By Menziwa Msibi

The Arts and Culture office on the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Mahikeng Campus recently hosted a Women’s Month celebration event themed “My sister’s keeper”.

The purpose of the event was to celebrate women and the importance of mental health. Discussions focused on the importance of therapy, self-love, sharing personal experiences on mental health, spirituality, self-confidence and taking charge.

“Being your sister’s keeper means seeing yourself in every woman and treating that woman how you would like to be treated. It’s about seeing that woman as a sister – celebrating her success and not rejoicing in her failure and pain,” says arts coordinator and event organiser Charmaine Mahopo.

Male members from the Student Campus Council joined in, dressed as women, and handed roses to the ladies in attendance. Members from the LGBTQI+ community also joined in and dressed in elaborate clothing in support of the event.

Charmaine spoke about the NWU values, and how important it is to apply these in every initiative.

“You will notice that we also invited all genders and members of the LGBTQI+ community to attend this event. As inclusivity is one of the NWU’s values, it is important to include everyone in our celebration of women,” she explained.

People and Culture practitioner Innocentia Mphuthi was one of the guest speakers and spoke about women correcting each other with love.

“Men and women need to be taught and empowered on how to relate to each other as humans to embrace the spirit of Ubuntu,” she said.

The event also included various performances by women who embraced their local culture, a poetry piece, and a music performance.

Members from the LGBTQI+ community joined in the celebration.

Attendees of the event dressed to the nines in celebration of women.