2023
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Creating a Women’s Only Tour in Afghanistan
“I stand on the sacrifice of a million women before me thinking how I can make this mountain bigger” – Rupi Kaur In the coming months I will head a women’s-only tour to Afghanistan. For most, travelling to the nation, particularly a woman, sends shivers down their spine. Understandably, at present, there seems to be no issue…
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Pioneering Women Travel in Afghanistan
A few hours ago, a group of extraordinary women and I boarded our flight from Kabul to Dubai, landing safely now (11:07 pm, 11th of July 2023), symbolising a successful expedition to Afghanistan as the first all-women tour since the Taliban takeover. As we sat in the waiting area of the Kabul airport for our…
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Let’s Talk Marriage, Afghani, and Australian Women’s World Collide in Bamiyan, Afghanistan
Afghanistan has become synonymous with terrorism, war, and its extreme violations of women’s rights, whereby gender is the most significant determinant of one’s future. Since reclaiming the country by the Taliban in 2021, women have been removed from all spheres of public life, most suggesting homes becoming prisons, children becoming brides and bodies baby-making machines. …
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Mission to Mosul
We all have life missions; for some, it is to meet someone special; for others, it’s to be their own boss. There are a range of options, limitless – proven over and over again. I found mine in 2014, an odd time perspective-wise, as it coincided directly with the self-declared caliphate and its place of…
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Taking a Chance and Becoming an International Tour Guide
Starting a new job is exciting and daunting, a new chapter to do something significant but the fear of – what if? What if it doesn’t work out? What if I am no good? If you are like me, you are naturally plagued by thoughts that lean more negative because in taking chances, we know…
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The Girl from Aleppo, Syria
As our final day in Aleppo ended, we raced to a vantage point to watch the sunset in the old city. As we reached the top of the hill and snugged into our jackets to escape the breeze, the cold quickly subsided as we became inundated by locals who wished to say hello. Amongst them…
PARIS HAILWOOD 