Lady refuses to be beaten by life and makes her fortune

@UnWomen/Deepika Nath

When Pili Hussein was forced to run away from her abusive husband at the age of 31 she had nowhere to turn.

But this incredible woman somehow managed to turn her ill fate around by refusing to give up – and by pretending to be a man in a man’s world she made her fortune.

Pili grew up in a large family in Tanzania. Her father had six wives and she was one of 38 children. Although she was well looked after, she didn’t much enjoy life as her father treated her like a boy and she had to look after the cattle. Her marriage was even more unhappy, and at 31 Pili ran away from her abusive husband and found herself in the small town of Mererani, in the foothills of Africa's highest mountain, Kilimanjaro - the only place in the world where mining for a rare, violet-blue gemstone called tanzanite takes place.

Maasai herders first discovered tanzanite in 1967 - it's now one of the world's best-selling gems but is in limited supply. As a woman Pili was banned from mining there so she dressed like a man and took on the behaviour of the toughest of them all: “I acted like a gorilla - I could fight, my language was bad, I could carry a big knife. I was called Uncle Hussein.”

In the hot, dirty tunnels – up to 600m below ground - Pili worked 10-12 hours a day, digging and sieving, hoping to uncover gemstones in the veins in the graphite rock.

And incredibly after about a year, she struck it rich, uncovering two massive clusters of tanzanite stones. With the money she built new homes for her father, mother and twin sister, bought more tools and began employing miners to work for her.

Her cover was so convincing that it took an extraordinary set of circumstances for her true identity to be revealed. A local woman had reported that she'd been raped by some of the miners and Pili was arrested as a suspect. She had no choice but to reveal her secret.

Pili has now built a successful career and today owns her own mining company with 70 employees. Three of her employees are women, but they work as cooks not as miners. Pili is now married and her success has enabled her to pay for the education of more than 30 nieces, nephews and grandchildren. 

Original BBC story here.

90-year-old beach belle Irene goes viral

Ninety-year-old Irene Carney from Australia has gone viral as she shows that you can rock a bikini at any age.

Encouraged by her friends and the carers at her nursing home to buy a bikini to wear on her cruise holiday, the great grandmother bought a trendy little retro polka dot number from a shop called Lady Watego in Byron Bay.

While enjoying her cruise holiday she posed for a snapshot and sent it to the shop. The assistants were so impressed with the way she nailed the look, they shared it on their Facebook page which has since gone viral, being shared over 863 times and attracting hundreds of comments from people praising Irene’s body confidence.

“Bloody hell…she looks better then me in a bikini and I’m almost half her age!! You ROCK Irene you beautiful woman!!” one woman wrote.

“I’m nearly 40 and have never EVER Had my photo taken in a cozzi, let alone a 2-piece. She is beautiful and proud. Love it,” added another.

Others commented how refreshing it was to see a ‘real’ woman flying the flag for body positivity.

“This is a real picture of a beautiful lady. No photoshopping. More realism in the world please then people would not have as many body issues,” one supporter wrote.

“Loving the attitude of this lady. A great example of loving yourself for who you are. You rock it and are an inspiration to many.”