There are many skills that a woman can learn in her lifetime, but perhaps being self-reliant, independent, and empowered are one of the most important skills that we ladies should be an expert to.
History has domesticated women in so many ways such as not being allowed to work, to vote, to stand up for herself, so on and so forth. But in recent years, more women have become more self-sufficient, brave, and outspoken in order for their voices to be heard.
Many women have become part of history due to their achievements and contributions when it comes to female empowerment. Thanks to them, women across the globe have also enabled themselves to become more resilient, and for some, to be able to break the chain and escape from abusive relationships.
Pania Tepaiho Marsh of Tokomaru, New Zealand, believes that every woman should become more self-sufficient since it changed her life after all.
The 38-year-old young mother of two has become a living embodiment of empowerment since she began inviting other females for weekend hunting trips she calls, ‘Wahine Toa Hunting’.
Being calm and steady is one of the important skills that you need to achieve when hunting. Pania knows how to become more focused, especially since you need to tread purposely and quietly when you’re in the bush.
Such calm didn’t come easy to her, especially after leaving an abusive relationship when she was still young. Pania began her adult life dependent on the state and her partner.
“If you’re dependent on the state or a partner to feed you, you’ve handed over your independence to someone else, and that’s plain scary,” she tells The Guardian. “You honestly feel like you can’t get out of it because you’re living week to week, sometimes day to day, depending on how bad it is. And you’ve handed your power over.”
Pania eventually left her toxic partner behind and met her now-husband, Haaka, a senior rifleman in the New Zealand army. Like most Kiwi men, Haaka spends his weekends hunting with friends – bringing home goat, deer, and more to provide for the family.
Curiosity got the better of Pania as he began asking her husband about his hunting trips.
“I noticed how happy and fulfilled he was [when he came back], and how centred it made him,” she says. “And I said ‘I want this, I want to fill our freezers’ so he said ‘I’ll teach you’.”
Of course, with every new skill comes challenges. Her first trip was tough. The terrain was rugged, the rifle was heavy, and her husband did not go easy on her.
Although it was difficult at first, Pania was lured by the thrill of the hunt, the silence, and the focus of a dedicated task at hand.
“He gave me a priceless skill,” she says. “I’ll never be dependent on anyone else again.”
Back in 2018, Pania was at a beneficiary office as an advocate for her cousin when she saw several Māori single mothers lining up for the food bank. She even saw some of the women crying after being turned down.
Their condition disheartened her, so she decided to make a video on Facebook inviting women for a weekend hunting trip. The post was viewed more than a quarter of a million times.
Her program has become very popular that she has a waiting list of 3,500 long. It was a two-day course wherein they drive up to a 120-year-old hut with no cellphones, no kids, and no wifi.
Pania also does not charge for her services since she’s mainly interested in giving other women the gift of independence.
Sadé Midwinter, 31, is a single mother of two from Otaki joined the sisterhood earlier this year after she and her children were homeless for eight months after escaping an abusive relationship.
Just like Pania, Sadé mentions that hunting trips empowered her and changed her life. She says that she is thankful for her sisters since she knows that she’s in a safe place, free from judgment from others who also shared her experience.
“Everything goes out of your mind; the kid business, your business. You can just be – because you’re focused on stalking and getting a deer. Nothing else matters except ‘I can do this’.”
Don’t forget to watch the video below and be empowered!
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