As women working in media, we are at the coalface of many issues, sometimes gruesome scenes that no one should ever have to witness.
We come face to face with murderers, rapists the list goes on. We, to some degree, become desensitised to shocking headlines and tragic pictures plastered all over the internet.
I once saw a decapitated head lying on the other side of the road to where the body was. It did not freak me out the way it did when I told my family about it.
But the gut-wrenching, anxiety-fuelling feeling never escapes me when I read that a young girl is missing.
“Dear Lord, please let her be okay.”
Unfortunately, she hardly ever is.
I remember vividly opening my Facebook browser and seeing the missing person alert for 16-year-old Berodine Boyce.
I froze.
“Dear Lord, please let her be okay.”
Berodine was not okay.
Her lifeless body was found in a shallow grave 10 days after she was reported missing.
Fast forward to yesterday. When I arrived at work, I chatted to a colleague about it being the start of Women’s Month, and the first thing he said was “I hope all the women and girls will be safe this month”.
“I hope so too,” I said.
My solace in the anger and sadness is knowing my pen is my power, and with it I can make a difference and contribute to justice, somehow.
I encourage all women to find your power, and exploit it.