2017: From Asia to Europe and Back Again (with a lot of stops in between)

Happy New Year and Greetings from Berlin, Germany! 2017 was the year that I decided to leave Asia. This decision had been a while in the making – while my apartment was in Bangkok, I spent most of 2015 in the Middle East and most of 2016 in Europe (Serbia, Bosnia, and traveling in Greece, Middle Europe and Portugal). I finally bit the bullet and closed down my apartment in Bangkok and moved to Europe.

I knew at the end of 2016 that I was definitely going to leave Bangkok but I still wasn’t sure to where. Motivated by an inability to stand the 100% humidity and heat and awful sexpats of Thailand (along with an uncertain status as I was on a tourist visa), I wanted to take advantage of my British citizenship and EU passport before the powers that be finally pull the United Kingdom out of Europe. The allure of cheap Thai massage, jasmine flowers, and spectacular Thai food were not enough to hold me in Asia anymore and I had vague thoughts of “putting down roots” somewhere where gender equality and mild summers might exist. As a freelance consultant, I often work from home or travel for my work so I’m fairly free about where I can be based.  I came up with a plan to check out the cities that most appealed to me and to spend 3 months in each one until I decided where “home” would be.  I had also been in a bit of a depression and deep funk in 2016 with the awful double whammy of Brexit and the Trump election[1]. I started to heal a bit when I was asked to speak at the anti-inauguration in January with the Democrats Abroad in Bangkok where I spoke from my heart about the terrors that the Trump administration was going to bring to women – both in the USA and around the world. I took the next step in healing by returning to Beirut, Lebanon (via Oman). Beirut is a beautiful and exciting city where my friend Lina invited me to teach a class on Gender and Emergencies at the Lebanese-American University for her Institute of Women’s Studies in the Arab World[2]. It was very healing to be teaching energetic young students in Beirut as that was where I was when the dreaded Trump election happened. I also got to enjoy all the delicious Lebanese and Armenian food that Beirut offers and hang out with my friend Tom who kindly let me stay with him.

In March, after a short sojourn in Geneva for work, I headed to Berlin where I had rented a small (VERY SMALL) apartment in a neighborhood called Prenzlauer-Berg. Imagine my surprise and shock to find it did not come with internet! Although spring in Berlin is beautiful and I loved being outside, I am a free-lance consultant so need internet at home (plus as those of you who follow me know, I’m a social media junkie). While looking for a new temporary apartment, I unexpectedly landed a lovely apartment in Kreuzberg and he gave me a lease til March 15, 2018 so voila – decision made (at least for 2017). I hope to stay in Berlin but the housing market is very difficult so maybe the other cities may become options (Athens, Lisbon, and Paris if you are curious).

After a great spring and summer in Berlin (with travels to the UK to see Sarah marry Brett in Stonehenge, in Tuscany to see Maria marry Philippe, visiting Toni, Joeri, and Enzo to meet Yara in Bosnia, work trips with Kristine to Turkey, and amazing days in my friend Christine’s flat in Paris), I picked up my trusty bike from Amsterdam and spent it cycling around the parks and canal in Berlin having late night picnics. I also signed up for some writing classes and finally started writing (a long time dream)[3]. I’m really enjoying the move a lot. Being in a country with seasons again is fantastic and I love the culture and vibe of the city. If only I could get a permanent apartment!

2017 was also the year I turned 50. I can hardly believe it myself. How can I be 50 when I still feel 17 inside? Half a century of living deserves a big celebration so my dear friend Adrienne Cox, who I met when I worked in North Carolina after the death of my mother, flew out to join me on my adventure. After a fun night in the biergartens of Berlin, we flew off to Moscow where I fulfilled a dream of seeing Russia for the first time. We joined up with my friend Svetlana and her husband, Luca, and 4 others (Eva, Lora, Jason, and Connie) and jumped onto the Trans Siberian Railway where we spent a week traveling to and exploring Yekaterinaburg (where the Romanovs were murdered) and Irkutsk (on Lake Baikal in Siberia). So much vodka, caviar, Crimean Champagne, pelmenis, and “Trans Siberian bloody marys” were consumed.

Sarah and Svetlana’s Trans-Siberian Bloody Mary recipe

Vodka Train generic tomato juice Pickle juice from the delicious Russian pickles we bought at every stop Sarah’s Tabasco sauce Svetlana’s “spicy bear” sauce Pour into train proof – adult sippy cup and consume at all hours of the day.

