In life we are offered many chances and we have to continuously make choices. 

Knowing first-hand what poverty, hunger, loneliness, not feeling loved feels like, the chances for me came in the form of my adoption. I was taken from an orphanage in Nepal and given many chances to make something of my life. 

From my earliest memories, I knew I was going to do just that, as I was never going to be put in a similar situation I had been in. And a promise to myself that one day I would give back to other women, the chances I had been given. 

However, study, career, love, raising a family, took priority over everything else. And that was a conscious choice! I would not have become the person I am today, nor been able to give all of myself to help other women empower themselves if I had not made the choices I did. 

Every time I meet a graduate from one of our training programmes and see their self-confidence and hope for a brighter future, I feel heartfelt gratitude and joy, that I am now giving other women the choices and the chances I was given. 

So, chances or choices? I believe the two go hand in hand. Without chances, you cannot make choices.  

Gita Pelinck

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