Nevertheless Stories
Simone Patterson is a woman who has had enough. After reading yet another news story about three women killed by their partners, all within a short spate of each other on the Gold Coast six years ago, Simone decided to establish Sanctuary Refuge, in attempt to incite change and offer support to women, children and animals suffering domestic violence.
With a successful footballer as a father in the UK, you could say sport is built into Natasha’s DNA. But in 2008 life took a drastically different turn for Natasha, when a rare neurological disease left her paralised and blind overnight. Although Natasha’s life had changed forever, she took the lemons she was dealt and turned them into lemonade. 15 years later, this remarkable woman has just completed the Gold Coast marathon and has her sights set on the Paris Olympics 2024.
This edition, we chat to award-winning primary and STEM teacher Megan Hayes. Megan Hayes sparkles. Not in a lame, Twilight-ish way, but in the sense that I could feel the energy crackling around her when she walked into the room for our interview. Blue eyes twinkling and wearing the fluffiest pink jumper I’ve ever seen, Megan practically flies into the café, gives me a big hug (that I don’t want to let go of – that jumper was really soft) and begins chatting away excitedly.
Nasrin Vaziri doesn’t believe that life imitates art. She thinks the two are inextricably intertwined.
A story of one woman’s triumph over abuse, separation and xenophobia. In her hometown of Aswan, Egypt, Aya Mahmoud* lived the simple and independent life of a teacher, a lover of all things science and a devoted daughter and sister within a kind and supportive family.
