SHE AWARDS #1.

I'd never normally buy any of those glossy woman's magazines (at £3+ they are far too expensive and I'm not into fashion and make-up which they tend to be full of) HOWEVER I found myself making an exception with June's edition of SHE magazine. The reason? You got a free book with it which sounded like a fun, 'summer' read.

Anyway, tucked amongst such articles as 'Denim to rock your summer', '3 women and a sperm donor', 'Get beach body confident' and 'Hot new bags: Everyday arm candy you'll love' there was a feature that caught my attention - SHE Inspiring Woman Awards 2010.

"Celebrating the extraordinary achievements of ordinary woman. .......... There could only be one winner for each of the six categories" stated the blurb. Great, I had my Inspirational Women Wednesday* posts for the next few weeks.

WEEK 1 - THE HUMANITARIAN: CAMILA BATMANGHELIDJH Founder of KIDS COMPANY.

Iranian-born Camila has risked her own home three times for her charity - twice remortgaging her house to plug a funds shortage and once when she directed money to her charity instead of her monthly payments. "When it came to court the judge refused to take my flat away when he discovered what I'd done with the money" she says. But her commitment has more than paid off, as Kids Company now helps 14,000 children each year - providing a home from home for children; cooking hot meals, helping with home work, finding them doctors, enabling them to get back into education, finding specialist support and even giving them mobile phones so they can call their mentors at any time.

After training and working as a child psychotherapist for social services, Camila established Kids Company in 1996. She was frustrated by a system that wasn't working and which relied on neglectful parents - themselves the problem - to bring their children to sessions. The results are nothing short of amazing - 96% return to education or employment and this year alone 90 took up university places. "It's a privilege for me to work with these children. They are incredibly courageous, dignified and forgiving. To me life is about that moment you lie on your death bed and think was it worth it, and the answer is 'Blooming yes'" - SHE magazine.

Read more about Kids Company by clicking HERE

NEXT WEEK: The Survivor.

* Inspirational Women Wednesday is a weekly meme over at Aine's THE EVOLVING SPIRIT.