Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Newcastle born Faith Sithole is making a name for herself in the literary world as she addresses the unfavourable issues women endure and the toxic relationships potentially destroying their lives.
Two years ago, Faith wrote a book titled, Healing a Bruised Heart of a Broken Woman. Due to the book’s success, she was nominated on 12 September 2020 by The Book Behind Awards for two separate categories: the Best Upcoming Female Author and Best Healing Book.
The Book Behind Awards’ vision encourages reading, a writing cultural society, and celebrating unsung yet inspirational authors. Moreover, its mission is to award and celebrate authors inspired to write, but their efforts are often not honoured.
Discussing her book, Faith explains, her journey began due to adverse experiences encountered in past relationships. “I once found myself in a space, where I was so desperate for healing, and as a result when I could not heal, I thought it was better to take my own life.”
Such was the dire situation of her circumstances; she admits to trying to take her own life on countless occasions. However, for some reason, her attempts were never successful. “By the grace of God, I was able to resurrect from the deep problems that I had found myself in and when I saw the light, I thought that was worth being written down and shared with people at large.”
When looking at the toxic conditions women silently experience on a regular basis, Faith explains she would like to point out; no one should endure anything that makes them uncomfortable. “However, I know that I am saying something totally different from what women are taught during their upbringing.” Stating, this can be seen in women staying in unhealthy relationships simply because they think that’s the right thing to do. “The common thing that most women find themselves in, is when they overstay a relationship that they were supposed to have left a long time ago.”
This includes abusive relationships, be it emotional, physical, and/or financial abuse. “I normally say: “Once it starts to feel uncomfortable, then you should attend to it and not ignore that feeling.”
Finding her will to live, Faith discovered that she had come one step closer to achieving her life’s dream through expressing herself in her book. She elucidates, “For some reason, I’ve always seen myself receiving accolades such as the best seller or an award-winning author. Witnessing this nomination, made me realise that I can dream of anything, and it will come to existence if I believe. I am very excited to know that my dream is about to come true.”
Furthermore, she is elated about seeing her dream coming to fruition because she hopes to achieve her goals in helping women rise above their challenges. “My book is aimed at healing the brokenhearted by sharing what I went through and how I survived it all. I’ve also incorporated few stories from other women, which are very raw, and it is in the truthiness in these stories that people have found healing. With this nomination, I believe I’ll be able to motivate both the young and old people to always believe in their dreams and no matter how far-fetched they might seem.”
She emphasises that while her book aims to heal women, there are numerous challenges the female population still endures. One of these hurdles is that women still do not have a voice in modern society.
“Women are still considered secondary, most of the things they suggest are scrutinised and validated before they could be accepted if ever they get accepted. I believe this could be overcome, by a willingness to listen to women more often, and take most of the things they say into consideration.”
Another challenge faced by women, Faith believes, is that they have to cross the hottest deserts to achieve their goals. This, she points out, can be overcome by extending a hand of genuine help without conditions that might comprise their reputation.
From almost suicide victim to now facing nominations for her book, this Newcastillian is truly an inspirational person.
People can help Faith clinch the nominations by casting their votes via SMS. To vote, people can SMS “TBBA BHB83″ to 34877 for Best Healing Book and also SMS’ TBBA BUF74” to 34877 for Best Upcoming Female Author.
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