After an eventful four-day visit to Colombia, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle concluded their tour on Sunday evening. The Duchess, aged 43, participated in the “Afro-Descendant Women and Power: Voices of Equity” summit, held at the Teatro Municipal Enrique Buenaventura in Cali.
The conference underlined the leadership of Afro-Colombian women and their experiences with racism, gender bias, among other issues, and presented Meghan as a speaker. During the session, the Duchess divulged her current feelings about life, referring to it as her “chapter of joy.”
With profound emotion yet informative prose, Meghan shared insights into her personal journey: “The more that you are able to look at your life and really, truly recognise that if you’re going to be grateful for your life, you have to be grateful for all aspects of it – the parts that were opportunities for growth and may have felt really difficult, as well as the parts that feel inspiring, joyful and full.”
Setting her sights on future aspirations and wellbeing, she also remarked: “My intentionality is to enjoy this chapter and to be able to move through every piece of that as best as I can.”
Joining her at the summit were Binaifer Nowrojee and Colombian Vice President Francia Marquez, who discussed the profound influence women’s voices have had in their lives, reports the Mirror.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have now concluded their tour of Colombia
In a touching gesture during her visit, the Duchess of Sussex wowed the crowd as she spoke in Spanish, conveying her and Prince Harry’s sense of welcome in Colombia. “Because we are in your country, my husband and I can feel this embrace from Colombia – it’s incredible,” she enthused to the audience.
“The culture, the history – all of it – was a dream. This trip was a dream.”
Drawing upon personal insights, Meghan Markle shared with the attendees how her early experiences shaped her commitment to female empowerment, which aligns with the values of the Archewell Foundation. “I was very, very fortunate [that] at a young age to feel as though my voice was being heard, and I think that’s a luxury that a lot of young girls and women aren’t often afforded.”
Expanding on her mission through the foundation, Meghan emphasized the importance of ensuring girls have a voice that is heard and fostering an environment where boys learn to listen.
She said, “For us and the work that we do with the Archewell Foundation and certainly the work we do as parents, as I do as a mother, is ensuring that young girls feel as though their voices are being heard, and also that young boys are being raised to listen and to hear those young women, as well.”
Meghan addresses the audience during the ‘Afro women and power’ forum
Adding a personal touch and recognising her husbands role in this vision, the Duchess underscored the critical part men play; in her words: “The role of men in this – of empowering women, of allowing them to know that their voices are heard starting at a young age all the way through adulthood – is key.”
Meghan Markle has commended the influential females in her life, especially her mother Doria Ragland and young daughter Princess Lilibet.
“I find inspiration in the strong women around me, of course, my mother being one of them,” she revealed. “So much of how I approach things is through the lens of less about the fight – that’s not interesting to me – and more about how do we show up in a space and wash things over with love and kindness and generosity? “.
She hopes to imbue her daughter, Princess Lilibet, with the same ethos, adorably noting that at just 3 years old, she “has found her voice”.