The Invisible Phenomenal Women Awards

Every day, women in our community take on important tasks of which they will probably never see the end result.

Mothers, sisters, aunts, nurses, doctors or teachers, the list of selfless women is extensive. According to Sonja Luus, one of the co-founders of the Invisible Phenomenal Women Awards initiative, the selfless work these women do can be likened to the builders of the ancient cathedrals around the world.

“These amazing cathedrals, these works of unbelievable skill – no one cane name the people who actually took on the mammoth task of building them,” said Mrs Luus. “Over and over again, if one looks at the history books, the builders are listed as ‘unknown’.”

The amazing works often took hundreds of years to complete. People showed up to work every day, working to complete the job at hand, not knowing if anyone would ever notice. “These people gave up their lives to complete a huge task they would never see the results of, making personal sacrifices for no credit,” she said. “No great cathedrals will ever be built again, because so few people are willing to sacrifice that much.”

With this in mind, the founders of the awards wish to honour women in Newcastle, the ‘invisible’ women on our community who unselfishly serve day after day, doing the jobs few others are prepared to do.

The aim of the project is to give recognition to these women, who go beyond the call of duty, personal limits and cast aside thoughts of self enrichment.

“We want to make these invisible women, visible,” said Mrs Luus. “We also want to encourage and thank them for their contribution, whatever their capacity in life.”

The awards will also be about sharing information regarding the resources available to women and their children to overcome domestic and criminal offences.

Recognition will be given over a broad spectrum in two categories:

The main category will showcase five prominent women who will be crowned at a gala function at the end of October. Five weeks prior to the gala event, the finalists will play host at five tea parties, where they will address the guests with motivational talks.

The sub-category will make provision for all facets of services in the community. Each sector will be honoured at one of the tea parties. These sectors are:

The medical field – ambulance services, dental, nursing, doctors, physiotherapy
Protection services – police women, fire brigade, traffic, defense force
Welfare – Social workers, counselors, volunteers
Religious and private – churches, ministries, personal callings
Education – pre-primary, primary and high school, colleges and other educational fields

Special provision will be made for people who have passed away or moved out of Newcastle in the last five years.

Over the next few weeks, readers are encouraged to submit their stories about women who have done something special for someone else, in the form of a letter, which can be sent to newed2@caxton.co.za. Women mentioned in these stories will also be recognised during the awards.

If you wish to nominate someone, send an e-mail to phenomenal.women.awards@absamail.co.za or call Mrs Luus during office hours on 034 315 2637. She will then provide you with the nomination forms and the criteria.

“We would also like to invite all interested parties to become a part of the awards,” said Mrs Luus. “We are looking for project partners and sponsors, as we want to be able to honour these women for their selfless efforts in the best way possible.”