My friend Sarah Packwood, who has died aged 54, had many talents – she was a scientist, worked in humanitarian aid and as a disaster preparedness consultant, was a gifted musician and singer, walked the Camino as a pilgrim, and trained to be a Reiki healer and a druid.
Her career in aid and development took Sarah to South Sudan with Save the Children, and to Rwanda with the UN following the 1994 genocide. Between 1999 and 2001, she managed Christian Aid’s emergency programme in Kosovo. There were stints in India, Namibia and Papua New Guinea, and as an adviser to the UK government, for two years on secondment to the Department for International Development. From 2015 she was a freelance consultant, and was working on projects with the UN until recently.
