The PAWA supporter family ranges far and wide. Both women and men who feel passionately about supporting girls’ education across Asia are part of the Pan Asian Women’s Association, raising funds for this valuable cause. Wesley Masters is one of two PAWA supporters running the 2018 London Marathon to help PAWA create a floating school for the girls of the Haor region in Bangladesh.

PAWA Chair, Zehan Albakri, sets the scene for us of how this decorated soldier came to be involved with PAWA.

Zehan says, “Wes spotted the PAWA stand at the Super Heroes run at Regents Park last year and emailed us out of the blue to say he really wanted to do a challenge for PAWA. He had just completed a challenge for CALM – a charity for young men with mental health issues/depression.

“Phyllis Hatfull, our Vice Chair, and I met him for coffee and it was great to hear about the challenge he did for CALM and we spoke about what he could do for PAWA – he would like to do a much bigger ambitious challenge (ie travelling to Asia on foot with no money !) but is starting with the Marathon first. He has a young daughter so understands the need for girls to receive equal opportunities and also experienced, while in the army  in Afghanistan and Pakistan the discrimination that girls faced so he seems very aware of our cause”