0:03

Welcome to the show where we expose new perspectives on our ever evolving world through the lenses of various industries, cultures and backgrounds.

Our guests are.

Disruptors.

United by a common goal to bring their purpose to life, whether they’re from the commercial world or third sector, from the global north or the global S, expect an inspirational journey that will transform your perspective on just what is possible.

0:32

My name is Philippa White and welcome to TIE Unearthed.

Today we are talking periods specifically about the reality of young women in places like Tanzania, Africa, who get their periods.

0:50

How is it in this day and age that adolescent girls around the world still don’t have the appropriate support when they start to menstruate?

I mean, we are looking at how people can go to Mars, yet young women around the world are still faced with a range of completely avoidable challenges.

1:10

From not understanding what is happening when they start to bleed, to not having the correct products to support them so that they can go to school or are sent off to get married as they’re now considered of age.

This is the dark side of culture.

1:27

Now, we all love different countries and different cultural experiences that include new music, food, art.

But when it comes to ingrained cultures that start to impact the rights of people, things need to be rethought.

1:44

Hello, and welcome to episode 93 of TIE Unearthed.

Today, I’m speaking with Sia Tol from Tanzania, who blows open the reality for young women and adolescents on the ground where she lives in Kilimanjaro.

She’s the managing director of Femme International, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing menstrual and sexual reproductive health education, research and product distribution across East Africa.

2:13

Now, she’s had nearly eight years of experience working with grassroots organizations, particularly those focused on marginalized groups, and she brings a deep understanding of the complexities involved in such efforts.

She’s an emerging Pan African leader and is committed to addressing barriers to women’s rights development throughout Africa.

2:37

Today, you’re going to hear us talk about the different tribes where she lives.

We delve into the impact of menstrual health on young women’s lives, particularly in developing countries, and what happens when appropriate education or role models are lacking.

We hear about the important role of men advocates in this conversation and how slowly but surely Sia and her team are moving the needle to help overcome these cultural barriers, even when it comes to some of the more traditional cultures like that of the Maasai tribe.

3:10

This is an extremely insightful and inspiring episode.

So grab those running shoes or that favorite beverage and here is Sia.

Hi Sia, it is so great to have you with us on TIE Unearthed.

3:27

Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you, Khalifa.

Thank you really.

I really like to start these conversations, particularly with people who are in just completely different worlds to many of our listeners actually.

So just for context please, if you could let us all know, where are you sitting right now?

3:48

I’m calling from Tanzania specifically in Kilimanjaro region and I am based in Moshi city.

It’s part of a small city of Kilimanjaro region and this is the place where I grew up in but now I am seated in town but I grew up in village but in the same region.

4:08

Well, how?

Many people in the village that you grew up in just to get.

Around the neighbourhood or around the whole village?

The whole village.

The whole village.

It’s a lot.

It’s a lot more than a million like.

Wow.

So it’s not a, it’s a lot of when you say village, I imagine a little village.

4:27

It’s a big city.

The big village, it’s a really, really big and I think Kilimanjaro is also one among the the region that also have many tribes.

I like the tribe here.

It’s Gaga where it’s also part of my tribe.

I am Chaga.

But we have different Chagas, like when different categories based on the villages, because we have plenty of villages.

4:49

We have Kilimanjaro has sub villages, sub towns.

Based on that we have different tribes, but Chaga, it’s the main tribe.

We have two main tribes, which is Pari and Chaga.

But Chaga, it’s really wide, it’s broad.

5:06

It’s really broad and.

When you say the village, is a village made-up primarily of a tribe, or is a village made-up of many tribes?

It’s a mixture.

Honestly it’s a mixture but the majority is the main tribe which is Chaga.

5:21

Mind you, Chaga can marry a different tribe.

That different tribe can move to your village and stay there because they have bought a land, a piece of land there probably, or a man has married from a different tribe because we have like 121 tribes in almost 126 tribes in Tanzania in general.

5:40

So we have a lot of tribes and any tribe can marry from any other tribe.

