This is the penultimate post in the #GettingToKnowGaia series. Another characteristic, personality trait if you like, that everyone was unanimous about was that Gaia hated injustice. She didn’t just hate it, but she had to speak out about it.

Kim recalled on Day 6 how Gaia was sensitive and caring, maternal towards her friends and how she had to speak out when things were wrong, on this example referencing that she could not ignore her rape, principally for concern for other women.

Kim also stated she had:

‘An understanding of the real world… defiance in the face of adversity’

and later in our conversation again:

         ‘She had spirit and was super aware for injustice’.

Clara also recalled how spirited Gaia was:

‘She was very outspoken, kind and caring. Maya still is, Gaia was very very outspoken. Maya struggles to speak up at times, but if something was wrong Gaia would always say it.

She’d not just say it, she’d shout it.

If there was anything with her friends she’d always be there for them, at least tell them when something wasn’t right. She had no qualms telling someone when something was wrong, for example she had a friend in a bad relationship and she was blatant with her and told her that was the case’.

Day 5 ended with a poem of Gaia’s from primary school which included the lines:

Put down your guns, swords and weapons,

make peace throughout the land –

then there is harmony, justice and peace throughout the world.

Maya’s memories of Gaia, dovetail with this poem, perhaps not surprisingly. She reflected:

‘She was sparky, she wasn’t just confident and beautiful and all of these things, she had a sparkle in her eye, she was animated…

Gaia was quite radical, she had quite radical social politics. She hated men in white collars all about the economy…her social politics were big, she was very anti-racist, anti-war and anti-austerity’