The next bend in the road

I created this blog about two years ago. I chose the name The Winding Road because I was about to embark on an adventure that lead me from Canada, to Kenya, to the UK. I didn’t realise then how many other twist and turns I would take in the processes: I went to Ireland and Israel, South Africa and Italy, Scotland and Botswana. Many of my adventures didn’t require travelling – they were the escapades of living in new places, making remarkable friends from around the world, studying new ideas, and trying my best to soak up the knowledge I found myself immersed in. My journey was made possible by the Rotary World Peace Fellowship – the remarkable scholarship program from Rotary International for which I will always be grateful.

Since I returned home to Squamish, British Columbia in December I have been still – which is not easy for me. I have been catching up with old friends, skiing with family, taking long naps on the couch, and contemplating – ‘what is next?’ It has been a very rejuvenating time and I’m grateful to the friends and family that made it so.

Now I’m ready for the next twist in the road, and what a twist it is. On April 1^st, I will board a plane in Vancouver and, after a brief pause in London, will touch down in Freetown, Sierra Leone. From Sierra Leone I will travel nine hours on what I hear is a very bumpy road to the town of Kailahun. I have a position as Monitoring and Evaluations Advisor for the SEND Foundation, which is a West African organization that focuses on social and economic development in post-conflict and hard to reach areas. My placement is actually via the Canadian Co-operative Association – the organisation that launched me into development work six years ago by sending me as an intern to Kenya. Sometimes my path has a bit of a 360 aspect to it.

The thing about a Winding Road is you can’t always see what’s around the corner. I didn’t expect my path to lead to West Africa, but I’m thrilled that it has. I can’t tell you what it will be like until I get to Sierra Leone, but I will try to do so when I can. Until then, it’s the start of another adventure.  

A Utopian Dream on International Women's Day

It’s International Women’s Day! And on such a day I have already heard the very unoriginal complaint from the opposite sex of ‘When is it international men’s day?’ To which I heard the equally unoriginal response, ‘Every day is international men’s day.’ Still wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t need an International Women’s Day; if every day belonged to everyone? Yes, I’m having a utopian dream – because after all we (as in all of us = men and women) do need an International Women’s Day.

The facts prove the need:

• Women still make less money than men everywhere in the world.
• 90 percent of the victims of sexual and domestic violence are women.
• Women represent 70 percent of the world’s poor.
• They represent 60 percent of those living with HIV/AIDS.  
• Etc.

So what does International Women’s Day achieve besides reminding us of such mind-numbing statistics? It celebrates women who are making a difference, hopefully inspiring more women and men to do so. And it gives us a chance to say loudly, and with actions, that these mind-numbing stats – which we tend to ignore every other day of the year and therefore accept - are actually unacceptable.

International Women’s Day allows us to imagine a world where our communities foster equality, not the subjugation of one group by another; where we all live in safety and with respect; where poverty doesn’t exist, and where health is a basic human right. Yes... I’m off to utopian dream land again. But seriously, isn’t that a nice vision for everyone? So International Women’s Day – in my mind – is for women and men. We’ve all got something to gain from greater gender equality, even if it is just a more peaceful and prosperous world where every day belongs to everyone.