It is unusual for a woman to be so proud of her rats, but for Kim, the giant African pouched rat, a long-tailed rodent, became a valuable asset and trusted work colleague. It was under Kim’s leadership, as APOPO Country Director for Cambodia, that in 2015 rats came to be used to detect landmines. The main method for mine detection is to use a metal detector. It is laborious and time-consuming work on old battlefields. Filled with scrap metal that does not contain explosives, it too is detected and thus treated as a potential mine for every signal the detector picks up.  Mine Detection Dogs can also perform the task, but are more expensive to train, feed and house than their rodent counterparts. The African rats proved adept at sniffing out TNT, and could readily identify exactly where danger is lurking, and after comprehensive training at a university in their native Tanzania, were imported into Cambodia. After re-accreditation, the rats joined in the mammoth effort of Belgian social enterprise APOPO to free Cambodia of the scourge of landmines, a cause close to the hearts of many, including the late Princess Diana and Daniel Craig. One particularly valiant rat, Magawa, who died at the age of eight, was so highly regarded that in 2016 he was awarded a medal for his heroism, after clearing over 225,000 square metres of land. The rats, along with their human handlers, made a huge difference. Not only did they locate the mines, which could then be safely exploded, removing potential risks of death or maiming for humans, but also by returning uncontaminated land to the villagers, for growing crops and raising animals in safety.

Kim has lived for various lengths of time in England, Hong Kong, where she still holds permanent residence status, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, and now calls Hua Hin home, in what she calls her “semi-retirement”. It is fitting that she and her husband Peter have set down local roots, since it was on Hua Hin’s fisherman’s wharf that Peter proposed marriage to Kim in 2007. Kim had been a frequent visitor to Thailand in the decade before her first sojourn to Hua Hin.  Her first taste of Hua Hin, on the recommendation of a friend, was with the man who was to become her husband. In 2015, Kim and Peter bought their villa home, a somewhat impulsive purchase.  Kim has learnt through her work to trust her gut instinct, and has never regretted the decision. Like Kim, Peter’s work as a geologist called on him to be a global nomad, but from 2018, the couple have called Hua Hin home, and have recently undertaken significant renovation work on their villa. Kim, only half-jokingly, stated that blowing things up is a much easier task for her than managing a renovation. Hua Hin’s seaside location, its reputation as the centre of the Royal Coast, and its relative proximity to Bangkok were all factors in their choice to settle locally.

Kim’s lifepath from carefree English child to Project Coordinator with the United Nations Development Programme has involved both strategic decision-making and serendipity.  Kim was raised in a small village in SE England and relished the freedom that her parents gave her.  She was besotted by horses and would often ride off alone for hours at a time, her mother confident that she would come home when she got hungry. Kim even admits to skipping school to have extra time with her horse. The second child in her family, Kim has an older brother, and considered herself somewhat of a tomboy, loving to climb trees and play football in the street with the local kids, blissfully ignorant of the problems of the world in her pre-teen years, and content to be an average student.  It was Kim’s mother who had the greater impact on the woman Kim would become, a strong, positive role-model, the epitome of a matriarch and the source of Kim’s moral development. Kim described her mother, now in her 70s, as a powerhouse of a woman, who only retired from her successful career as an interior decorator a few years ago.

Kim left her comprehensive school early, to instead pursue her A-levels at college.  Upon graduation, Kim opted for solo travel, her days of residence in England behind her, apart from the time she spent on accessing a tertiary education. Kim gained a Bachelor’s degree in Development Studies in 1995, then a few years later a Master’s degree in the Theory & Practice of Human Rights. Education complete, Kim moved to Hong Kong initially to work in an English language centre and to travel as a backpacker along the Silk Road and into Pakistan and India where she met her soul mate Peter. Returning to Hong Kong, Kim was able to then take up employment as a Refugee and Migrant Worker Programme Manager, gaining first-hand experience of human trafficking and debt bondage. In this field of support and advocacy, Kim believed she had found her calling, and eventually broadened her expertise in a Counter-Trafficking position for 18 months in Indonesia.

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami changed the course of Kim’s life. She had expected to continue working in the niche role of anti-human trafficking, but the universe had a different plan for Kim. Already working in a humanitarian role in Indonesia, Kim swiftly found herself pulled into disaster response and management in Aceh province, the hardest-hit region, bearing the brunt of the devastation with widespread destruction and loss of life, and where her organisation already had an office.  She began by attempting to account for staff after finding the office still standing, much to her surprise. Kim located one staff member traumatised by his experience on the roof, attempting to grab and save others from the ravaging, debris-filled water. Kim worked tirelessly as step-by-step the province moved out of the emergency situation and slowly towards recovery. Due to the strict enforcement of Sharia Law and the toll of working 18-hour days in the aftermath of the tsunami, Kim ultimately decided to leave Aceh after witnessing both men and women lose freedoms many in the western world take for granted. Accepting a less prestigious job with Austcare as a project manager in Cambodia, with responsibility for developing improved water delivery, sanitation and model farms, Kim encountered CMAC, (the Cambodian Mine Action Centre), a partner organisation, for the first time. This was a lightbulb moment for Kim, who finally found out just what all her life experiences had been preparing her for.

