After her professional visit to Mumbai, India in 2020, Sofia had a chance to work closely with people living in the slums. As her visit was interrupted by the Covid19 pandemic, Sofia told us that she felt as if she didn’t contribute to these people to such an extent as she desired, and even though she left India at the time, she wanted to continue helping those in need. She said that is the reason behind why she reached AEIN – ‘’After seeing the great work AEIN has been doing in India and in Nepal, I wanted to be part of it and be a helping hand’’.

During her trip to India, Sofia was shocked by the poverty and living conditions in India. She had an opportunity to meet families who were in a daily survival mode, living in remote areas, without basic human needs or even the possibility to educate their children. She was shocked how something perceived as essential, almost basic in the lives of the people from developed countries or simply part of our daily routine, was luxury and privilege in the lives of those people.

Yet, Sofia believes that access to proper education would bring prosperity to developing countries – ‘’Educating the next generation to create solutions and become critical thinkers and to fight for their rights’’, told us Sofia would be the key to the progress in India.

In the more global sense, Sofia shared her concerns about climate change and reminded us how crucial it is to be aware of our impact on the planned and distant societies. She advises all of us to raise awareness of the realities of the other countries, and how the Western world is contributing to the problems other regions are facing ‘’many people have been forced to flee from their hometowns, and food production has been put at risk as well as human health. I think it is a concern of all human beings to mitigate the impact of climate change’’, emphasized Sofia.

Sofia concluded that with united forces we can create a better world and better home for all of us and that we should take action before it is too late.