Currents March 2025

One of the things that I have always loved to do is to read. I think it may be my greatest talent – something that I have been doing since I was three years old if my mother is correct – and probably the one thing I can say that I never doubt my abilities in or compare myself to others and then wonder if I’m not really that great at it. I can read, and I read well. I have test scores, library records, and book collections both physical and electronic to back that up. When I was homeschooling my children, I focused heavily on their ability to read. This was partly because it is my favorite thing, but also because I knew that if they could learn to read well, they could learn anything. It is a superpower that opens doors that would otherwise be locked or completely unapproachable. Beyond the power of reading to learn skills and gain information for academic success and employment, reading also opens our minds to the experiences of other people, which I believe is so powerful. Stories, whether fact or fiction, can increase our understanding of the world around us, and being exposed to the life experiences of people different from ourselves builds our compassion and helps us to be more considerate and appreciative, as well as inspiring us to be and do better.

This year is a special one for Big Ocean Women. We are celebrating our 10th year as an official non-profit organization! What started as a small local movement for awareness and claiming a seat at the table where women’s issues were discussed has grown to a global movement to help all women everywhere recognize their innate worth and ability to be a force for good. We haven’t had a newsletter for all ten of those years, but for as long as we have, I have been involved. I have been to the Commission on the Status of Women at the UN a number of times. Because of this organization, I have been blessed to meet women from all over the world. Their stories have become part of mine, and I have learned so much from my sisters who have lives that are so vastly different from mine.

This month we have some wonderful articles that highlight our tenet of Global Sisterhood. Norma shares a story of the sacrifice and blessings of the opportunity for education. Shelli has written a lyrical wandering that helps us consider how miraculous it is to be human. Emily relays to us the interview she had with Jacinta from our WAVE in The Gambia and her beautiful outlook on sharing love. Sharon brings us a bilingual article about the power of sometimes unrecognized talents to unite us as sisters, and Emily beautifully illustrates for us the idea of being a fountain, not a drain.

I hope you will enjoy reading these articles as much as I have. I continue to feel inspired and blessed by the opportunity to work with Big Ocean Women, and I hope you feel the same as part of our global sisterhood. You matter; your experiences have value; there is good this world needs that only you can do.