Organically, through the process of working in Nepal to distribute the money raised, I learned a lot about societal challenges and commonly mentioned issues. And so over time the foundation of The Country That Shook and the trust that had built allowed me to move into supporting girls and women, particularly focussing on menstruation as a key taboo and a gateway into many other challenges that female identifying people are faced with.

This has culminated in Kumari’s Adventure with her Moon Cycle, a fully illustrated story book that I’ve developed with over 80 people across Nepal throughout the pandemic. It was published in June 2022, and it’s so much more than a story book… it’s a community, it’s an ethos and it’s a platform for young people to express themselves. You can read more about it on Kumari’s page to understand the unprecedented process that continues to unfold as we pave this new path as a collective.

I see the incredible effort and networks that have been developed in the last decades, determined to bring about positive change for women. The work that I do with Dignity without Danger has taught me a lot. And I want to continue to celebrate the diversity of resources that we can create…

So that everyone sees themselves reflected in their learning tools.
So that everyone has something that they’re naturally inspired by, rather than being told they must adapt to a particular learning model.
So that together we have fun as we learn making it much more likely to have an impact.
So that ultimately we all come to the realisation that we are the leaders of our own lives and have the right to make our own choices.

I won’t pretend that all of this is 100% selfless, it’s not.
I’ll say it again… this brings me…