
Wathint’ Abafazi, Wathint’ Imbokodo! ✊🏾🌺