My name is Cecillia Hansen. I was born in a small town in Denmark.
My name is Cecillia Hansen. I was born in a small town in Denmark 27 years ago, where I grew up close to the ocean and the forest with my tight-knit family and a lot of dogs. I have always been very close with my immediate family, and looking back I can see how they all had a large influence on me and my life.
Growing up, I had the immense privilege of having easy access to education and similar resources, since most forms of education and healthcare are free in Denmark. This is something I did not acknowledge as a privilege as a child, since I had never known any different. But as I got older, I realized how fortunate I was, how important education is, and how inaccessible it is for many people around the globe.
Taking advantage of the opportunities available to me, I pursued a bachelor’s degree in ‘Art, Visual Communication and Culture’ after High School, where I specialised in ‘Global Communication’.
However, after being engaged in a lot of today’s global challenges throughout my bachelor’s, I was encouraged to change my path and pursue a master’s degree in ‘Human Security’ – which is a type of International Relations degree that deals with all types of threats related to the security of human beings. More specifically threats affecting our economic, political, social, environmental, health, food, and personal security.
As a part of this degree, I lived in Thailand for a year in 2022, where I got a lot of practical experience working in an international NGO. I was supposed to live in Thailand for more than a year, but my stay was cut short when I got the news that my dad had passed away back home. It was incredibly difficult for me to focus on anything for a long time after that, but in spring, 2023, I went back to South-East Asia to volunteer at REACH for a month in order to collect data for my thesis, and ultimately complete my degree.
Being at REACH gave me a sense of purpose again. I was therefore very happy when I got offered the opportunity to become a full-time staff member and stay even longer.
I have known about REACH since 2020, where I followed along online throughout the pandemic, and participated in some of the fundraising campaigns. So being a part of the team now feels like coming full circle!
And being able to help make education and healthcare accessible to all of our students and families at REACH has given me the privilege of having an incredibly fulfilling and rewarding job.