So in your village, someone else from a different tribe can move to a tribe, either as a mother-in-law, as a mother, a wife, as a sister, as a sibling, because also a man can also go out and have a child with a woman from a different tribe.

6:01

So it’s a mix.

Mainly the village is built up by the main tribe, which is general.

Fascinating.

The main language that’s unite us, now we have 126 plus tribes in Tanzania because we have so many regions in Tanzania.

6:17

So with that, the father of the nation, Malim Julia Scenery just decided to make a Swahili language, the main language that will unite all of us in Tanzania.

So we speak Swahili as a language that unite all of us, but each tribe has their own languages, so I speak Chagas.

6:34

As we speak higher, someone else will speak Pare.

But the main language that we speak that makes all of us understand one another is Swahili.

It’s so interesting to just learn about different people’s lives.

Yeah.

But can you talk to us about your story?

6:50

I’d just love people to hear about you.

That then just sort of brings us to how you then got involved with the organization.

Like I said, I was born and raised in Moshi village.

It’s my home village and I have always been a shy girl.

7:05

But I went to school, primary school and secondary school in my home village and I moved to high school.

I moved to a different region in Shinyanga.

Then I after high school I got a very good maths where it took me to University of Lodoma.

7:20

It’s a different region again in Tanzania where I stayed there for three years and I finally I graduated Bachelor of Art in development studies and that’s where my journey started of searching for a job.

Then I moved to Russia, it’s a different region where I stayed there for some time volunteering.

7:39

Then I moved back to Mosh town where I am right now.

And then in 2015, it’s when I, I stumbled to an opportunity also of an internship and then I moved to full time employment while I was working there.

Now it’s and in 2016, it’s when they learnt about them international.

7:58

It was really fascinating to hear about the work they’re doing.

But and but then we, we build up a relationship with them because working under the same building and we’ll court path each day.

Each morning we’ll greet one another.

And at the end of the week, we normally had happy hour where all the organization in the building will come together with having some drinks, some snacks, some conversation, exchanging about work, social life, music.

8:27

And this is where now you get to learn about how other peoples are doing their work, what they are doing.

And that’s how now.

I learned about Film International in 2018.

I moved to tourism industry in 2020.

Now it’s when COVID came, then my job was done in the tourism industry.

8:46

My job was done and I was six months pregnant.

I felt like my life was falling apart again.

I started looking for a job.

It’s when now got an opportunity to start working with Family International.

Perhaps you can tell us about Film International.

So why was the organization set up?

9:02

But also why, other than needing to get a job, why did the cause?

Speak to you the purpose of Family International to self, women and girls who are mostly under safe communities, mostly in rural communities with so much need of the service we are providing.

9:21

But again, menstruation comes with a lot of challenges and there’s less information about menstruation in general for us who are privileged to live in, in the cities, even in small towns, we have more information than people who are living in remote areas.

9:38

And the purpose of them was to make sure they are serving in the community who are really in remote areas where they are lacking information, they are lacking product.

They don’t understand what is Pubert.

They don’t know what are the challenges coming with menstruation and how even to go about these challenges, how to solve them.

9:56

And to also help young girls and young women to understand that menstruation is it’s the best thing that can happen in their body and they should not feel shame about it.

It’s not even a shame.

It’s not even a cast as there’s much myth around menstruation.

There’s so much stigma around administration.

10:12

A lot of girls are missing schools because they either are scared to go back to school because they have started to see their period or some of them they married as soon after they see their first picture because they are considered as an adult and ready to get married.

Some they they don’t go to school because they are missing product to manage their periods.

10:32

Basically, this challenge is now where the reason why fame was set up to address such challenges.

Yeah, wow.

And all those challenges that you’ve just talked about are all such powerful forces, aren’t they?

You know, we started talking about tribes and we started talking about how life is in Tanzania, which of course is very different to the UK or the US or Canada.

10:55

You know, it’s just a different setup.

And with that comes a lot of cultural norms.

And I can imagine when you say that there’s a lot of misunderstanding with the girls themselves.

Or does some of that misunderstanding come from some of the more powerful forces within the communities and the tribes?

11:14

Is it the young girls don’t understand what’s happening?

