Please begin

Note to self:

You have to begin. Go, do it badly at first with sweaty palms and shaking limbs and gaps in what you know. You have to start, and perhaps you won’t feel ready or like you’ve fully prepared. Perhaps you’ll feel too late, too small, too scared. But it’s okay that you did not appear on Earth with all the skills and information. It’s okay that there are things you’ll have to learn, It’s okay you won’t be perfect overnight and people might see you try and that getting where you want will take some time.'

These are the opening lines of an inspiring poem by Sophie Diener called ‘The First Step’ which elegantly captures the reasons why so often ideas languish as mere items on a to-do list.

We’ve all been there.

On Sunday 20th October 2024, the World Health Organisation officially [certified Egypt as being malaria-free[(https://www.who.int/news/item/20-10-2024-egypt-is-certified-malaria-free-by-who)], ridding the country of a 4,000 year-old scourge.

A process that has taken more than 120 years to achieve. A process that, like any, had to start somewhere.

Somebody, somewhere took the first step.

So.

Please begin.

(I’m talking to you. Yes - you.)