About Me

I was born into Apartheid in South Africa (SA), where for 25 years I was an activist for the liberation movement, the African National Congress (ANS). I left SA as a refugee and was granted political asylum in the UK in the early 1980s. 

I tell my story. I invite others to tell their stories! The stories of famous people are recorded, but those of ordinary people, who lived their quiet lives in suffering - under Apartheid and still today - worldwide - those ordinary stories are not heard and will not form part of our history unless we tell them so that History will remember us too.

I use my experience to work with excluded communities worldwide, telling my story in classrooms, workplaces and boardrooms. I help institutions* to include the voice of their beneficiaries in service delivery. 

I particularly enjoy presenting at Assemblies in schools, giving children an opportunity to question me directly about what Apartheid South Africa was like.

I speak English, Afrikaans and French.

 (* Organisations include  Susila Dharma International Association ; NHS White Papers on health and social care; Better Doctors, Better Patients; UK Stroke Association and Carers UK; the training of non-executive directors; and HM Audit Office, UK) 

Professionally I started out as a nurse and midwife; then qualified as a lawyer and practised criminal law (mostly political trials) in South Africa for several years.  After settling in London,  I worked as  commercial lawyer. When my then husband had a very severe stroke I stopped work to look after him full time and when he died I took up a position as an Associate Director in the National Health Service (NHS), UK, specialising in engagement and inclusion.

I now offer my services as  a real-time and online resource for organisations and institutions, helping them to co-produce with their clients and beneficiaries as part of their assets, conducting workshops and speaking publicly to support equality agendas, especially in education. 

In 2013 I founded I Protect Me, an organisation which empowers women and children in South Africa to speak out and stand up against abuse. Watch.

 As a journalist with World Pulse, an international online resource for women, I Blog regularly about human rights issues.

See also LinkedIn ,  Facebook,  Twitter, YouTube.

Awards: 

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Somerset Hospital Midwife of the Year 1963

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A Woman of Action (2003)

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 2020 Fellow, Gratitude Network (Forbes)

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 2021 Ireland Writing Retreat Award