FOX News Anchor Dana Perino Reflects on How to Live with Gratitude on International Women’s Day

When I think about International Women's Day, I recall one memory of traveling to Africa in January 2009. My husband Peter and I traveled to Fish Hoek, South Africa, where we volunteered at a PEPFAR site (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) and developed a strong commitment to helping where we could ever since.

Once there, my husband and I received training to help people who were living with HIV AIDS. My husband was sent to the men's ward, and I was assigned to the women's. There were eight beds in each ward. I was under the impression before I got there that many of the patients would also speak English. That was not the case. Their first language was their local language. And of course, it was something unrecognizable to me.

So I sat there with the women and soon realized we didn't have any way to communicate. They were also very ill and tired, so I felt almost useless. Then one of the women asked a nurse for some nail "varnish" remover (they called nail polish nail varnish).

One of the women wanted the last bottle of nail polish available. They were running low, and the nurse had to pour some alcohol in the bottle in order to make it thinner so that it would go farther. That's when I had an idea. I went over to the men's ward, and I asked my husband if he could take me over to the shop where I could make a few purchases. When I arrived, I bought eight manicure sets, one for each of the women, including a range of colors of nail varnish.

When I went back, I held up the bag and asked the women, "Who wants their nails done?" Then I started taking all of the supplies out of the bag, and some of the women sat up a little bit. I went over to one – the woman who wanted her nails done initially – and I asked, "May I?" She said, "Are you sure you want to touch me?" She said it in very clear English. I replied, "Yes, I'm sure." And so we sat together, and I painted her nails. It turned out that she and several of the other women did speak limited English as many had worked in homes where English was used. Over painting their nails, I got to learn their stories.

Many of them were mothers and sisters and daughters. And their devastation was quite a hard thing for me to take. As I listened to all of their stories, I felt there was really nothing more I could do for them but listen.

At that time, new drugs were coming out, and they were helping some of the women. Many of them might survive for several more years if they stayed true to the regimen that was granted to them.

I remember feeling this real kinship with the women, and I remember thinking that women all over the world are very much the same in many ways.

We can communicate with our eyes. We can understand each other. We know what it's like to be intimidated, to be scared, to be hopeful, and to have dreams.

I will always be grateful to President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush for introducing me to the great wonders of Africa. I loved that trip with the Bushes in February of 2009, and when I came home, I asked my husband if we could please go back. I wanted to do more.

Since then, my husband and I have been involved with the organization Mercy Ships, which is a surgical hospital ship that takes care of people on the West Coast of Africa. It is through Mercy Ships that I have found a new role model and mentor for myself.

Her name is Dame Ann Gloag, and she is a self-made businesswoman and a very successful one at that. She is also a very aggressive philanthropist – and I say aggressive in the best possible way. She is tireless, generous, and makes sure that all of the women she provides for in Africa at her clinics and at the orphanage are treated with respect and dignity. I admire how she lives her faith – to whom much is given, much is required.

She has inspired me to imagine how I can contribute to ensuring that women everywhere can have better opportunities for freedom and education. I try to live with that gratitude to push for better by paying it forward, especially when it comes to mentoring young women. I feel that's one of my callings at this time.

We are granted so many opportunities here in America – living in freedom, having access to quality education, and being rewarded for our hard work. And because I have had the chance to travel abroad and to paint the nails of the women that I met in South Africa all those years ago, I've never forgotten just how important our obligation is to help reach out to those who are living in dire situations all around the world. This has helped me to gain the Perspective (with a capital "P") I need and to live with gratitude.