So is it a lack of education in the schools?

I’m curious.

In general, general, it’s the lack of education because for me, I I was growing up, I didn’t know much ministration.

To be honestly, ever since I started what I’ve had of film, I feel like, oh, I wish I knew about this physician ever since I was young because that’s such mission I missed.

11:37

I didn’t know much because in schools here, Yeah, well, puberty has been, but teachers are also shy to teach in deep.

Like, what are the changes?

What are the challenges?

And the parents also are really scared.

They are ashamed.

I’ll give you an example of how my mom used to tell me.

Yes, one day this year, you will see blood coming out.

11:55

And please don’t be scared.

And if you see anything like that, please let me know.

And stay away from boys.

So if you look at that statement, if you look at what she was telling me, it’s well, it’s good she was telling me.

But if you communicate like that to a girl, obviously you’ll be confused, OK?

12:16

You’ll see blood.

Where’s that that coming from?

And OK, why should I stay away from boys?

I need more information.

I need more details.

Instead of frightening me with something that is normal that is happening my body, I think you need to educate me not to be scared of it and to just see it as a normal thing that is biological thing that is happening to my body.

12:40

It’s natural.

Just educate me more.

Yeah, educate me more.

OK, I see it.

You need to do 123 and instead you’re seeing some cramps.

There’s this, this you need to do.

And also you need to also educate me more about, OK, this is how your body operates.

12:57

But a body of a boy operate differently.

So there has those difference.

Like for me to be able to understand, navigate around the information.

But normally we are not given enough of information.

We are not being told about internal and external organs of our body and how they work.

13:16

Puberty has been told in partially but not in depth.

This.

We are not breaking the barriers.

The barriers will still be there and the purpose of them is to break the barriers to make sure information is adequate.

It’s clear conversation is made openly and not in secretly and feel like it’s a shame.

13:35

Let’s say for example, a girl has hit half first period and then she’s home with a father and a brother and the sister is not there.

The mother is not there.

Meaning to what be having a help because we are only be traditional that we have been set in a way that you are not supposed to talk to A to a boy or father about your period or to auntie a sister or your mother.

13:57

My question always has been like, what if my mother or my sister, my aunt is not there and my brother is there and my father is there and say aloud also to learn about our body changes.

And they allowed also to know that it’s necessary for them to know and to help us because we need to get this guidance and help from any gender, not necessarily only woman.

14:18

And I don’t feel like menstruation, it’s a gender role.

It has to be you get a help from anyone around you boy, either a girl or either a father, a brother and uncle.

Just get that help.

Can you help us just understand then knowing the challenges that are facing these young girls, they don’t have access to the information and they don’t have the courage to ask people and, and also access to that information.

14:43

Other people also don’t really have it.

So there’s a huge role I can see that for FEM International in the region.

So what do you focus on?

Is it education?

Is it also access to the products?

We focus on education and before education we also do research.

15:00

Then education because you have to identify the gap and see if the gap is there which is there then we focus on education and and then we focus on affordability, accessibility and sustainability of the products, distribution of the products.

So we make sure after the education package because we have program that is educational based after that a comprehensive education.

15:22

We also provide the reusable menstrual products and we give them option which is an option of reusable washable part or we do an option of reusable menstrual car.

Those are the two product that we advocate for and because they are both mentally friendly and we give them choice, we don’t force anybody to use either of the products.

15:43

It’s their choice to to just decide which one they want to feel free and happy to use.

We also do TOT for other organization and other stakeholders who are interested on our curriculum to make sure this conversation and this movement keep on moving forward.

Those are our focus and advocacy also, it’s our main, main, main focus because we advocate for the reusable Bistro products.

16:05

Do you have a story that stands out just as far as the impact of your work?

I would say for one school I visited last year and one of the teacher was giving us the feedback and the testimony and some girls also gave out how they feel, how the program has added value in their lives and in their education.

16:26

Because when you just address these challenges that are coming with menstruation, you are addressing a woman’s health.

Yes, it has everything to do with a woman’s health.

And when a woman health is is improved, that means even have economic status will be also somehow improved.

