*see below for what I'll be doing to raise money during the lock down*

COVID-19 has led to 89% of students across the world unable to go to school. This will be affecting all those students and their families but it is girls and young women who will be most disproportionately affected.

According to Unesco, this current crisis could lead to "further entrenched gender gaps in education and increased risk of sexual exploitation, early pregnancy and early and forced marriage" for girls across the world. This matters for so many reasons but for me there is a particularly personal reason.

In 2015, I (along with a fantastic team) founded an organisation that currently funds the education of 8 brilliant young women from Cape Town, South Africa. These 8 girls have defied all the odds and will be completing their high school education next year. They are strong, they are driven and most importantly, they are great people.

In addition to funding their schools fees, we support them with other additional living costs - transport, school supplies and basic necessities. The picture in the header is the result of our trustee, Jamie, sorting the girls out with eye tests and glasses!

As a small charity, The Compass Trust relies on donations from people like you, reading this. Any money you donate will help us to continue to support these 8 scholarship students and will enable us to support them and their families during the current crisis and beyond. Now...

*To earn your donations, I will be shaving my hair off...with a twist. I will be shaving one strip of hair off each day. This is challenging for multiple reasons:

1. It's going to look ridiculous

2. I'm still working full-time and will be on video chats with colleagues and partners over the next few weeks. I've got my boss' permission so I can't really back out now...

3. Each day, one of 2 things will help make this fun.

1) The largest donor each day gets to choose which part of my hair they'd like shaved next

2) A donor will be chosen at random to choose which part of my hair they'd like to go next

They'll get a shout out too.

4. I've inherited a receding hairline and it ain't going to look great when it's done...*