International Women's Day Festival 2018

What an incredible week. A one day event grew to a week long festival with 30 events involving organisations, businesses and volunteers. We have a website, banners, photographs, memories and lots of goodwill which should inspire others to give it a go and do the same! After all, there were just 6 of us sitting round that table!

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I would be lying if I didn't say that health promotion requires dedication, commitment, hard work and persistence. There were so many times I felt it was too hard, we were pushing against the tide and perhaps we should have done something a bit smaller, but after a short walk and restful sleep I was back to knowing it was what the community wanted - they just didn't know it was possible yet!

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Everyone embraced the IWD 2018 theme of #pressforprogress but what was very exciting is people also started to embrace our Hornsby Ku-ring-gai theme of #lovemefirst. We felt really strongly as a group that unless we addressed our own commitment to looking after ourselves - putting that oxygen mask on ourselves, before we looked after our children, our family, our friends or our community, then we were doing a great disservice to them all.

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We asked all the stallholders to embrace the theme and offer a treat or experience for women on the day. This resulted in mini facials, hand massages, mini make up demos, colour matching with sarees, flower crown making and a chill out zone to name but a few.

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Our stalls were a mix of services, cultures, languages, small and large private businesses and local community groups. We also had a raffle, a Live Broadcast through local community radio Triple H 100.1fm​ and a gourmet BBQ served through the Rotary Club of Wahroonga.

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There is no question we all benefit from connected communities and I, for one, will not stop working to offer opportunities for that to happen.

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