16:42

Because also if they are using the reusable products where they use money to buy products every month instead of using that money to buy product every month.

Now they are covered by a reusable product that they will be able to stay with because the menstrual part, the reusable part stayed for two good years and they the menstrual cup will stay for 10 good years.

17:03

So financially they won’t never, they won’t be any more focusing on buying menstrual products.

They only focus on other things like instead of that the money they were using to buy parts for every month, they might focus using to buy textbooks, they might use to buy it for pain, food, school uniform, other clothes or support, the education fee and things like that.

17:27

So these are the things that will be testifying according to the products.

But also teachers will tell you also there is increase of attendance in schools.

It has grown.

It has just grown incredibly.

They’ll also tell you girls have increased their confidence and reduced anxiety because when you’re menstruating, you’re always constantly in anxiety.

17:48

But when these girls have enough information, they also feel like their physical health has improved.

They have increased shame and anxiety.

The ability of the income a generation also has grown.

Not very many people know this about me, but a lot of people know that I worked in advertising before I set up Tie 20 years ago.

18:06

So I worked at Leo and the job that I got was to look after the always account, always pads.

And it was really interesting because everybody else who was working in advertising wanted to work for these big brands of alcohol or cars, the famous newspaper brand or whatever it might be.

18:28

But that allowed for really creative advertising and it was sort of the sexy brand.

But I absolutely adored work were always the menstrual pads because I got to look after the teens account for Europe and then I got to look after the Middle East, Africa and general export area.

18:50

And the, as you are saying, you know, the understanding and the everyday challenges that people face as teenagers in England or in France are very, very different to the realities on the ground for people from the African market markets.

19:07

And I remember doing ads of having a family going on holiday and the, well, in this market, it actually wasn’t just teens, it was also adults.

So women, mothers.

And, you know, the family had planned a holiday and they’re, you know, getting into the car and then suddenly she has her period and they have to cancel the holiday because she doesn’t have the appropriate product to support her period for the distance from one petrol station to the other.

19:38

And as a result, they had to not go on holiday.

And so the ad was basically saying you can now go on holiday.

You now have a product that will allow you to be on holiday with your family.

It’s so crazy to me because the information is out there and there’s organizations like them international that are so important because we’re talking about human rights of.

20:02

Young.

People to be able to live a life of.

Dignity in a.

World where we’re sending people to Mars, machines to Mars, and we’re thinking about how people can go to Mars.

We’re sending people to the moon and there are people on this planet, young girls who are getting their periods and they do not feel empowered enough to go to school or getting sick from stress or not able to go on holiday with their family or whatever it might be.

20:30

So it’s a fundamental human right issue, isn’t it?

It definitely is, and it’s because the narrative and the stereotype.

I think it we need to change this.

There’s so much information that is missing.

There’s misinformation about menstruation.

20:46

It’s not addressed and it’s not even taken serious as part of a human right.

It’s a woman right.

If we we are able to do better, the narrative and the stereotype has to it.

We need to change this whole thing.

This is affecting a young girl’s health mentally and physically and each area.

21:04

My daughter’s thirteen years old, so I mean, she’s at that stage, you know, all her friends are getting their periods.

She’s just got hers.

The difference it makes when you have a person in your life who you can literally ask every single possible question about what’s happening to your body, what you can use, what works, what feels better, what’s the best thing for her.

21:26

It’s a time of so much instability emotionally, obviously hormones are all over the place.

It’s a very uneasy time anyway.

And the difference it makes, just have a person or a trusted individual who can help that transition that shapes somebody’s life.

21:44

Yeah, it does.

And getting the fact that for this part of the world, most of the African countries, men are considered that the primary caregivers, the providers of the families, most women, housewives, because also of the patriarch system, the man is being set as a provider of the family and few men.

22:02

And because maybe because of the social media, the power of the social media.

And I really appreciate the power of social media because also it’s helping to bring out this message out there for men also to see it and understand it.

And because of the system is still so hard also to break the patriarch system for men to be understanding and buying this idea because they always think that this is the woman’s idea.

22:25

We don’t have to be involved in into it.

