It's a Saturday morning and I watch seven girls learning to calmly, quickly, and fiercely move out of choke holds and two-hand arm grips. The doors and windows are open, and warm light bathes the room. Kunchana, their self-defense instructor, reminds the girls to focus, to maintain eye contact, and encourages them to believe in their strength. One moment, they're giggling, unsure of themselves, the space, and the power of their bodies and minds. The next, they're escaping a hold from someone twice their size, their eyes wide.  Kunchana looks at me after practicing the latest technique with one young woman and says, “she is very strong.”

Ever wonder what developing a small nonprofit is like? As some of you know, I have re-joined Emerge in Sri Lanka... the place, the venture, and the community where my soul found its home nearly 19 years ago. From founder, to board member, to CEO again, it has been a gift to invest in this incredible community through so many phases.

Here's a 3 min video of my last four months of nonprofit life in the tropics. And, this phase is just getting started! 👏 🌴 💓

There is NO such thing as rape “with consent” or "raped at their own will."

This morning, I woke up to a deeply disturbing article by Sri Lanka's Daily Mirror that poses dangerous and inaccurate conflations between rape and consent. This article contains language that is legally inaccurate, harmful to survivors, and further perpetuate norms that enable child sexual abuse. I urge the Daily Mirror's editor to consider the gravity of the misinformation presented in their article and to take immediate action by retracting it from circulation.

My full letter is included below.