things that we’re still going to
talk about but I just really felt
that I needed to be in a place
worshiping, praising God and
just really hearing God speak
to me. While I was there, God
started to speak about formally
starting up an organisation,
but I felt so inadequate, I was
like, what do I know about
running an organisation? I
had always had a passion for
helping women, and I had been
doing so informally for so many
years, but as the conference
progressed, I started to get a
sense of it’s time to do more
than just informal help here
and there, that I was really
called to start up something
that was going to bring change
in the lives of women. But as
I battled with fear, I still had
that constant reminder of God
starting to speak to me, and
actually, it was right there in
that conference that He gave me
what I consider to be a mission
statement and it’s like blueprint
not just for the organisation
but for the way that I lead my
life and that’s what still drives
me today. And so, I took out a
pen and I wrote it down and
it basically said, just because
I can’t do everything doesn’t
mean I won’t do anything. Even
if I can only do something, I
refuse to do nothing. And you
know, that just brought me so
much freedom because when
I started thinking about an
organisation, I thought, oh,
I have to help lots of women
to make it look worthwhile.
But God was just like, it’s only
about the one, Amanda, it’s
only about the one. Even if you
change one woman’s life, that’s
something, that’s positive,
that’s all I’m asking you to do
— just one person. And so really,
that’s how we started. I came
back, just formalised it, set up a
13
non-profit organisation and the
journey began.
You’ve had two significant,
and perhaps I should say life-
changing experiences, one
was losing your only brother,
and the other was a sudden
recollection of being abused
as a child. Please share with
us both experiences, how they
impacted you and how you
overcame.
osing my only brother was
lifechanging because it was
the one thing that exposed me
to heartbreak. It exposed me to
a type of pain that even till now,
I find hard to put into words. I
was a young girl of only 11 years
old, and my brother was literally
my best friend. I had known
him my whole life obviously as
he was older than me and we
did a lot of stuff together. At the
time he died, my sisters – so
there was my brother, and then
L
DOZ Magazine | February 2020