From that moment, Kim’s humanitarian focus shifted to dealing with cleaning up the left-overs of war, whether it be explosive devices in all their myriad forms, or the people they attempted to destroy. Kim has had extensive hands-on experience in land mine clearance operations, a heavily male-dominated sector and has had to work harder than any man to achieve equal recognition and acceptance, even from high-level officials and policy-makers at the United Nations. In roles that are seen as dangerous, women are still viewed by many as unsuitable candidates, a stereotype that Kim has consciously worked to break down.  She cited data from a study into the effectiveness of men and women in mine clearance work which concluded that while men generally worked faster, women were a little slower but more meticulous and therefore more accurate, and so did not miss any unexploded devices.  

From 2008 onwards, Kim has worked on contract with a series of different International NGOs in areas as diverse as explosive ordnance disposal, landmine survey, mine risk education, mine ban advocacy and victim assistance, all part of the broader effort to clean up the mess left in SE Asia by the various wars played out in this region of the world. As Kim built on her experience and areas of expertise, she has risen in the mine action hierarchy into positions of project oversight and management and policy development and coordination, often leading teams comprising of hundreds of people, principally men. She has worked with stakeholders to ensure that funds donated by governments, and corporations from around the world are used in the most efficient ways possible for the benefit of those still affected by the legacy of wars that happened decades ago now, often even before they were born.

Although legal adoption was too complicated and problematic, Phong has become Kim’s son in every way which matters.  He decided to change his name to a more Western-sounding one, and settled on a first name to pay tribute to the two central figures in his life. Phong has become Peterkim, and is on the path to changing his surname to Warren as well, the lifepaths of all three not just enmeshed, but irrevocably entangled, a personal mutual admiration society. Now 30, Peterkim is the director of his own civil society organisation in Laos, supporting other people living with a disability.

In 2021, there was a pivot in Kim’s career path.  Up until that point, Kim had worked only with non-government agencies, avoiding head offices and keeping her boots firmly on the ground, wary of taking on any role involving policy or bureaucracy. Teenage Kim would have been highly surprised to see Kim join UNICEF, in November of that year as its Mine Action Area of Responsibility Coordinator in Myanmar, after the significant escalation in hostilities brought around by the coup d'état in February.

It is not so well-known that Thailand is also a battlefield when it comes to landmines and unexploded ordnance. A long-running dispute exists over the border between Cambodia and Thailand in what is known as the K5 belt where military groups still face off against each other despite rulings made in international courts. Not surprising then that Kim has also worked in Thailand, located at the Thai Mine Action Centre and was operational along the Thai- Cambodian border. The Cambodian and Thai aims of being mine free in 2025 and 2026 respectively are being frustrated by the inability of mine-clearance groups to access the K5, an area of over 700 kilometres long and up to 10 kilometres wide considered the most heavily mined region in the world and home to a number of culturally significant temples.  A self-confessed “temple junkie”, Kim finds the standoff between nations confronting, and in need of careful and calm resolution, for the benefit of all.

In the meantime, Kim has a multitude of other personal projects whirring in her head.  She is fleshing out ideas for an autobiography to be titled “Waiting for Peter” and is learning to be more relaxed and more gentle with herself.  Kim is relishing her ready access to the sea, indulging herself with long swims, lazy seafood dinners on the beachfront and the beauty and luxury of actually having a home of her own rather than a makeshift bush camp, surrounded by her male-dominated team. Kim and Peter have upcoming travel to more remote parts of China and Inner Mongolia scheduled in the near future, and Kim now has time to read and cook, her favourite style being a good barbeque. In the past, Kim repurposed the casing of a cluster bomb unit to become her herb garden, and halved an old aircraft bomb to create the best barbeque ever. It is such a pity that it was too unwieldy to bring to Hua Hin, but Kim’s home does contain many mementos of the explosive devices, carefully now rendered safe and free from explosives, which have provided the booming soundtrack to her life. 

Kim’s whole life is a testament to courage, resilience and an unyielding commitment to making the world a safer place.  She has faced war zones, natural disasters and bureaucratic hurdles with unshakable determination, proving time and again that true heroism lies not in words, but in action. Kim’s husband Peter is justifiably proud of everything she does to improve the world. Kim Warren is a fulfilled woman, having found her personal Ikigai in humanitarian action.