Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Doing What I Can to Help, Expat Life, Global Issues, Guest Posts, Writing, tagged Barack Obama, civil rights activist, democracy, Ethiopia, guest blog, inauguration, jaded, Jijiga, Martin Luther King, momentous, naivete, nostalgia, peaceful transition of power, President of the United States, progress, promise, refugee aid worker, refugees, Somali, Somalia, strength, Tracey Buckenmeyer, UNHCR, writing on January 21, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
On this momentous occasion when we observe the strength and inspiration of the peaceful transition of power in a democracy with the inauguration of Barack Obama for his second term as President, and we celebrate the life’s work of civil rights activist Martin Luther King, it is only fitting to share another guest post from Tracey Buckenmeyer. All three [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Doing What I Can to Help, Life Balance, Writing, tagged Alice Pyne, Alice's blog, Alice's Escapes, blogging, bone cancer, bone marrow donors, bone marrow registry, Bucket List, Cumbria, died, family, heightening awareness, passed away, raising awareness, raising funds, teenage bucket list, teenager, terminal cancer, writing on January 13, 2013 | 8 Comments »
Many of you have Adventurers have followed here with great interest the story of Alice Pyne, an incredibly courageous English teen who faced down terminal cancer for the past five years. I first wrote about Alice in A Teen’s Bucket List eighteen months ago, and provided updates in A Teen’s Bucket List – Update 1, Hey Alice! Good Works [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Doing What I Can to Help, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Life Balance, Riveting Expat Reads, Work, Writing, tagged accompanying partner, accompanying spouse, AccompanyingPartner.com, career choices, creativity, cross-cultural coaching, culture, EMMA 2012 award, EMMA 2012 Shortlisted Nominee, Evelyn Simpson, expat, expat coaching, expat transitions, expatriate community, Forum for Expatriate Management, global nomad, global relocation specialist, international, Louise Wiles, mobility specialist, organizations, overseas assignment, relocation, report, survey, trailing spouse, transnational employee, work opportunities, working abroad on September 27, 2012 | 4 Comments »
You know the old adage ‘two heads are better than one’? Well, during the summer when I learned that Evelyn Simpson (aka The Smart Expat) and Louise Wiles (aka Success Abroad Coaching) were joining forces to conduct the Career Choice & Accompanying Partner Survey, I knew this dynamic duo would be a formidable combination. I’m a fan of [...]
Posted in Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Doing What I Can to Help, Emotional Resilience, Global Issues, Light Bulb Moments, Writing, tagged appreciation, conflict, Edna Lemle, emotional resilience, freedom of speech, grateful, gratitude, international strife, Martin Seligman, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, optimism, positive psychology, religious differences, research, Sri Chinmoy, thankful, UN Mediation Group, violence, World Gratitude Day, writing on September 21, 2012 | 8 Comments »
Glancing at headlines in the news yesterday, one in particular caught my eye. It seems today, September 21st, is World Gratitude Day. The seed of an idea planted in 1965 has grown and taken on a life of its own over the past five decades. It seemed rather fortuitous that the concept of gratitude was raised since I [...]
Posted in Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Doing What I Can to Help, Global Issues, United States, Work, Writing, tagged Beyonce Knowles, Department of Defense, drought, Ethiopia, famine, global issues, human trafficking, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian organizations, I Was Here, Iraq, peacekeeping, refugees, Sergio Vieira De Mello, Susan Rice, terrorism, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UN Mission to the UN, United Nations, United States, violence, war, World Humanitarian Day 2012 on August 18, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Okay, today’s post is both global and deeply personal in nature. August 19th is officially designated World Humanitarian Day 2012, marking the 9th anniversary of the bombing in Baghdad that took the life of Sergio Vieira De Mello, then serving as both the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Secretary General’s Special [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Doing What I Can to Help, Global Issues, Guest Posts, Travel, United States, Writing, tagged Africa, blogging, Ethiopia, geography, gingerbread man, going 'home', guest post, kindergarteners, Kosovo, Ohio, paper cut out, photographs, postal system, postcards, Pristina, refugee children, refugees, Tracey Buckenmeyer, travel, UNHCR, United States, writing on July 14, 2012 | 7 Comments »
Recently, fellow Adventurers were introduced to Tracey Buckenmeyer in her initial guest post here, Tough Neighborhood. Tracey has made a career of helping refugees and displaced persons, working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She’s worked in many different countries, and currently is posted to Ethiopia. She’s returned to tell us a little [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Doing What I Can to Help, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Identity, tagged Beyonce, bias, bisexuality, Cold Play, coming out, fear, Frank Ocean, gay, glass ceiling, hatred, hip hop, homophobia, homosexuality, Independence Day, Jay Z, July 4th, manna from heaven, out of the closet, Russell Simmons, sky falling down, songwriter, stigma-smashing on July 5, 2012 | 12 Comments »
[Updated 8 July 2102] I know that I haven’t been posting much in the past two weeks, in large part due to the extended visit Daughter and I are making here in the US (see Sensory Overload for insights into the overwhelm of crossing back into the culture of ‘home’). This trip has many moving [...]
