When packing her suitcase to go on a United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) mission in Nepal to promote women’s rights and maternal healthcare, Geri Halliwell, 35, had to answer a few questions from her 3-year-old daughter!

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“Mummy, where are you going tonight? she asks. ‘Nepal,’ I answer. ‘Why can’t I come?’ she asks. ‘Erm…’ I try to think of something quickly. ‘Mummy’s visiting some ladies who don’t have doctors or a tidy place to have babies.’ ‘Can we send Nana to clean it up?’ she asks,” Geri wrote in Grazia magazine.

The former Spice Girl was visiting Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city to meet the women behind the Saarthi Shelter, a place where abused women seek refuge. Finding out first hand what the women have been through (forced prostitution, rape and giving birth without midwives or a doctor), Geri came across a woman who had suffered from a prolapsed womb for 16 years and had not been able to seek medical assistance.

Geri was on a mission to promote women’s maternal healthcare through the UNPF, to launch a new campaign to stop violence against women. Geri made a speech and feels positive that change can happen.

When she returned back to the UK, Geri revealed that she “felt incredibly grateful for my life and my circumstances,” and wanted to educate Bluebell on the importance of being humble. She admitted that when Bluebell told her “Mummy, I don’t want to wear that dress,” she felt intolerant of this after what she’d seen in Nepal. “Well you are very lucky to have a choice,” she replied to Bluebell. “Little girls in Nepal don’t have clothes like you. If you don’t like your dress, then we can just send all your clothes to Nepal.”

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