After a week on the train in Russia, Adrienne, I carried on with two girls (Lora and Eva) on the Trans-Mongolian Express and headed to the capital of Ulan Bataar. We went down a step from our first class Russia travel and ended up 4 in a compartment with a Dutch couple who had very particular ideas about how the train compartment should be organized. Henk and Marlena lightened up though when we brought out our bottle of vodka and soon we were all friends. The Russian-Mongolian border was an experience as we had 8 hours to cross so killed the time by traipsing around through the small Russian town on the border and making friends with the local drunks who liked to hang out by the train station. Eva lead a yoga session on the tracks as well.

Mongolia was spectacular – after one day checking out all the Genghis Khan monuments and listening to some spectacular throat singing[4], Lora and I headed out to the countryside to stay with a nomadic Kazakh family in their traditional ger (known as a yurt in Europe). It was freezing cold by the time we got there and we rode some Mongolian ponies, had a lovely meal with the family, and gazed at the spectacular Milky Way in the clear non light polluted sky.  After playing an incomprehensible game with some sheep ankle bones with the kids, there was some miscommunication and Lora and I found ourselves sleeping in the yurt without about 15-20 people. It wasn’t very restful but the next day we drank some mare’s fermented milk and drove out to see some of the Gobi desert and to ride a Mongolian camel. We were just coming in from our camel ride when who did I spot in the distance? Our train buddy Eva and her brother! We had a nice reunion with some Genghis Khan vodka by the campfire for the night. The next day, on the way back to Ulan Bataar – we stopped into a national park where they are reintroducing the wild horses (precursor to our domestic horses) and I got to sit in the wild and watch a herd of them enjoy the sun with no fences or cages to be seen. Truly a highlight of the year. (you can see more about them in a movie that Julia Roberts produced called: Wild Horses of Mongolia[5]). Mongolia is a spectacularly beautiful and wild place – one of the most special countries I have ever been to. I highly recommend that if you get the chance, you should go there. It has a spirit that is hard to put into words.

Lora and I bid adieu to Eva and got back onto the train where we completed the Trans Mongolian and headed to Beijing, China. We lucked out with some great train mates – Barbara and Leo – two Italian punk rockers and we introduced them to the custom of drinking vodka in the morning. All was going well until a horrific few hours at the Mongolian-Chinese border where they locked up the toilets, turned off the running water and the air conditioning and electricity, leaving us to vegetate and stew in our hot compartments where I somehow managed to spill KimChi instant ramen sauce all over Leo’s pillow on his bunk. Finally, we were able to enter China and use the toilet! It was a world apart from Russia or Mongolia and not at all what I expected  - clean public toilets in the train station, muzak wafting from the fake neon trees on the train platform, and uniformed Chinese guards to escort us around. We rolled into Beijing the next morning to rain and a cold front but after a nap, we lucked out for the rest of the trip as somehow we had clear weather and clear sunny skies without a hint of pollution. Lora and I visited the Forbidden City (a bit dull), ate and drank our way through the hutongs/back allies of Beijing (with amazing food like donkey burgers and jianbing[6], Beijing Duck with my friend Lars from Bangkok) and met up with Barbara and Leo to see Beijing’s craft beer scene. Lora encouraged me to be brave and hike up the very very high and very steep Great Wall of China (instead of emulating the Chinese and taking the cable car) and then I headed off to Shanghai alone on the train (this time business class!). I fell in love with Shanghai – a perfect mix of old and new. It was again, very different than what I expected – crowded but not oppressive. The Chinese are amazing hosts- kind to strangers and their food is spectacular. A highlight was a food tour I took through the French concession where I sampled snake, hand-pulled noodles, so many different dumplings, roasted lamb – and ended the evening drinking martinis in a beautiful 1920’s style bar listening to the “Old Man Band” of jazz musicians over the age of 80 play old jazz standards. I also learned about the 30,000 Jewish refugees who fled World War II and were sheltered by the Chinese in Shanghai. Very moving to go to the old synagogue and learn about Dr. Jakob Rosenfeld[7] who was grateful to the Chinese and ended up serving as a doctor with Chairman Mao in the Chinese Revolution.

I got back on the train again to old Canton (Guangzho) where I got to meet up with my friends Karen and Phillip who hosted me and showed me around this lovely city in a monsoon, treated me to dim sum, and giggles with their kids. Finally, I jumped on my last train and headed to Shenzhen where I unfortunately missed Nolan, my friend from Goatfeather’s in SC, but rested my bones before hopping the border to Hong Kong, getting on a plane to Bangkok, and packing up my apartment and saying goodbye to dear friends in Thailand. Phew!

