Now, I know we are all about transparency, and I would never usually keep something from you that affected CiF, BUT I have had a secret, and now I can tell you all why…

I am through to the Vodafone World of Difference final!! Oh. My. God!

This amazing scheme has been set up to award six individuals a massive £24,000 to help them achieve their dreams. I was sworn to secrecy as I went through the various qualifying rounds, but now I’m through to the final 16 and can spill the beans.

Words do not begin to explain what winning this would mean: It would be a brilliant boost to the project – with the money, I would be able to get to Uganda by November and start physically setting up the home. And I’m excited on a personal note, too: after nearly 18 months of sleeping on (very kind, but probably fed up by now) friends’ sofas and spending my life savings on this project, it would be great to be self-sufficient again.

This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and winning this prize would change the lives of hundreds of babies – failure really is a matter of life and death. It is odd, though, how life changes. When I was a TV Producer, we would say things like: ‘It’ll be alright on the night’ and ‘It’s OK, whatever happens, no one will die.’ The stakes have changed so radically now, and the thought of babies dying because we are not out there is a huge burden of responsibility.

I had an interview with the judges, who included the CEO of Vodafone and the Facebook competition winner, Rachel Butler, this morning – it was 9am and I was so scared, I couldn’t string a sentence together. I did my presentation, which I’d practiced with the fairy godmother of presentations Deb Khan @debkhan, and Tim Booth in the Endemol graphics department, who did a brilliant job of making my presentation look totally cool! Everyone was really nice and I spent 30 mins explaining what skills I have to make a ‘world of difference’.

Although I looked a prize idiot holding up a camera in one of the coolest ad agencies on the planet, I wanted you to live the scariest day of my life…