Posted in Blogging, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Doing What I Can to Help, Expat Life, Global Issues, Guest Posts, Light Bulb Moments, tagged aggression, Al Qaeda, Al Shabat, blogging, civil war, Djibouti, drought, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gry Tina Tinda, guest post, homeless, Kenya, referendum, refugees, Republic of South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan, Tracey Buckenmeyer, UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on June 19, 2012 | 2 Comments »
A couple days ago I shared a bit about my own corner of the world, life on quiet little Ten Hovestraat, in This Little Straat of Mine. Today we’re going to head further south, all the way to Ethiopia, for a guest post from Tracey Buckenmeyer. I ‘cyber met’ Tracey through fellow expat and guest blogger, Gry Tina [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Doing What I Can to Help, Exercise & Sports, The Animals, tagged A Billion Acts of Green®, advocacy, biodiversity, cairn terrier, conservation, dog, Earth Day, Earth Day 2012, EarthDay.org, energy efficiency, energy renewal, environment, greenery, hiking, Mobilize the Earth™, natural resources, Oli, parkland, recycling, sustainable development, transportation, walking, waste reduction, woodland on April 23, 2012 | 6 Comments »
In case you didn’t hear, yesterday was Earth Day. That’s right, the 42nd anniversary of the inaugural Earth Day held in New York City way back in 1970. The aim remains the same: protect the environment and the world’s natural resources through conservation efforts. This year’s motto is Mobilize the Earth™. In honor of Earth Day 2012, Oli [...]
Posted in Blogging, Change, Doing What I Can to Help, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Identity, Repatriation, United States, Writing, tagged 2011 Global Relocation Trends Survey, anxiety, BringChange2Mind, celebrities, Chestnut Global Partners, Deborah Serani, depression, Expat Info Desk, Expatlogue, expats, mental health, mental illness, Michele Rubin, pain, PRWeb, Psychology Today, risk of mental illness, stigma, stress, suffering, The Truman Group, vulnerable on April 3, 2012 | 11 Comments »
In support of an effort by the group Bring Change 2 Mind to erase the stigma faced by those dealing with mental illness, my fellow expat blogger Aisha launched an ongoing series of posts on her site Expatlogue earlier this year entitled ’Breaking the Code of Silence’. Bravely sharing her own disturbing memories from younger days, the pain and suffering [...]
Posted in Blogging, Doing What I Can to Help, Global Issues, Life Balance, tagged Alice Pyne, Alice's Escapes, bone cancer, bone marrow donorship, Bucket List, Cumbria, Luke Tillen, terminally ill, THHN, War Horse on March 18, 2012 | 8 Comments »
Adventurers who’ve been following along for quite some time will recall the story of Alice Pyne, the English teen with terminal bone cancer who is inspiring others with her story and her Bucket List. [For newer readers, if you're interested you can have a look at series to date - A Teen's Bucket List, Teen Bucket List Update, [...]
Posted in Blogging, Change, Doing What I Can to Help, Global Issues, Life Balance, tagged disease, education, illness, International Women's Day, poverty, theme confusion, underemployment, unemployment, United Nations, violence against women on March 8, 2012 | 4 Comments »
Today is International Women’s Day. It’s an officially recognized day (March 8th) trumpeting the economic, political and social achievements of women. When I went to check to see what the actual theme is for 2012, little did I know what I was getting into. Confusion abounds. Here I was thinking that whoever the original group was [...]
