Cape Town - A community activist from Lavender Hill has been named as one of the Top 100 most influential women in the world.
Lucinda Evans, 47, was notified by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that she has been listed among their leading ladies for 2019.
This list includes women from all over the world who do groundbreaking work and are changing their communities and nations, in various fields including business, science, activism and sports.
Speaking to the Daily Voice on Wednesday, a proud Evans said she was honoured to be regarded as a major influencer.
“I’m very honoured that the BBC would pick me. I’m grateful to 1Billion Rising Global that nominated me for this prestigious accolade,” she said.
“As a woman leader, ’n kind van die Flats (a child of the Cape Flats), I think it’s an absolute honour that we can show the rest of the world there are people like us who can aspire to reach the BBC,” Lucinda says.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/100Women?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#100WomenI am blown away, I Honored, as a Khoisan Woman from Lavender Hill, a Township where we dont see Lavender, I always wanted to bring the Lavender Back to the Hills, well Lavender Hill, ons word Raak gesien, Dankie Jesus.
— Lucinda Evans (@LucindaEvansSA)
And she is in heady company.
Evans shares this platform with 16-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg from Sweden, who won the International Children’s Peace Prize this year, Jamaican 100m sprint champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and American soccer player Megan Rapinoe, a two-time World Cup winner and co-captain of the US Women’s National Team.
Rapinoe was named Best FIFA Women’s Player 2019, and is taking legal action against the US Soccer Federation over unequal pay, calling out racism by fans and has become the face of LGBTQ rights in the game.
Evans is the founder of Philisa Abafazi Bethu, a non-profit organisation established 11 years ago in Lavender Hill, working with abused women and children.
She recently resigned as the Mitchells Plain Community Policing Forum (CPF) Cluster chairperson, saying she wanted to go back to her roots and work with vulnerable people at grassroots level where she feels she can make the most impact.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/100Women?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#100Womenfor elevating my voice I echo what the Women Leaders have done in 1956 to adcocate for our Freedom, in 2019 its is about the freedom of our bodies and those of our Children. For 11years I have ploughed with nothing, thank you BBC #women thank you.
— Lucinda Evans (@LucindaEvansSA)
“As women leaders in the current state of South Africa we have to rise to our equal status that we are supposed to be. I want to have a mandate for the masses.
“I have always been passionate about the protection of children without the accolades,” Evans said.
She is also a nominee for the position of the Child Commissioner of the Western Cape.
She says she hopes the BBC accolade will inspire young people to do more in their communities.
“When I went to sleep, I never knew this was coming my way. To the youth I work with, you can achieve anything,” she added.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/100women?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#100women https://t.co/cnrfWn8UmG
— BBC 100 Women (@BBC100women)