For us from international, we have been chased from some villages because we are just trying to bring out this message out there for them, not just to change them, but for them to hear the message, to digest the message and to understand it.

22:42

And it’s up to them to also change the the way they are doing things.

It’s not even changing them.

It’s changing the way things have been done.

But no, the Patricks now will they have been said that no, you can’t change us.

You’re trying to change us.

You’re trying to sit on on our head and we won’t allow that.

22:58

You understand?

So the Patrick system also, it’s a problem here because if a father is a provided of the family and the girls needs a menstrual path, how is this father going to understand that this girl in the menstrual path?

Unless the father is educated because a father need to understand the different puberty between a boy and a girls, the puberty is different.

23:18

Like there’s a huge difference.

Do they really understand if this huge difference exists?

Do most men understand this?

If you ask me, they’ll say no.

What excites you about your work every day?

For me, I’ve always feel like helping others and saving others.

That is my wife.

That is what makes me happy.

23:36

And I mean getting out there talking with these young girls, talking with women, even adult women more than me, we see to have a conversation about men’s fruition.

They tell their stories that are women who are older than me, they in their menopause and they’ll keep telling on their stories.

23:51

The oldest stories that you don’t even I personally, I don’t understand because I wasn’t even there when they were born and when were there on their menses.

So they’ll keep on telling this story.

Hearing these stories builds up my mind.

It changes my mind.

It makes me feel like, OK, I still have so many opportunity to offer help to these young women.

24:10

I can still also talk to other young women’s about the story I’m hearing from these adult women.

They sit there, they’ll talk to you, They will really enjoy the conversation.

You tell them they’ll see the menstrual products and they’ll be really in a shop because they they normally used to use a piece of clothes.

Now they are seeing a reusable worship, but now they are seeing a menstrual cup and they’re in a shop of their life.

24:29

They will laugh.

They will see the product and be like, wow, these are the things now makes me feel OK.

I love serving.

So you’ve just mentioned that there’s lots of stories that you hear that keeps you going.

Is there a story from your work that you can share with?

Us, we’re doing a session with a group of it’s a community women group and they invited us because they wanted to learn about the which we are doing.

24:52

So we went there just to have overview of the work we are doing as in who we are, why we are doing what we are doing and also try to demonstrate the products to them.

Because these are the group of women in a very multi areas and they are Masai women.

25:07

It’s a tribe that they are really they are still holding on to their their traditional ways.

Their traditions is everything.

You can tell them anything about their tradition.

They love who they are and changing them to a modern way, it’s really hard.

So they’re still living in the old, old way and it’s their ways.

25:27

And I love the fact it is their way, but there’s some ways now need to be changed.

Yeah.

So these women’s, they are housewives.

They don’t work.

Only men will go out there and work and come home to provide title of the household.

Most of the Maasai girls, they are forbidden to go to schools.

25:45

They are considered as women because women are weak.

They should be home and they should take care of the cat holes.

They should be do grazing for the cat holes and they should cook.

They should wash.

They should be helping their mothers but for the boys now they keep grazing but they they are allowed to go to school.

26:03

They were giving us a story on how they wish now for because they are uneducated.

Most of them are uneducated.

They don’t have an idea of many thing and how the world is running.

The way we were talking about the work we are doing, doing the demonstration showing around the products.

26:20

They were asking a lot of question a lot of crazy, crazy question about especially about the menstrual cup.

They was like if I said this in my vagina, we did not break the virginity.

We need to disappear in my vagina and go straight to myself.

26:36

There’s so many question around those areas.

One of us of them testified and be like I normally have a heavy flow.

So if I could have a cup would save my life.

But now again, I can’t use it because if I use it, my husband won’t understand me.

26:52

Because when you are wearing a hat, your husband if you are telling your husband you’re on your message.

They want to have sex and you are telling them you’re in their message.

They’ll touch somehow part of your vagina and they will feel the part.

But now if he touches, he won’t.

If I’m wearing a cup, he won’t feel anything.

And if you want anything, that’s going to be a fight.

27:09

Yeah, it’s going to be a fight for me.

