CARING KIWI CASSANDRA 'Girls' lives matter'

SHE’S REACHING OUT TO AFRICA’S MOST VULNERABLE AND PRECIOUS

- Leena Tailor

It was a welcome jolt of perspective as Cassandra Treadwell arrived in Africa last year and became the talk of a village. “I arrived to mothers screaming, ‘Hi Cass! You look so well – you got really fat!’” the 48-year-old Kiwi laughs. “There’s no phones, yet by the time I visited another family, they came out saying, ‘I heard you got fat!’

“It was a massive compliment as they celebrate the ability to feed yourself because that’s something they don’t have every day. They celebrate the present moment because they woke up alive, while their neighbour might not.”

Cassandra’s not-for-profit, So They Can, works to empower African children living in poverty through education, and has the support of celebrities including Samantha Hayes.

Caring for others is a trait she inherited from her parents, both doctors. It was during a student exchange in Argentina at 16 that Cassandra received a “slap in the face about the poverty gap”. She recalls, “I saw beggars on the streets. It was my first indication of inequality in the world.”

The imparity hit Cassandra harder as she spent time in Africa after finishing her law degree.

“When I saw the extreme poverty, I thought, ‘I won’t be able to sleep knowing I can do something’.”