Having the opportunity to combine these skills and interests, and to unselfishly share what knowledge I have with people around the world is a job description I could have only dreamed of in the early days. But a combination of luck, circumstance, grit, determination and the nack of picking myself up when all seems to have failed has somehow got me here. Passion, drive, commitment and stubborn determination, combined with a strong people-centred approach to everything I do has not only helped shape me as an individual but has steered the direction of my life and brought me to where, and who, I am today.

Before leaving the comfort of island life in Jersey to study anthropology, conservation and development at University, I printed a quotation on a credit card sized piece of plastic, and still carry it around with me today. It quite simply says:

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again..."

Etienne de Grellet, French poet and missionary (1773-1855)