The Resilience Project is the result of two experiences that marked Hugh Van Cuylenburg’s life. The first of these was an event that involved the author himself and is about his twelve year old sister, who was suffering from an illness. For four long years, his sister, Georgia, suffered from anorexia nervosa, completely turning the harmonious balance in their household upside down. They were a picture perfect family, two kind and affectionate parents and three happy, sensitive kids, who suddenly found themselves thrown into the depths of hell.
The second meaningful experience in van Cuylenburg’s life is connected to the time he spent in a little village in the middle of nowhere in North India, in 2008, while he was teaching English as a volunteer. They had no electricity, no running water and not even a comfortable bed to sleep in, but the children that went to the little school he taught in, all had one distinguishing feature: they were happy!
How could it possibly be that a group of kids who basically had nothing, were so full of joy? And how was it possible on the other hand, that a child who grew up in a caring family, in a rich, modern environment, who went to one of the best schools in the city, could suffer four long years of an eating disorder?
The Resilience Project was started because of a keen desire to answer these questions.
