Results of the Spar Women’s 10km Challenge run in Pretoria on Saturday 25 August 2012.

The earth and nature are personified as women. Cyclones – powerful forces to be reckoned with - are named after women. Some women have been chosen to wear the title “mommy”, a life-long commitment which takes dedication and self-sacrifice. And some women have also been chosen to preform kidney transplants on HIV positive patients, and excel in the gruelling Comrades ultra-marathon with only 5% sight left. Above all things, women of all ages, races, cultures, denominations and callings have one common thread of gold that knits them together: their beauty. A beauty which is not always seen with the eye, but forms the fibre of each woman’s being.

“I am beautiful because…” profile – Mirriam Zwane

“Nobody is without redemption and everybody deserves a second chance, no matter what they have done. Being imprisoned can easily steal away someone’s self-confidence and joy, and I have made it my sole-purpose and passion to help those who no longer have confidence or faith in themselves, to make a success of their lives (these are people that our society rejects or would rather have nothing to do with). “I am beautiful because…” is that something which I make an effort to see in others every day, and I am humbled that SPAR and The Women’s Challenge (Pretoria) has seen this in me.”

Mirriam Nuska Zwane founded a rehabilitation project in 2002 called BABUYILE (“they have come back”) to help ex-offenders adjust and fit back into their communities.