Ethiopia

In November I spent a week in Ethiopia - another first for me - as was finally flying on a 787, direct from Dulles to Addis. I don't have too many photos to post (although I did bring back two bags of great coffee). My colleague and I spent the week with an amazing team of people who persevere under the enormous restrictions they find themselves. We stayed at a very nice hotel (the King of Morocco was there on our last night with his entire entourage which was quite the spectacle), although we didn't get to enjoy it as much as we wanted as the days were long. But I appreciated what I could especially the grounds of the hotel and the literal banks and banks of roses. Ethiopia has such a rich heritage. I would love to come back and explore the country more fully one day. (For trip advisor report on the hotel, go here.)

Beautiful Roses

Views over Addis

Duncan

Somalia

Mogadishu was not somewhere I anticipated going any time soon and certainly not just six days after returning from Kenya, but the request was made and I was willing to go - not without a little thought and conversation with those around me. But, I was so glad I went as the team I worked with was so inspiring and courageous. My role was to provide education on stress and trauma and provide counseling as needed, but as is usually the case, they taught me a great deal also. Every country is complex and faces challenges and Somalia is no exception, but from the little I heard, in spite of the continuing al-Shabaab threat, Somalia is moving in the right direction. As in Nairobi during the previous month, I was so grateful and privileged to meet with individuals committed to peace and stability and life - even as they risk their own lives in the process.

What helps when dealing with trauma and stress

As you might imagine security is tight in Somalia because of the threat from al-Shabaab. I was picked up from the airport in an armored car which quickly had me inside a very fortified compound of the hotel I was staying - which incidentally was outside the green/safe zone. I didn't leave the compound except for the few times we went out a back gate for a very short walk to the team's office - always surrounded by armed guards. Needless to say, this was a new experience and the most intense security situation I have been in.

Barriers surrounding the airport

View from my room

Looking out to the ocean/airport/green zone from the hotel

Camel...first time

On the way back, after I had gone through the NINE security/ID checkpoints just to get on the plane in Mogadishu, we took off and as all planes flying to Nairobi from Mogadishu do, landed in Wajir, in the middle of the Kenyan desert, to do another complete screening of passengers and luggage before reboarding and continuing on to Nairobi. If there is going to be a security breach coming from Somalia, Kenya wants it contained out in the desert!

Flying into Wajir

Lining up under the only trees for one final security screening

Reboarding in Wajir

Duncan

Kenya

Part of the the work I do involves responding to critical incidents in order to sit with survivors to help them process their experience and feelings and give them information that will help. These requests can range from meeting with a team after an unexpected death of a colleague or after they witnessed something traumatic. These requests can sometimes require an immediate response. On an otherwise normal Tuesday this past July, I got a call to see if I would be interested in flying to Nairobi to meet with a team that was needing assistance. That evening, Andrea and I had already made plans to have dinner with a former Chefoo student who was over from London for a few days. We had a delightful dinner with Jill and knew she was returning to London the next afternoon. When we arrived home, the go ahead for Nairobi had been given and tickets already purchased for me to leave the next day and I would be on the same flight as Jill! As it turned out, the British Airways flight we were supposed to leave on was eventually cancelled long after it was due to depart. Jill was put on the other daily BA flight from Washington while my colleague and I scrambled to find a hotel room for a few hours sleep before heading back to the airport the next morning and eventually getting on a KLM flight instead. Sometimes travel plans don't work as well as they should.  But eventually, we arrived in Nairobi where we began to meet with the team that had requested our services.

Jill and I waiting at the airport before the flight was cancelled.

I won't share any further details about the teams I worked with other than to say what a privilege it was to witness their resilience and heart for each other and for the countries they work in. I wrote the following words on facebook while I was there.

Early morning thoughts from Nairobi where for the past two days I have heard stories from S. Sudan of people losing everything - if not their lives - fleeing without shoes, of family members and friends executed because they are from the wrong tribe.Meanwhile back in the US the killing continues also. We continue to reap the whirlwind of our choices and policies when it comes to how we treat each other - years of racial discrimination, neglect and abuse - silence or a blind eye turned away in the face of oppression, asking police officers to solve all our issues while not funding teachers and mental health but protecting so many loopholes and laws that allow easy access to guns. 

Yesterday as I sat in a hotel lobby, Andra Day's Rise up came on and I was so grateful as I thought of the many, who in the face of so much hardship continue to work to make the world a better place and who do what they can to protect the vulnerable. Most go unnoticed and unpraised. Others rise to the challenge when given the spotlight even under immense odds. 

So for all those who serve in whatever capacity, who are kind, who don't give into fear and who show that another way is possible - whether that is with your children, your elderly parent or neighbor, the punk down the street, the child bride or child soldier around the world - for all those who in the face of exhaustion and unbearable pressure continue to rise up and choose to make a difference, I am grateful.

I had several non-work highlights during my two weeks in Nairobi. The first was the unexpected surprise of meeting up with one of my high school classmates who has spent years in S Sudan/Sudan and who I hadn't seen since graduation! I discovered this 24 hours before I met him. Chris discovered this when I walked into the room. Talk about a surprise! It was so great to catch up over several meals together and meet his wife Nelly too. AND to try to recreate our senior pictures from 26 years ago!

Adventures on the farm

Everyone likes to have an adventure... whether that is strutting sedately...

... cooling off in the water...

... cautiously coming in for a close up...

...stretching and scratching...

... or simply going for a walk-about...even if it means getting carried part of the way...

...and everyone needs a little loving...

All photos taken at Faith Like a Mustard Seed Farm in Leesburg Virginia July 2016
Duncan

Thailand and Malaysia

The view from Mt. Jasar, Cameron Highlands

 The postcards that we sent from Australia and New Zealand to family back in the US still hadn’t arrived by the time I packed my bags to cross the Pacific again, this time back to Thailand and Malaysia! The purpose of this trip was to attend Chefoo Reconsidered, a reunion/get together of former Chefoo School students back at Chefoo, the elementary school that we attended in the beautiful Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. I have written about Chefoo previously on this blog. Chefoo Reconsidered as a movement or group has come into existence as a result of former students who have really wanted to look at our shared experience attending boarding school at a very young age and the ways this continues to impact and influence us today.

I won’t post in great detail about our days together but will say it was such a rich and rewarding time and I left with a very full heart. Our days were spent hanging out and being together, sharing our stories in intentional planned events as well as during times where we explored former jungle haunts and climbed familiar trails and trees! We were blessed and fortunate to have two good friends of all TCK’s and experts in their own right – Ruth Van Reken, who wrote Letters Never Sent and who has been involved in several previous Chefoo Reconsidered events already as well as Paul Young, author of The Shack and an adult TCK himself. Both were so great to be with for the week and poured much into us.

For any friends wanting to return to Chefoo or the Cameron Highlands, the jungle still remains pristine and beautiful in many areas but the tourist and agricultural development (closely linked) has been devastating in some areas - as you can see in the following photos. 

Big monstrosities

Awful traffic heading into Brinchang

Brinchang

Of course I would not go to Malaysia without spending some time in Thailand! I spent a week in Thailand (mainly up in Maehongson) and posted regular updates on facebook during my short time there so won’t go into too much detail here, but wanted to mention two technological aspects that were very different than when I was previously in Thailand even four years ago.