I lived in Thailand from February 2011 in the same apartment so I had a very close relationship with Khun Nee – my housekeeper who looked after me and my cat, Simon Le Bon. She nursed me through my kidney operation in 2011, minded Simon through all my travels, and cried and hugged me when he died and I brought home his ashes. I will miss her – not just her immaculate housekeeping but her warm and caring nature and all the sweet things she gave me and did for me (she often brought me doilies, little animal figurines, pomelos, buddhas as well as ironing my sheets and keeping my houseguests in line). She is an amazing kind devout woman and treated me well. I’ll also miss my motosai guys – the four men who provide motorcycle taxi service in front of Sethiwan Residence. They always gave me free rides, cheered me up, and once even warned me to stay inside during the Yellow Shirt protests on a night that got violent. Wanchai, my favorite of them all, took me to the airport on my last day and gave me a lovely Buddhist amulet to protect me in Europe. While I was, sometimes, very lonely in Bangkok - the relationships I had with these lovely Thai people will ensure that Thailand is always in my heart. I’ll also miss my great expat neighbors, Kathy, Andrea, Richard, Jordan, and Rebecca, from Sethiwan Residence. When we were all living there together, it was as close as I ever came to my dream of making all my friends live in the same building a la Seinfeld. My other dear memory will always be the Ottolenghi Cooking Club where I joined Vanessa, Ramya, Momo, Andrea, Kathy, and others to cook for each other from Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbooks[8] and post instagrams hoping to lure him to Thailand. I had the chance to meet him in Berlin where I babbled about our devotion to him so keep the hope alive Momo and Vanessa! It might happen! We will continue our cooking adventures via our facebook page but it won’t be the same without the food in front of us.

So after almost two months traveling again in Asia, I flew to Berlin (via Qatar!) but for less than 12 hours before I turned around and tried to fly to Brazil (tried because in my fatigue I lost and then recovered my passport forcing me to stay grounded for 24 hours). I presented a few papers I wrote at the biannual Sexual Violence Research Initiative conference in Rio and got to explore that fantastic city of contrasts. From lying on the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema to the amazing street art and music, Brazil has it all. I loved it.

I then finally returned to Europe to spend the rest of the year here. Well – sort of – I did a rapid trip with my friend Devanna to Iceland to make sure I could handle winter! So much for putting down roots! But autumn and winter in Germany are also lovely. From bicycle rides through the golden leaves of the parks of Berlin to the cozy glüwein fueled winter markets, Berlin has something for every season. Alyson came to join me in December for a holiday and we headed to the Christmas markets and the sites of Berlin before ending the year in rural Wales with my friend Sandrine.

Even though 2017 saw the world being terrorized by ISIS, a never ending war in Syria and Afghanistan, the expulsion of the Rohingya from Myanmar (and the death of our love for Aung Sang Suu Kyi), the cheeto faced maniac who is currently serving as president of the United States and the incompetency of the Tories negotiating Brexit, it was, for me,  a very positive and fulfilling year, both professionally and personally. I accomplished some great work (publishing a chapter of a book with my friend Devanna[9], putting out two publications with my work with UNFPA for the Whole of Syria response[10] and Women’s Refugee Commission in Lebanon[11], co-authoring a paper with some amazing feminists and presenting in Brazil[12], and working with UNICEF in Greece and Italy) and I made some great new friends (you know who you are). And I moved to Europe. While I miss my little furry friend Simon Le Bon, in 2017 I move forward hopefully into 2018 ready for new adventures, houseguests, and fun!  Please stay in touch and let me know if you are coming through Germany! I’d love to host you!

Much love,

Sarah

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[1] For some of my immediate reaction to the Trump election, see my blog at: http://screamsfromthepinkcollarghetto.blogspot.de/2016/11/cooking-to-heal-your-broken-political.html

[2] Check out Lina’s amazing work at http://iwsaw.lau.edu.lb/

[3] Excerpts can be found on my blog: http://screamsfromthepinkcollarghetto.blogspot.com

[4] Check it out for yourself here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rmo3fKeveo

[5] Wild Horses of Mongolia with Julia Roberts at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RzVQ988LDQ

[6] Check out jianbing here: http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/08/jianbing-chinese-savory-breakfast-crepe.html

[7] For more on the refugees of Shanghai, see http://www.china.org.cn/video/2015-12/12/content_37300684.htm

