The Road to Mote is about a journey, a journey that started in 1985. A journey that left questions unanswered. Did we really 'feed the world'?. What legacy did we leave behind? What impact did a staff nurse from Ashtead have on those she helped? 

It was 1984. I was 14 and along with my sister, mum and dad, watched in horror and disbelief at the now iconic report by Michael Buerk from Ethiopia. His powerful delivery and well chosen phrases such as “a biblical famine” and “the closest thing to hell on earth” struck a chord with all of us, but especially so with my mother. She turned to us and said “Would you mind, but I’d like to go and help”. Her great-aunt and uncle had been Baptist Missionaries for over 40 years in Africa and, when my mother finished her nursing training at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, she had decided that she too would go and work in Africa. Marriage and children put this thought 'on hold' for the next 20 years until 1985. Her children now grown up, 15 and 17, she set about finding an NGO (Non Governmental Organisation) who was recruiting nurses for Ethiopia - and her journey began.

As a documentary photographer I have begun to illustrate my mother's journey with the help of passages from her diary and photographs she took during her 6 months spent in Mote. These images and stories will culminate in a limited print run book.