Reach potential as ‘women kings’
To watch The Woman King on the big screen. By
she said. “It shows us that we, as women, are very strong, and also we have that heart of loving. We’ve gone through a lot, and I’m seeing that in Nanisca.”
General Nanisca, played by actress Viola Davis, is the leader of the Agojie and an adviser to the king of Dahomey in The Woman King. Her trials and triumphs as a woman leader are central to the film’s story.
Many of the struggles endured by women in the movie, including abuse and GBV, echo those faced by women in the townships daily, according to Jada.
“Being a woman is not easy, especially in this country,” said Noluvuyo Ndzendze, another Khayelitsha resident who joined the movie viewing. “We’ve got rape, we’ve got abuse … and, most especially at our age, there’s lack of employment.”
The significance of Saturday’s event was that it highlighted the need for women to stand together and to help one another, Ndzendze continued.
“What the women in the movie did, they always [looked after] each other – some risked their lives to help each other … but most especially, they encouraged each other. Not a single woman could say to another, ‘No, you cannot do this.’ So, we need women like that, to make us see what we don’t see in ourselves,” she said.
Empowering women
The viewing of The Woman King falls within a broader plan that Jada has for empowering women in her community. She recently started an informal project called Sisterwood, which brings together about 20 unemployed women for yoga classes, sharing circles and other activities.
In the coming weeks, she aims to pilot an empowerment curriculum for the group that will help them to connect with themselves, their surroundings and the tools at their disposal.
“The whole point of Sisterwood is women empowerment – women lifting each other up, supporting each other in different ways,” she said. “I want people to reach their potential.”
Jada’s efforts to uplift women were rooted in the work she had been doing with children in the Khayelitsha community for more than a decade, said Tamsin Sheehy, a Cape Town yoga studio co-owner who has worked with Jada.
I wanted them to see the bigger picture – that at the end of the day, there’s a victory, and they are all winners. As women, we are so powerful. All we need is to
believe in ourselves
As a founding member of the nonprofit organisation Earthchild Project, which provides educational programmes in disadvantaged communities, Jada teaches yoga in four Khayelitsha schools. Through this work, she has got to know mothers in the community who she now empowers by imparting various skills.
“I think this is vital for the health of any community – that the women within that community are empowered and can contribute and are seen and heard, and feel good about themselves. I think that’s actually the bedrock of any healthy community,” said Sheehy.
Speaking of her vision for the Sisterwood group, Jada said: “I want them to really feel special. I want them to believe in themselves, and know that there are people who believe in them.”
Above left: It was all smiles and excitement ahead of the screening of the Hollywood hit film The Woman King. It was all the idea of Nokuphiwo Jada (centre, red dress), whose aim in life is to empower women in her community. Photo: David Harrison