[8] Ottolenghi has several amazing cookbooks but my favorites are Plenty and Jerusalem. An amazing mix of mostly vegetarian Mediterranean food – run and get yours now! https://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/

[9] Sarah Martin and Devanna de la Puente, Forthcoming 2018, Mind the Gap: Challenges and Opportunities for implementing the Relief and Recovery pillar of UN Security Resolution 1325. in S.E.Davies and J. True (Eds). Oxford Handbook of Women, Peace and Security (New York: Oxford University Press). http://www.monashgps.org/single-post/2016/06/10/Oxford-Handbook-on-Women-Peace-and-Security

[10] Listen, Engage, and Empower: A strategy to address the needs of adolescent girls in the Whole of Syria. http://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/unfpa-launches-strategy-syrian-adolescent-girls and https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/system/files/documents/files/wos_adolescentgirlstrategy_final.pdf

[11] https://www.womensrefugeecommission.org/populations/adolescent-girls/research-and-resources/1538-engaging-male-caregivers-to-end-early-marriage-in-lebanon

[12] Cofem: Feminist Perspectives on addressing violence against women and girls, 2017, Eclipsed: When a broad protection agenda obscures the needs of women and girls. http://raisingvoices.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Paper-5-COFEM.final_.sept2017.pdf

World Humanitarian Day 2016: South Sudan and Rape and Being an AidWorker

I just wrote about this in the Cassandra Complexity, a blog I help co-edit with friends but here's a rougher more personal account.

August 19 is World Humanitarian Day where humanitarian aid workers like me remember our colleagues who were killed in the line of duty. Today, I am also now thinking about the particular vulnerability that women face: being raped in the line of duty.  

A few days ago, the AP published a report about the South Sudanese army's attacks on a popular expatriate lodging, "Terrain House", in Juba, Sudan where three female expatriate aid workers were raped by multiple soldiers. The rage and sadness I felt about the UN's refusal to deploy peacekeepers to protect these civilians threw me into a sad dark place. I'm currently on sabbatical in Sarajevo, Bosnia and this sadness was compounded by all the dark European movies I had been watching at the Sarajevo Film Festival.  I cried through the movie Cameraperson because it had a lot of scenes that hit close to home - women chopping wood in Zalingei (reminded me of almost getting shot on my way to Kass in South Darfur), a baby being born and dying in Nigeria (reminded me of dying babies in Haiti post-earthquake in MSF's obstetric hospital, Afghanistan (the fear I felt there driving around at night), and scenes from Liberia (where I had my first security fright thanks to a dumbass Congolese man that I was traveling with). I was already feeling raw when I read this report. 

I then learned that the US Embassy (my Embassy!)  had also failed to do ANYTHING to protect these American citizens and had "made some phone calls." Eventually the Government of Sudan sent in someone to rescue the people but the local staff of the hotel and 3 women were left behind to be rescued the next day by a private security force. What must it have felt like to be the people "left behind"? I couldn't stop myself from instantly imagining myself as one of the three expatriate women left overnight with the rapist soldiers. It's every woman's worst nightmare. For my sanity, I had to stop. 

Aid workers started lamenting this issue and expressing our rage and sadness.  Female aid workers everywhere are deeply shaken by this event. Some are privately expressing how afraid they feel but that they feel worse for abandoning South Sudanese women who bear the brunt of the sexual violence. The most frustrating part was the false sense of security that being nearby the peacekeepers provided. Our so-called "safety and security systems" (including useless TRIP forms filled out on line) are not always going to be there. It's obvious that we, as women,  are usually alone out there sometimes, and as every woman everywhere in the world has learned since puberty, you have to take responsibility for your own safety and security.

Our "security professionals" are often ignoring women's needs or have REALLY outdated viewpoints on how women can protect themselves. In Bangkok, at the recent women's day- our security personnel at the UN told women that they should "smile more" and in Jordan, the UNHCR security personnel who was giving me a brief there said I should "dress decently" (to which I responded, since I'm a decent person anything I wear is, by definition, decent). 

