The rolling fields, the goats and thump-thump of the ground as we drove – to me, it was bucolic bliss. I looked out the car window and saw a world of verdant beauty that had been riddled with genocide and unrest only 22 years ago, but had recovered with a decisive choice to overcome. And it wasn't a soft whisper it was a lion's roar. My brain, heart and spirit couldn't shift gears that quickly, from the purpose-driven work I had been doing all week in Rwanda to the polished glamour of an awards show. A high-end jewellery company was going to fly me in, dress me in the fanciest of gowns, and I would travel straight from Kigali to Heathrow, London, to the make-up chair and on to the red carpet. I had never been and had always romanticised it. Driving back on the dusty roads that day, I received an email from my managers asking whether I'd attend the Baftas. I was also speaking with grassroots-level female leadership at the refugee camp just outside the area. I was there as an advocate for UN Women I had a week of meetings with female parliamentarians in the city's capital, Kigali, celebrating the fact that 64% of the Rwandan government are women – the first in the world where women hold a majority. Just a year ago, I was in a van heading back from Gihembe refugee camp in Rwanda. We never would have dreamed that this would be my reality. This in itself is a novelty: my mom is sitting in my trailer, on a show in which I am a lead character, and that has a viewership of more than 1.7 million. I'm sitting in my trailer with my mom in Toronto, Canada, where we're shooting the sixth season of US TV drama, Suits.
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