In December of 2012, filmmaker Kim Shelton travelled to Myanmar to spend a month at a Buddhist monastery on the outskirts of Yangon. Each morning at sunrise she would walk to the front gate of the monastery to watch more than 100 saffron robed monks silently line up with their bowls, preparing for their daily rounds to collect food from the local villagers.

Kim noticed a young girl from a nearby nunnery arriving at the front gate each day an hour before the monks assembled. This young nun's task was to spoon cooked rice into the monk's bowls. One day she approached Kim and gestured an invitation to walk together through the monastery garden. They held hands, played games, and attempted to communicate. This playful and simple encounter was carried out each morning, and the ensuing friendship was the highlight of Kim's stay in the monastery. It sparked her curiosity about the girls and women in Myanmar who had become nuns, and she vowed to learn more about them.