About Kim & Kath
‘We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are’ A.N
Kim: I met Kath on the school run, my family had been living overseas for 12 years and I was walking our four children to their first day of school in Sydney - we had a very brief conversation but it was Kath’s parting statement that made all the difference - ‘Your kids are going to love it here’, to this day it is Kath’s intrinsic kindness in moments of uncertainty that has sustained my passion to create The Possibility Project.
About a month after meeting and over our first cup of tea, I asked Kath if she would like to join me with some work I was doing in Jaipur, she pretty much said yes immediately and that is how we have rolled since, well more her than me. I was a high school economics teacher for 20 years, so I tend to (over) think things but it’s Kath’s spontaneity combined with my love of learning and teaching that keeps us moving into diverse spaces.
We are yin and yang, I identify more with the dark and Kath doesn’t like identifying with anything! We don’t differ on many things except our taste in music and our dancing style (she dances weirdly).The most valuable thing we have is our shared intention to do something of purpose. And we both strongly value the resourcefulness of ‘mums’ - in whatever creative form that takes - to help build healthier societies.
We are often asked ‘What does The Possibility Project do’, we have no definitive answer. We have made up the name ‘aestheticist’ for Kath - because she is able to see the beauty in everything. One of the favourite things I learnt about Kath only recently is that she is colour blind - it affirmed a truth I felt the day we met - she lives and works through her heart and that is what has made this all possible.
Kath: Meeting Kim while walking my kids to school was and will always be a great blessing. It was immediately a friendship of great healing and with immense purpose. Kim is the most thoughtful, most generous person I know. And also, the most driven person I know. Driven to create change for herself and for others. When we first met, it may have been a more ego driven desire to create change, and now we are very aligned in our desire to be of service.
Living on the very beautiful and conservative north shore of Sydney, it was exciting to meet for a cuppa and be asked to go to India. Within a few weeks, Kim had our trip planned (she is brilliant with planning and logistics, I just turn up). It was probably a little mad agreeing to go, but none the less we set off a few months later, and it was during that trip “The Possibility Project’ and ‘slumwear108’ were seeded.
The timing of meeting each other was perfect. Being ‘mum’ will always be my priority, especially with a husband that travels, but I had a yearning to use my creativity in some way to help others. Kim was at a similar stage with her children and was also on a path to use her gifts. Kim is a brilliant teacher and inspirational speaker. It was quite embarrassing the first few times I listened to Kim speak. I sat listening, tears rolling down my face. Still 3 years on listening to our stories, I often 'mist up’.
Kim, India and I-India (the Jaipur based NGO with whom we collaborate), opened my heart completely. There was no way, I could have walked away from being involved after that visit.The joy that was experienced in these slum communities, where some may see hopelessness, changed so much for me.
We are so very privileged to call this ‘work’. The incredible people we meet, the festivals, the music, the travel, the creative individuals who are our colleagues, the cycles we see transformed, the amazing people with whom we collaborate, what a wonderful and joyous way to share this life, full of gratitude and laughs.