I'm too angry and sad to write a more professional polished piece - so I give you instead, a piece that i wrote about this in 2012. It was inspired by events that took place in 2012 after I had finished a year working in Nepal, Pakistan, and Afghanistan for the UN.  I took a Hostile Environment Awareness Training course before I went to Libya with the British government for the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative. I was really nervous as in mid 2011, there had been an attack on the hotel where i had worked in Kabul right after I left and I realized I had never felt safe in that country. I didn't know how I would react to the simulated situation. I was most nervous about the "fake kidnapping" part - and as it turns out - I was fine, but one of my colleagues was not. She was a survivor and experienced a flashback during this section of the training. Our mostly male trainers had no psychologist on standby and were not prepared to support her so I was called in. In order to deal with it, I decided to take action and become an activist on this issue. 

Gender-based Violence and Security

This blog post was published by USAID to coincide with the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence event, “Who Takes Care of the Caregivers?  Providing Care and Safety for Staff in Gender-based Violence Settings,” taking place on Thursday, Nov. 29th 2012 in Washington DC, hosted by the Inter-Agency Gender Working Group, funded by USAID. It is no longer available online but a copy of it can be found here. The Tips that I wrote for travelers can be found here. 

Gender-based Violence (GBV) is an issue that impacts aid workers – not just beneficiaries and not just staff that works in GBV settings. This post examines agencies’ duty to care for their workers by preventing and responding to GBV. 

“Keeping International Workers Safe:  Preventing and Responding to Gender-based Violence”

Sarah Martin, Consultant and Specialist on Prevention and Response to Gender-based Violence

The sexual assault of the journalists Lara Logan, Mona Eltahawy and two unnamed British and French journalists in Egypt shocked the world and brought the issue of gender-based violence (GBV) against Westerners working in conflict areas to the forefront. Clearly GBV does not only affect the "locals" in these areas. Not only are journalists at risk but also aid workers–and not just in conflict settings or in GBV program areas.

I recently interviewed a large cross section of women travelers who work in a number of fields (including international development, human rights, humanitarian action and international business) about their experiences as women while traveling and working overseas*.  Many of them brought up their frustration that sexual harassment and sexual assault were never raised in security trainings and that agencies refused to address this as a real security concern. Increasingly, aid agencies are providing more “realistic” security trainings that simulate “hostile environments to prepare their employees for gunfire, kidnappings and other events in the field.”  While some of these trainings talk about sexual assault, there are no discussions of how to prevent sexual assault or how to react or support colleagues if they are assaulted. Sexual harassment in the workplace as a security issue is often ignored. In addition, the purveyors of these trainings are mostly male and show little awareness to the issue of sexual assault or the gender concerns of female trainees. I recently attended one such training where one of the participants relived her own sexual assault from years ago while undergoing a simulated “kidnapping.” While they took her out of the simulation, there were no psychologists or female trainers available to talk to her. 

Female development and aid workers have the same security concerns as their male counterparts: crime and landmine accidents and armed robberies do not discriminate. Security measures, trainings, and manuals are the same for men and women, and most agencies take a ‘gender-blind’ approach to security. Most security officers are men, and many of them come from a military background. This gender-blind approach to security, however, leaves out a major issue.  Women also face another security threat that most men do not encounter – gender-based violence, namely sexual harassment and sexual violence.

Rape myths promote the false idea that women are only sexually assaulted by strangers. While this can happen, women are much more likely to be attacked by someone familiar to them – a co-worker, a driver, or a friend. Most of the women I interviewed shared stories about fending off sexual harassment by colleagues or actual cases of sexual assault in the field. 

Rarely is their organization prepared to handle these issues. While there has been some action taken on “building safe organizations” – the focus has been preventing sexual exploitation of our beneficiaries by our staff. But there is not sufficient attention paid to sexual harassment of our staff by our staff or adequate support for staff that have been sexually assaulted. There is little information in the security manuals that I have reviewed about what medical care a survivor may need or what rights a sexual assault survivor might have. Nor is there guidance on reporting to local authorities, human resources or guarantees of confidentiality. Responsible employers must be prepared to understand and deal with the fact that their employees might become victims of sexual assault [1] and should be prepared to support them. This means bringing the issue of sexual assault up in security trainings and sensitizing the trainers and security personnel on how to address the issue – but not by restricting women’s access to “dangerous areas” but by making sure female employees are informed of the dangers, provided with information on how to protect themselves, and given sensitive and adequate support by their organizations in case the worst happens.

[1] Global statistics show that 1 out of 3 women has experienced some form of sexual harassment or assault.

 * From the chapter I wrote entitled “Sexual Assault: Preventing And Responding As An International Travelers in the book Personal Security: A Guide for International Travelers, by Tanya Spencer, ISBN: 9781466559448 commissioned and published by Taylor and Francis, LLC.