CURREN

I guess it’s important to point out that at 42, I’m not a ‘young mum’, but being an older mum has played a big role in how I’ve managed raising a baby on a small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. I’ve felt more confident in my decisions, trusted my intuition more and, having lived on the island already for eight years, was able to realise how little is actually necessary in raising a child without all the perceived comforts and safety of being a mother in Western societies.

Curren was born in New Zealand in January – our off-season here in the Maldives. We came back to Lohis, where my husband Richard and I manage the surf operations at Hudhuranfushi Resort, when Curren was just a few months old.

He has spent most of his life roaming barefoot over this little island ever since. He was two years old when he first put on a pair of shoes, and they didn’t last more than a few minutes.