BLAZING THE TRAIL

Together with Boffy and a third partner Karine Moge, Amour–Levar founded Women on a Mission (WOAM) in 2012. The non-governmental organisation (NGO) takes all-female teams on challenging expeditions to off-the-beaten-track locations around the world as a way to support women who have been subjected to violence and abuse. In 2017, she founded a second NGO, Her Planet Earth, which organises similar expeditions to benefit underprivileged women affected by climate change. 

In the past decade, Amour-Levar has led hundreds of women on tough and often pioneering expeditions, from the first all-female team to bike across the frozen Arctic Circle Trail of Greenland and the hot, harsh Danakil Depression of Ethiopia to the first all-female crossing of the Lut Desert in Iran. In doing so, she has also raised US$1.7 million between her two NGOs to date—one of her proudest achievements yet. Combined with her love of travel and adventure, she has enjoyed every minute of her journey thus far.

But when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, everything had to be put on hold. During this period, she found herself in a reflective mood and decided on another thing she has always wanted to do: write a book about her life. Published this August, Wild Wisdom: Life Lessons from Leading Teams to Some of the Most Inhospitable Places in the World details the gruelling, life-changing travels she had embarked on and the lessons learned. 

While every expedition has its challenges, Amour-Levar says mountain biking across the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia, known as the hottest place on earth with temperatures up to 55C, was particularly punishing. The harsh conditions in the geological depression resulted in about 70 per cent of the expedition team, including Amour–Levar, developing symptoms of heat stroke, such as fever and vomiting. 

“That was a lesson in humility because as a leader, I’m responsible for the safety of my team and I felt bad that we hadn’t planned better,” she shares. Thankfully, everyone recovered by the next day after applying cold compresses and could continue with the expedition. The rest of the schedule was reorganised to start earlier each day and stop before the afternoon sun came up. “I really learned to be more careful with our logistical schedule and not underestimate the heat because it can have very serious consequences,” she says.

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WALKING THE TALK

Amour-Levar is not only responsible for the physical safety of her team, but also often has to boost morale when the going gets tough. She recounts an incident in the Tsum Valley of Nepal, where, upon arriving at a monastery at an altitude of 3,800 metres, the team was met with no heating and little food. Cold and hungry, one dispirited team member who was particularly affected by the altitude came up to her and said: “Christine, remind me why I’m here. Why am I not with my husband at the Shangri-La?”

Amour-Levar recalls: “She was partly joking, but she was really not feeling well. So I said to her: ‘This is just part of the challenge.’ And I reminded her that we’re raising funds for [female] survivors who have lost everything to war and conflict and who have seen atrocities. And I said: ‘One day, you’re going to thank me for this. You will be fine. Power through.’ She has been back for many of our expeditions since, [including the recent two-week trek in] Kyrgyzstan.” 

The trip, which took place this September and involved a hike up to a height of 4,000 metres, was embarked upon by an all-female team led by Amour–Levar to raise US$100,000 for female survivors of war through WOAM. Such expeditions are meant to push the team members out of their comfort zones for a real physical, emotional and mental challenge. And the women often come out of it stronger in every sense of the word. “I’ve seen the transformation in my teammates; they come back with much more purpose in their hearts. They walk a little taller and a little prouder,” Amour-Levar shares. “They’re more positive, and their family, friends and colleagues are impressed and inspired by them pushing themselves for a good cause.”

In empowering these women as well as the women supported by her NGOs, Amour-Levar has found her purpose. And she continues to find ways to transform lives and create a positive impact. The human rights and environmental conservation advocate hopes to be part of the climate change solution as well as help those affected by the issue. After discovering that the number of climate refugees is projected to exceed a billion by 2050, Amour-Levar signed up for a United Nations course about human rights and climate change. “This is something we have to deal with and I’d like to learn more about it to be at the forefront of finding solutions,” she says. 

She is also joining a Dutch digital venture capital platform and ecosystem called Venturerock to work on impact investing, in the hopes of finding innovative climate technology and solutions that she can scale up. “We’re trying to build a tech hub to find game-changing ideas,” she says. “As human beings, we have a responsibility to solve what’s happening on our planet. It’s important and we don’t have much time, so that’s what I’m focused on.”

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