In northeast Nigeria, during the peak of the ongoing conflict with Boko Haram, the Aussie was confronted with the horrifying reality of children being used by the terrorist group to wage war. They were kidnapped and forced to become child brides or fighters and in the most horrific circumstances used as suicide bombers to instill terror in the community.
On top of this, she was also grappling with the very real fact that suicide bombs were exploding in the town she was living in almost every week.
“It is never hard to find motivation but it is hard to not be affected by what you see,” she said.
“What amazes me is the strength of people in the face of catastrophe and how they manage to find a way forward.
“Girls I met in northern Nigeria who were forcibly married and had children to Boko Haram fighters and ran away in the middle of the night to find safety only to be stigmatised with their experience, were, despite all of this, able to find a way to enrol in school, provide for their children, love their children, carrying themselves with such dignity when so much has been taken from them."
“That to me is always the most encouraging and
amazing part of the work that we can do and
the fact that we are everywhere and we reach
people that the rest of the world has forgotten.”