Thank you Maya- The Bird who left her cage singing

So sad to hear about passing of Maya Angelou…

Over the last few years/recent times seeing her doing speeches and on tv shows you could forget the hardship she had been through. Child rape, segregation, different jobs- her life was never easy. She may have started life as a ‘caged bird’ but this never stopped her from singing and moving forward to lead a brilliant life. She really knew how to live ‘your best life’, no matter how tough things were and it’s this lesson that I’ll always remember the most.

For me she always encouraged us to love life, give it all we have, never give up and never give in. Growing up in the UK I could never had known what she went through during segregation. But her books and her voice still spoke to me and made me feel that she understood the ‘difficulties’ all us black women sometimes face in the western world.

Reading her books reminded me that black women do have a place in this world and mustn’t let race and gender make us use the words ‘I cant’. God bless you Maya & thank you.

Here’s one of her most powerful poems – ‘Still I Rise’