It was with profound and deep sadness that I learned of the passing of Louisa Gosling, my long-term colleague this morning. Louisa’s influence on the early stages of my career from the days of when I was a PhD student at Loughborough University, through to starting life as a consultant has been significant and remained so to this day.
My earliest memories of Louisa are of collaborating with her at WEDC conferences during my PhD. Thanks to my supervisors, I had the absolute honour and privilege to work with Louisa to lead workshops on equity and inclusion in WASH. As someone so young at the time and so early in my journey into the WASH sector, I knew I was being taught by the best there could be, not only about the topics such as concepts around ‘inclusive WASH’ themselves, but also how to teach others and the practicalities of engaging with wider audiences who would not usually think about them. There was always fun to be had when teaching and training others about taboo issues from menstrual hygiene, disability, and not to say the least from my perspective, the perimenopause. Behind all of this however was Louisa’s immense passion to reduce inequalities throughout WASH, which never faded.
I always felt Louisa’s presence as a constant source of support throughout my PhD years and beyond. Setting off on a journey to do the first ever study on the perimenopause was always made that little bit less lonely, knowing that Louisa was always there, always actively acknowledging the fact that at least someone was paying attention to women of her age. She was to become a fellow champion of the menopause, and gave me the opportunity to share my PhD research on the WASHMatters blog for WaterAid not long after my graduation- with all the frills attached (including a video). As I found my feet in WASH, it was Louisa’s leadership of the leave no one behind theme at the Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN), whether it be through leading webinars, or sharing useful information with me through the RWSN mailing lists, that made that process significantly less bumpy. Louisa and I were to cross paths for several years to come. As I started my career as a consultant after finishing my PhD, it was of course to be Louisa who would become one of my first line managers, for a consultancy to look at improving disability inclusive WASH guidelines. It was a true sense of comfort for me to have Louisa by my side as I ventured out into the big wide world.
Some time later, Sean Furey approached me to become co-lead of the leave no one behind theme at RWSN. As one of the successors to Louisa who held the role before me and did so much to catapult equity and inclusion in WASH and shaped so much of my career, I knew I had large shoes to fill. Yet, Louisa’s extraordinary work to drive forward discussions on so many inclusion issues through RWSN was to become my inspiration and my strength, and to give me the courage to venture where no others had done so before. Knowing Louisa personally throughout my time in the WASH sector and having the opportunity to see her transform so much is what shapes my work through RWSN and in the wider WASH sector. We remained in touch until this day. I am saddened we were unable to have that virtual coffee we had planned just a couple of weeks ago. Louisa will forever be present in all I do in my professional life ahead. I will miss her greatly. May she rest in peace.
Amita Bhakta
1st October 2024.