Under towering palms and frangipani trees on her farm in rural Thailand, Achara Ratanakasin hacks away at the tangled undergrowth with swift machete strokes.
Soon such work will be forbidden.
Tomorrow Achara is heading to a monastery to start a two-year journey to become a bhikkhuni – the ancient Indian term for a fully-ordained, female, Buddhist monk – where she will vow to never again kill a living thing.
