I am a product of my time. I am incredibly lucky, wealthy, highly educated. I was offered many opportunities to make myself into a success, and I took no chance: I did it all. I took a year off after secondary school to go to France, I went to university to pursue the subject I loved, I moved to the UK to follow my dream of taking a PhD in Medieval History. And my parents? They supported me, encouraged me, helped me on the way. I am blessed.

I was lucky. It wasn’t always easy: I faced challenges on the way, but always came out on top. I am a fighter. But to be honest, I never fought for anything of worth: it was only about pursuing the available opportunities offered to me. I never had to face proper poverty, was always in charge of my own choices and my own life. Why? Because I am last in an array of fighters. Generations of men and women fought before me, fought for those things that are worth fighting for: equality between men and women, access to education for both rich and poor, contraception, democracy, free choice and liberty. I am benefitting from that legacy.

The feminists of the early twentieth century could never have imagined the days to come; it was beyond reach to create the amount of freedom of choice that I have today for themselves or even their daughters . Nevertheless, they realised one thing: women deserve a better chance of taking control of their own lives, and so they campaigned for equal opportunities for men and women. Certainly, that fight has yet to be concluded; but my daily challenges would have been unimaginable without those brave women and men that created an infrastructure for female education and for equal rights and opportunities for both sexes. And they could have never reached their goals without a healthy amount of money backing their efforts – many a suffragette was also a rich lady, supported by an inheritance or the Bank of Daddy. They made my life possible.

Nothing has changed. For me, this is what this project is about: creating opportunities for future generations. Paris and Rome weren’t built in a day. Free choice of marriage and education are no given facts for a Zambian girl. To create an infrastructure that will allow Zambian girls to postpone marriage, enjoy education and blossom into more productive and healthier citizens, they need money. This is where I come in; I am comparatively rich, incredibly lucky, reasonably healthy and willing to act. And meanwhile, I am going to enjoy the ride – honouring those whose fights’ fruits I enjoy on a daily basis and hoping to create opportunities for generations to come.