+ In a room, at the outskirts of a city, a young woman, 21 years, is giving birth to her first child, her baby girl. Her sisters,  mother, and  female cousins and friends are all around her. They console her, they squeeze her hand, and they also laugh that “knowing laugh”, while she screams in pain. They are all familiar with the joy of motherhood, the joy that comes after the pain. Some of the girls have not yet – …

Q&A: What do I do when I don’t feel like striving anymore? I know I’m supposed to, but it’s brutal. Response: What an honest question. You’re right, sometimes friends and counsellors or others sometimes emphasise the need for us to strive. Often we know that we need to strive, but the issue is not knowing it, the issue is sometimes simply getting through it. a) Where there’s purpose, find it. Think of the flight of – …