Posted in Authors (Other), Change, Doing What I Can to Help, Global Issues, tagged A Walk Across the Sun, action, change agent, Corban Addison, human condition, human trafficking, International Justice Mission, John Grisham, pain, slavery, suffering, victims on January 11, 2012 | 6 Comments »
When I sat down to write this morning, I was all set to tell a different story. That is, until I saw this video. It’s a short trailer of Corban Addison discussing his new book A Walk Across the Sun. Set primarily in India, Addison’s novel addresses the issue of human trafficking. The plot centers [...]
Posted in Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Doing What I Can to Help, Global Issues, tagged education, forced marriage, Girl Effect, GirlEffect.org, health, improving quality of life, Nike Foundation, social investment, social media, writing on October 5, 2011 | 12 Comments »
I tend to read a whole host of websites and blogs around the world on a wide range of topics: news, expat life, global issues, international development, writing, marketing, business and more. I also operate in a number of social media venues. Well, I woke up today and found tweets, messages and no fewer than four [...]
Posted in Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Doing What I Can to Help, Emotional Resilience, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Global Issues, tagged change, depression, emotional resilience, expat life, living abroad, loss, Mayo Clinic, sadness, transitions, WebMD, writing on September 29, 2011 | 16 Comments »
During the summer I was approached by an editor at a new site, AdaptingAbroad.com, to write two companion articles on expats and emotional resilience. The first article was to focus on what expats may risk if they find themselves lacking in emotional resilience.* I agreed, and found the experience particularly stimulating because I tend to write from [...]
Posted in Change, Doing What I Can to Help, Global Issues, Writing, tagged human trafficking, International Justice Mission, Luke Dowler, Silence is Shameful, slavery on August 27, 2011 | 8 Comments »
Yesterday I was sent a Twitter message from Luke Dowler saying he hoped I’d take a look at this video on human trafficking. What I saw blew me away. Luke is a talented musician from Montana; he’s played in variety of musical genre (folk, rock, ska) in places as diverse as Japan, the California coast and Washington, DC. In the [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Doing What I Can to Help, Emotional Resilience, Expat Transitions & Change, Global Issues, tagged emotional resilience, Expat Backup, international aid worker, Liberia, Senegal on August 17, 2011 | 8 Comments »
One of the greatest gifts I’ve received from my writing is experiencing the connection that can be forged between two people based entirely on the words that they write. It never ceases to amaze me. Several weeks ago I received an email from Elie over at Expat Backup. Her tagline is ‘aid workers need assistance, [...]
Posted in Doing What I Can to Help, Global Issues, tagged Alice Pyne, bone marrow cancer, bone marrow registry, Make a Wish Foundation, Teen Bucket List on August 9, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Longtime Adventurers will recall when we first learned about Alice Pyne in A Teen’s Bucket List. Alice is a 15 year old English teen dealing with terminal bone cancer. She’s on a quest to get everyone to sign up for the bone marrow registry to help others like her. (If you’re new to Alice’s story, you may [...]
Posted in Change, Doing What I Can to Help, Global Issues, Light Bulb Moments, Writing, tagged charity, donations, humanitarian crisis, severe drought, Somalia, UNHCR on July 10, 2011 | 9 Comments »
As many of you fellow adventurers know, I like to write on a variety of topics. Often they will be about expat issues, or some aspect about living overseas. Other times they will be about human nature, personal challenges, self-improvement. Or perhaps about something going on in this global world we call home. Sometimes, as is the [...]
Posted in Doing What I Can to Help, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Global Issues, Life Balance, Netherlands, tagged Alice's Bucket List, gratitude, Make a Wish Foundation, National Marrow Donor Program Registry on June 22, 2011 | 7 Comments »
Okay, I’m trying not to cry while I type this, but it’s hard. My bottom lip is quivering, and tears are welling in my eyes. I can’t even talk to myself as I often do when I write because there’s a catch in my voice that will put me over the edge into a full-blown [...]
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