In April 2015, on a beautiful warm evening at the Bali Spirit Festival in Ubud, Toni Childs stepped onto the One World Stage at ARMA Resort, Ubud, Bali and sang, “You Are Beautiful”.

It was my first night at the festival, and it was the first time I heard Toni Childs sing this song.

She opened her soul, her heart, her voice, her world and invited women in the audience to come close and join her, to sit alongside her, so she could “see their beautiful faces, each and every one”.

They formed a circle around her, some sat in chairs, on the stage, and on the ground, she looked into their eyes, their hearts and beyond, and began to sing. The vastness of the audience closed into this one song and I changed from being one person in a large crowd to being suspended in this moment with Toni and a circle of women.

Her message “you are beautiful” stays with me each day, and every time I hear it now, I never fail to cry again in gratitude.

Toni dedicated this song to all the women who have been wounded, or abused and encourages all of us to end violence against women and girls.

Author: Roslyn Walker

Image: YouTube Toni Childs, You Are Beautiful at the Bali Spirit Festival 2015 

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