We are in this together
Written by Peta Wolpe
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| Pic by Barbara Southworth |
I love being in the ocean. I love the cold and being in nature. I love how the colours of the sea change: sometimes calm, almost like a lake, and sometimes wild. I love how the sky changes and how different it is if the sun is shining or the wind is howling or it is raining. Every season is different and every day is different. It is often a place where I am alone even when there are people around, a quiet time for me.
Swimming every day with a group of women, purposefully in support of Saartjie Baartman and victims of gender-based violence (GBV), has added something special to my swims. People are showing up, new friendships are forming and we are there together. Some people are swimming where they don’t usually swim, just to show up. On some days the temperature has hovered just above 8 degrees and we wonder why we are doing this. But when we get out, we always say how amazing and magical it was, and we say we are doing it for survivors of GBV. Those of us who are a bit fearful of big waves are still showing up, and for those of us who don’t like swimming in the tidal pool we are still showing up. People ask why we hold up fingers in the photo shoot (to show the number of swims) and why we are swimming at all. The message is spreading as each of us tells someone.
I wonder whether we have become increasingly desensitised to violence, and how easy it is to hear a story of GBV, war or cruelty to the natural world, such as polluting our oceans, and we carry on. These October swims are making us think, and making violence and its impact far more visible. This month gives us the opportunity to wake up and be aware.
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| Pic by Barbara Southworth |
Read more about Blocktober here blocktober.co.za
Read more blog posts https://stepsforsaartjie.blogspot.com/2025/10/read-other-steps-for-saartjie-blogs.html?m=1
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