So I can’t take it unless you guys, you come educate my husband about it.

They like all of them.

Like you can’t educate them because it’s also hard for them to really sit down with women teaching them.

So were you able to make a difference?

27:27

In the group we had like 2, they were Maasai and they testified themselves.

It’s hard for you guys to sit and teach a Maasai man because they understand they are older than you and you cannot teach them.

And as a woman you can, you’re not supposed to even to stand in front of them and teach them because in Maasai tribe, the men are the leaders and wives should sit and listen.

27:47

They don’t even have a say.

That kind of setting.

It made me feel like we need to to involve more men for more men to be the advocate of talking to their fellow man.

You know, if a woman was to talk about and the man is talking about it now, he works them out.

It’s a different feeling for them.

28:02

I think that’s how for African men, it’s said that way and that’s how we have always been feeling because we have visited some villages and we have been chased away by men because they don’t believe us standing in front of them and teaching them or talking to them.

People say, oh, I love different cultures.

28:18

I love culture and culture, food and art and music.

That part of culture is amazing.

But culture also has customs and traditions and ways of being that can be incredibly oppressive.

28:35

And it’s really hard to change it.

It’s so ingrained in the way that everybody sees life.

And it’s a generational thing.

And so it’s never going to be something, you know, one minute to the next.

But what’s exciting is that that story, even just the fact that you had a couple of men, that’s a big deal because those two men then eventually will become four and will eventually become a bit more.

28:58

And the more you empower women and then they look for different opportunities and different ways to engage in society.

So yeah, I mean, it’s it’s going to be a slow burn making a difference, but you are making movement, which is great.

We have employed men facilitators also.

29:15

Great.

Yeah, fantastic.

Well, that’s.

Interesting too.

Yeah, it’s even more less complicated and yeah, easier for men also to understand and to understand the idea that this is normal for them to talk about.

What are you working on at the moment that you think our listeners will find interesting?

29:33

For now, I’m currently working on a fundraising campaign.

I haven’t finished it, but that’s what I am currently doing because for what we are focusing now, it’s a fundraising, making sure we have enough resources to keep the work going.

As you know, funding, it’s a global crisis.

29:51

So for most organization that’s a grassroot and for most organization which are not-for-profit, it’s really a hassle.

So the forecast of right now I’m focusing on grants writing and I’m focusing on fundraising.

We also have global giving fundraising platform where we people here and learn about our work and donate.

30:12

That’s our focus for now.

And last year I did Mount Kilimanjaro fundraiser for Fermi International to raise more awareness about why is it important to talk about period poverty and why we should take measures to address it.

30:29

And it was successful.

I made it to Kilimanjaro at the top of Kili.

Well done.

That’s.

Great.

And I was really happy I was able to to just get up at the top of that mountain with my banner talking about the work I loved to do.

It was really good.

30:45

It went really well that I did not reach the target of the fundraiser, but I was happy that I was able to even do some work about around it.

Yeah, well, yeah.

I’ve been having conversation with some other organization that I do awaken with, with women and girls with disabilities and also talk to Faustina and some other organizers that I know.

31:05

I’m actually working on an idea of fundraising because I did a session with women and girls with like this disability in 2021.

The results of that training has made me think every day on how we can help them further in terms of alternative menstrual product because they even asked them for the women with physical disability.

31:24

They even suggested how we can help them to use a different product to help them feel more comfortable instead of bad.

So I’m working idea either a reusable period, underwear or any other product for them to be able to feel more comfortable because also we are looking forward on involving them more on the work we are doing.

31:45

That’s really interesting, Todd.

It’s so, it’s so incredible, isn’t it?

Because it’s, this is the importance of understanding other people’s realities and the importance of empathy and the importance of being able to put ourselves in the, the shoes of somebody else.

And it’s funny because I’ve never used pads.

32:02

I hate pads.

I, I mean, I, I know that I’ve worked on always, but I’ve, I’ve never used them.

I find them awful.

And my, my daughter, she just had her period and we discovered reusable underwear that he get the Marks and Spencer’s in like England, but I’m sure that they have them everywhere.

