“I am both aware of and looking forward to the fact that this programme is going to really challenge me mentally, emotionally and physically”. 

This is a quote, taken from the ‘About’ section of my Laidlaw Scholars Network profile page. It was written, by me, over a year ago now. Just after accepting my place within the Durham 2025 cohort, I, like all my fellow scholars, diligently went about creating an account on the network. Filling in this section of the profile page, while not done hastily nor dishonestly, followed only a brief, reflective consideration of what I had signed myself up for: a programme which included six weeks in a foreign country, carrying out an intensive Leadership in Action project with a non-profit or NGO. The LiA, by its nature, is designed to push Laidlaw scholars out of their comfort zone by tasking them to lead with impact in unfamiliar and sometimes even challenging environments. Although daunting, the prospect of this was also one of the key draws for me when applying to the Laidlaw Leadership and Research Programme - as seen in my statement above. This is because I am a firm believer that the best things in life are on the other side of fear. Also, many people would agree that putting yourself outside of your comfort zone is really the only way to grow. Having said all this, or rather having thought and written about it last year, I faced the reality of it this week.

Week 3 of the CraftHER LiA Programme saw us staying at the SEWA Rural Centre. The complex, which comprises a conference hall, canteen, paper-manufacturing workshop and dormitory, is nestled among the hill-side forests just outside Trivandrum, the capital city of Kerala. An exquisite example of sustainable architectural design, the Rural Centre was built by Laurie Baker with the intention of preserving and complementing the natural landscape on which it was built rather than destroying or grossly encroaching upon it. In fact, part of the mini-consulting project this week for SEWA Kerala (the state branch of the Self-Employed Women’s Association - the largest all-women trade union in India) was to create promotional materials that the organisation could use for marketing purposes. 

Yet, the eco-friendly, minimal-material design of the centre has some implications, particularly for those staying in the dormitories which, this week, was the six of us CraftHER scholars. No part of the dormitory buildings are plastered or painted. In addition, neither the entrance to the building, nor the windows which line its back wall contain any glass - the gated entrance and un-glazed window openings aimed to exemplify the seamless melding of the building and the surrounding natural landscape. However, the result of these two things is that wildlife, namely insects, arachnids, reptiles and amphibians, are inevitable co-inhabitants of the dormitory building. 

This, while it came as a shock to all six of us scholars, especially due to the size of some of the creatures that were living amongst us, was a challenging learning experience exactly of the sort which I knew I would come up against and determined to grow from when I first considered applying for Laidlaw and to the India-located CraftHER LiA. 

I saw growth in myself not least in my greatly increased capability of dealing with the wildlife from the beginning versus the end of the week. On our first night I had found myself breaking down in tears to our programme co-ordinator about how terrified I was of the sudden appearance of insects, scuttling out of corners or flying down from above. Yet, by yesterday evening I had been informally instated as team-protector and had the courage to remove an enormous insect from one of the other girl’s rooms. My change in behaviour and attitude towards the wildlife, though, was not merely driven by determination to conquer fear. A key motivating factor was my desire to put into practice the approach of living in complete harmony with nature for which I had so greatly admired the indigenous women that I met in Forest Post last week. Learning to co-exist with the insects at the Rural Centre was a real practice-what-you-preach moment. 

Another significant aspect of character development that resulted from me staying at the Rural Centre last week was making me understand how privileged I am. While I was struggling to live with big bugs and a few lizards in my living space, I still had a roof over my head, access to running water and to electricity which is more than many people in the world have. 

Beyond the personal growth that I underwent by living in SEWA’s Rural Centre, I also learned some valuable lessons about team-work in the process of executing our mini-consulting project this week. On top of the stress which the team felt by living in a more challenging environment than we had been treated to in the previous two weeks, we also faced a long list of outputs this week. On the first evening of the working week, our team leader, Paris, convened a meeting to assign outputs so that each of us could approach every day with purpose and create internal deadlines to ensure that all of the many deliverables were completed within a good time of the Friday deadline. This, I thought, was a very good lesson in preparation and also compromise, since there were six of us who all had different preferences but we managed to settle on a decision. Yet, adversity, in the form of four sixths of the team being struck down by food poisoning halfway through the week, was another good lesson in teamwork. Our best-laid plans having been dashed, we had to regroup and pulled together to pick up other people’s workloads as-and-when needed. In the end, we managed to complete all of the outputs to an incredible standard and deliver an incredibly successful and well-received presentation to a panel of eight senior leaders in SEWA. Through the team being adaptable, showing each other support and grace in a time of unexpected adversity, and those who were facing adversity being determined to pitch in and grind out work anyway, we were able to not only survive a hard week but thrive despite it! I think all of us, me included, will apply the resilience we have developed this week to any challenges that we may face not only in the rest of this programme but also in life beyond.

Circling back to the quote at the start of this post, I can confirm that I have been mentally, physically and emotionally challenged this week. However, being challenged is not a bad thing. It is the way that we grow. And, as ever, in my times of difficulty it has been women who have got me through it. In the first instance, this female support was provided by our programme co-ordinator, Preetha Matthews. Without the kind words and emotional support she provided on the first night while I was really struggling with the prospect of staying at the Rural Centre, along with all of our creepy-crawly friends, I don't think I would've made it through the night much less the week. Secondly, Asha, creator of the CraftHER LiA project, who joined us halfway through the week, showed such patience and compassion to each of us which was very touching especially for the girls who came down ill. Thirdly, there was all of the women at SEWA who shared and thereby inspired us with incredible insights into the running of a 40,000 member-strong trade union and allowed us to create content to promote the various amazing initiatives that they run, many of which are life-changing for the women who participate in them. I want to mention especially the women who work at the SEWA Rural Centre, whose generosity and attentiveness during our stay was second-to-none. And last but not least, I have to shoutout and show thanks for my fellow CraftHER 2026 girls: Abi, Lorelai, Alba, Paris and Maria. Their dignity, humour, intelligence, grace and determination are so inspiring. I'm so lucky to be a part of such a close-knit team and feel like I'm part of a family even though I'm hundreds of miles away from my home. I'm very much looking forward to next week where we will meet more inspirational women, execute more meaningful consulting deliverables to a partner organisation and face different but exciting challenges! Bring it on.