Jefta Timmer was only 10 years old when she moved from her home in the Netherlands to India with her family. While she knew she would be leaving behind her old home, her childhood friends and her favourite foods, she had no idea that she would also be leaving behind her old perspective of the world forever.
“Growing up, I had only known life in the Netherlands,” she said.
“Everyone around me had always had access to quality education and good health services. Boys and girls were treated equally. But when I moved to India I saw something different. I saw three year old children beg by my car window when driving to school, I saw women oppressed by men and treated differently, I saw how families bathed in a polluted river next to their houses built out of trash, while on the other side of the river, people enjoyed a breakfast buffet in a five-star resort.”