I bought a few for her and she is loving them and it’s the best thing of all time.

32:24

It was not available to me when I was younger, so I just wasn’t even an option.

But it’s funny because we were talking about how much more comfortable they are, how much more it makes sense that it’s not.

It’s better for the environment.

You can wash them.

And I said to her, I said, you know what, I bet you a woman invented this period underwear.

32:43

I said, well, why do you think that?

And I said, why would a man doesn’t stop?

To think about the reality.

Of what it.

Is that we’re going through and I bet.

You.

It’s a woman who.

Just thought these.

Pads are awful and we need another option.

And so that I looked online and sure enough, the woman who the person who founded the period underwear is a woman and she’s a multi millionaire and she’s done incredibly well.

33:07

And you just think, and this is also the importance of empowering, it’s empowering women.

And this is the importance of women being able to have a voice and to have the courage to be able to see opportunities and then go after them.

Because it’s only then that our lives are going to get better.

33:24

And the only way that that can happen is through this type of education in the world.

If more girls were empowered and more women were decision makers.

Absolutely amazing.

So is there a quote from someone that you’d like to share that that sums up your work or your mission or what we’ve been talking about today?

33:41

I have this one quote that is on the top of my head but I don’t remember who said it.

I’ve seen it several time and I love it.

I’ve used it in so many other things I’ll be just doing.

I have wrote it in so many places, but I don’t remember who really wrote it.

33:57

It says you can’t ask someone to go somewhere you’re not willing to go.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell our listeners that I haven’t asked you?

In the end of 2022, I, I really faced a really huge tragedy.

Now I faced that tragedy and then I was promoted to a new role at Firm International as a managing director.

34:17

And then before that I had to started my role last year in 2020 that and then in 2022, it’s when I lost my parents, both of them.

And so when I was just thinking of I’m still griefing and now I have to take over a really huge role, I feel like my head was going to bust.

34:36

But someone, a friend just came through and she only told me forwards.

And she was like, see ya.

There’s one thing you need to understand.

Adversity happens to everybody.

Adversity happens to everybody.

34:51

And I think what?

Your face may never heal.

It will change with time, but it will never disappear.

So the only thing you need is just to move forward.

You should not just hold you behind.

It should just give you more strength to keep moving forward.

35:08

Yeah.

So I’ll leave people with adversity happens to everybody.

So whoever is facing anything that is harder to them, that is keeping them confused, they not understand because, I mean, the work we are doing is really tough.

Running organization is extremely tough.

35:26

And I’ve never knew that until I started working at FEM International.

It has taught me so many lessons.

Oh my God.

So yeah, yeah, I’m late and I’m keeping late and I has gave me strength, so I’m moving forward.

Well, Sia, listen, you are a force and your belief in what you’re doing and FEM International is very, very lucky to have you.

35:46

And you know, you said you you want to serve and as far as the difference you’re clearly making to so many people’s lives is amazing, commendable.

So thank you.

Thank you for your enthusiasm.

I love doing these podcasts to get the message of what people are up to in different parts of the world and them International is hugely inspirational.

36:07

So if we ever find an organization that’s keen to help your important work, these podcasts definitely help.

So hopefully the message gets out there and we just need to keep talking.

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for your time and I really appreciate that.

Good.

36:22

Thank you, Sia.

We’ll, we’ll, we’ll talk next time.

Thank you Take.

Care bye.

Bye.

Hey everyone, this is Philippa again.

I hope you enjoyed listening.

Now this is your chance to get involved with Tai.

36:38

If you’re looking to create better leaders, better companies, and a better world, that’s just what we do by helping leaders tap into their greatest asset, their humanity.

We have a number of corporate programs that impact a range of people, from individuals at a company to 500 people around a business.

36:57

Or check out my book, Return on Humanity Leadership Lessons from All Corners of the World.

You’ll find the answers to how business can truly become a positive force while remaining at the forefront of competition.

You can find all the information you need on all of this at tieleadership.com.

37:16

Get in touch and I can explain more.

A huge thanks to Ben Naviera for Co producing this with me and for creating the music.

I hope we’ll meet up again soon.