Esther Mbabazi

"I want the girls to be successful," she said, "Not necessarily to choose to become pilots but to become confident young women who can contribute to society, our economy and give back to our communities."

"You know what? I’m going to fly,” she said, “and that’s what motivated me my entire life, that idea I had as a young child."

"I love the adventure,” she says. “Every day is different. I would wake up today and even though I’m going to the same destination I was going to yesterday, something is going to be different. That’s what I enjoy about my job: Every day brings its own uniqueness."

"I feel like even though there’s just that one person, there’s a thousand more that are excited and are happy about where the world is going for women."

"Everything starts with a dream."

"It has moulded my character as a pilot, and I think what happened to my dad makes me a little more safe. It could have stopped me, but an accident is an accident. If someone is knocked over in a car you don't stop driving. As a pastor's child I know that you have to let stuff go."

"Before you wouldn't find women driving taxis here, and now you see it. There are men who cook now in Rwanda, when, in an African culture, women have to cook. So I think eventually things change. If you really work hard and you prove that you can do something well, I don't think there's a question of you being a woman, it doesn't come into the equation."

"I had to go for it. Even though it looked like a long shot, it was my only shot – that’s how I saw it so I went for it, and here I am."

"You can’t live life being scared an in fear of anything. If something is bound to happen, you can’t stop it."

"Time has changed. Women are out there working, technology has changed, and everyone has the brains to do something, now it’s not about how much bicep or how much energy you have."

"I want to be the one flying that plane."