We prepared a place for her
Pictured: Valerie, our guest author this week, celebrating her 30th birthday.
For this week's Friday Fire, we're passing the mic to Valerie Eguavoen, a Howard Law School-trained attorney and longtime social justice advocate who has served as Associate Director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School, Director of External Affairs for Repairers of the Breach, and Legal Coordinator for the Poor People's Campaign. She's also a plus size fashion blogger, influencer and founder of YOU BELONG NOW whose work has been featured in Vogue, Essence, and Forbes.
This is the first of many more guest-authored Friday Fires to come. Our platform is too big for us not to share with the Black women in our network who we trust with this sacred space.
The GirlTREK Team
Dear Vanessa, Morgan, and the GirlTREK Team,
I have many things to thank you for, but today, I am most grateful for the opportunity to share a part of my story with Black women across the world. It has been four years since I found this safe place that you created, and I am continually grateful for how you continue to labor on behalf of Black women.
I don’t remember exactly how I came across GirlTREK, but I do remember that my entry point was the #DaughtersOf conversation between Dr. Bernice King and Ilyasah Shabazz in May 2020. We were smack dab in the middle of the pandemic. I was alone and I was in a deep depression that would last over a year. It was a period that only I have the full scope of, and that only one or two close friends got glimpses of. At the time, I was also holding one of the most important professional roles I had ever had, leading the fundraising effort for an organization working to build and sustain a moral movement for social change in the U.S. I clung to GirlTREK for life, literally, and Dr. Bernice's words during that virtual webinar stuck with me: “[You] don't have to be perfect, [you] don't have to say the right thing, [you] don’t have to be profound… it's ok to just be [you].”
It would take about nine months after finding GirlTREK to really commit to walking as a life practice. I first needed a place to just exist outside the noise, and really a place to hide—2020 was a lot for us. Slowly, as I put one foot in front of the other, my legs which had previously collapsed beneath me from abuse, failure, obesity, and depression, began to grow stronger. I had found a place that seemed prepared just for me, that felt like a home. On March 1, 2021, the opening line of GirlTREK’s Black History Bootcamp Season 4 email read, “We don’t believe in accidents, so however, it was that you arrived here on day 1 of this 21-day journey with GirlTREK, welcome. You are home.”
Three months ago, after almost ten years of working in social justice movements, I made a decision to take some time away. It was a strong calling, and I listened. I needed to make sense of who I was and what I was supposed to be doing in this new season of my life. I share this because I’m not sure I would have had the courage to make this move if I did not have Morgan’s story as an example. Over the years, Morgan has asked us in different ways and repeatedly on GirlTREK virtual calls, What are you willing to leave behind to become the truest version of yourself?
For the last three months, I have rested, traveled, reconnected with family and friends, walked (of course), and just simply lived, a right that many are denied around the world and a privilege I am grateful for. This past Monday, I was sitting on the couch and a voice said to me, “It is time to get back to work, you are rested and you are ready.” I indeed felt ready because GirlTREK had taught me that it was okay to stop and rest for as long as I needed, but also that the strength to change my life/the world around me could and would ultimately come from within me. GirlTREK taught me to carry the load I was capable of carrying and to leave the rest for someone in the community who could safely hold more. The GirlTREK community is an example to the world of what could happen if we all did our part. Over one million Black women have created a community where people could lay down the burdens they could no longer carry, while those who felt replenished could continue doing the work that needed to be done.
This past Wednesday, I spoke with Vanessa for the first time. Within 15 minutes of our meeting, she gave me this assignment: Can you share three things with the GirlTREK community this week—Who am I? What does the GirlTREK movement mean to me? And what do I want the GirlTREK community to walk in solidarity for this week?
Here it goes:
Who am I?
I am Valerie Isoken Abimbola Eguavoen.
I am the daughter of Victoria Abodese, who was the daughter of Elizabeth Ebun, who was the daughter of Iya Eleni (literal translation: a woman who trades hand-woven rafia mats). Iya Eleni is how my maternal great-grandmother was known, but her name was Alice Owooluwabo.
I am the daughter of people who needed at least one English name to survive the invasion and exploitation of their home by the British Empire and who passed one on to me so that I may survive in the Western world.
I am the daughter of Yoruba and the Edo People.
I am a Black Woman who stands with Black Women, here, there, and everywhere.
I am the scared little girl who grew up to be a fierce advocate.
I am an artist.
I am a person who has not had an easy life, but has seen joy come in the morning over and over again.
What does the GirlTREK movement mean to me?
GirlTREK is a place prepared for me in the here and now.
It is a place for all the seasons of my life, for rest and harvest.
It gives comfort to the fed up and provides kindling for the fired up.
It is both a place for refuge and for revolution.
GirlTREK heals and is a place for the healer when the healer needs healing.
GirlTREK is no religion, but it is a place where God’s work is being done.
What do I want the GirlTREK community to walk in solidarity for this week?
This Saturday, I want the Black women who are able, who feel ready, to walk for the sisters who have yet to find us. I want us to think about how we are helping the people around us find their way here. What are WE doing to prepare a place for those who need GirlTREK now?
To Vanessa, Morgan, and the GirlTREK team, you have not labored in vain. Thank you for your work. It is one of my greatest hopes that Black women all over the world find GirlTREK just as I did.
Lastly, I leave you with these:
“If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.” –Toni Morrison
“Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.” –Maya Angelou
“Praise be to the God… who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” –2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Sincerely,
Valerie
Walk in solidarity with Valerie and thousands of women all over the world tomorrow at 10AM ET/7AM PT. Join us live (646) 876-9923 (Code 734464325#). Press *9 if you want to join the conversation while walking.
Forward this email to every woman you know who needs this space, who needs this healing, or who simply wants to be part of something transformative. Tell them: “There’s a place in GirlTREK where you are seen, celebrated, and welcomed. Join us. Your presence is powerful and necessary.”
Questions about GirlTREK? Check out our FAQ.
Copyright © 2024 GirlTREK, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at GirlTrek.org, through texting our short-code, or by signing up at a GirlTREK event.
GirlTREK
1800 Wyoming Ave NW
Washington, DC 20009
United States