Ladakh, India

The persion language poet, Amir Khusrau, is credited with describing Jammu and Kashmir with the following couplet:

If there is a paradise on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here.

And he was right.

Ladakh is incredibly beautiful.

But as with many parts of the world, it is also incredibly poor.

Our biggest project to date saw us join forces with 9 doctors and 6 nurses from the Himalayan Health Project to see about 1600 women from Leh and its surrounding villages.

We set up a 4.5 day long clinic where the medical team screened and treated women for cervical cancer, while we taught women about their periods and distributed Freedom Cups.

Many of the women had travelled from villages 2 days away, and some were from nomadic hill tribes, seeing doctors for the first time.

The feedback we have been receiving is very encouraging. Women are happy using it and are talking about it among their friends.

We hope that this is the first of many little flames we light on the Indian subcontinent.