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| "South Carolina" Martin and the Temple of Doom |
Happy New Year! 2015 was another
crazy year of travel for me. I feel rather exhausted and my body reminded me
that I"m human on December 30th as I shivered and shook with a fever on
the Mekong Delta and coughed so violently I bruised my ribs. So the year in
stats: 17 countries (including new ones like Israel and old favorites like
South Africa) and 161, 200 miles (according to Tripit.com). I apologize to the
planet for the global warming and to my body for the economy class
seating. Some highlights of the year follow:
In January, I took some time to work
on my different consultancies from Qatar and to be aunty to my college roommate
Ann-Michelle's little boy Alexander and try on the life of an expat Mom living
in a gated compound. Not so much for me although the parties are pretty fun. I
have so much more respect now for working moms. The guilt! The inability to do
anything as well as you would like! Wow... but hanging out with Alexander was
wonderful. He's such a sweet and funny little guy and kept me on my toes with
his disciplinary ways.
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| Me and Alexander |
In February, I taught a course at the
Red Crescent in Saudi Arabia to 30 Saudi men and 1 woman on gender in
humanitarian response. This was my second, and (inshallah) last trip to the
"Kingdom". I saw nothing except Subway and McDonald's as I was not
allowed to wander freely. Its amazing how free and liberated Qatar feels after
a week in Saudi. To rebel against the draconian clothing laws for women in
Saudi, I wore as little as possible under my abbaya and delighted in going to
the breakfast buffet in my skivvies. You can make me wear an abbaya but you
can't make me be a decent woman!
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| Saudi Men and Me |
In March, I had a fantastic fun trip
to Luang Prabang where I learned all about German efficiency with vacation
planning in the slowest country in SE Asia: Lao PDR (which stands for please
don't rush). Four German men and me. Luang Prabang is probably one of my
favorite places in SE Asia. So beautiful and with such great food. From
Laos, I rushed off to work in Brindisi, Italy where I managed to bring back
about 15 kg of Italian products in my suitcase including five bottles of wine.
I'm so happy the Thai immigration usually ignores me. Focus on the ivory
smugglers and men with turtles and frogs strapped to their bodies, guys! I need
decently priced wine! I also went to see the Golden Triangle in Chiang Rai,
Thailand on the border with Myanmar and Laos. It was nice but a bit of a let
down. I expected something other than a tacky photo opp on the Mekong
river. I don't know what I expected - opium dens, pith helmets, and
poppies I guess.
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| Four Fabulous Germans plus me and some other guy |
From April through September, I took
a 3 month assignment in Jordan to work with Syrian refugees (that turned into a
six month assignment). It was a great opportunity to explore the Middle
East where I had only briefly visited in 2006 during the Israel-Lebanon
conflict. I also had been wanting to work on the world's largest Refugee crisis
in some way so I got the opportunity to be the Senior Gender Advisor to the
Syrian Refugee Crisis in Jordan where I was hosted by UNHCR. I met some
fantastic people at work and also took almost every weekend to see the sights
and see friends working in the region.
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| Zatari Camp, Jordan |
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| Azraq Camp, Jordan |
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| Syrian child playing near latrines in Azraq Camp, Jordan. |
Jordan is a traveler's delight. I
went to the Dead Sea and Petra almost immediately but as well as these
spectacular natural wonders there are also crusader castles (and defense
against crusaders castles), Roman ruins like Jerash and Philadelphia (Amman's
previous name), and the spectacular nature including waterfalls and thermal
baths, caverns, mountain ranges, olive trees, and so many religious spots! Even
though its a small country, I didn't even get to make it to Wadi Rum to live
out my Lawrence of Arabia fantasy or to the Red Sea. So I want to go back.
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| At Artemis' temple in Jerash! |
I also traveled to Lebanon, Turkey,
and Israel several times. It was my first time in Israel and I was really
amazed. I highly recommend doing the land crossing between Israel and Jordan so
you can experience the prejudice against Palestinians up close.
Otherwise, its easy to get lost in the gorgeous mediterranean, the fantastic
food (oh the food... I am in love with the food), and the good looking surfers
(the food may be even better than the surfers). Luckily, I had my friends who
devote their time to working in Gaza and the West Bank to keep it balanced by
reminding me of what happens there and also to be friends with Israelis who
could share what its like to live in a region where everyone seems hellbent on
killing you (I'm sure I've offended someone with this sentence - I've given up
trying not to... such is Israel and the politics around it). Israel is such a
land of contrasts. For me, on my US passport with my white skin - I
was treated well. For other American friends with dark skin or those not on US
passports- the experience is quite different. Its an extremely polarized and
militarized society. But on the other hand, it was a huge relief to be free
from the non-stop sexual harassment and stares from the men in Jordan. Jaffa,
where I spent my holiday, is like a little California beach town with flea
markets, great food, hip youngsters, and cute hippies and surfers all together.
The only time it felt like the Middle East to me was on Eid when the
Palestinian families came down to relax on the beach. Shishas and abbayas
galore (along with the requisite sexual harassment too, sadly).
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| Byblos, Lebanon |
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| Enjoying Vacation in Beirut, Lebanon |
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| Returning to my hippie roots in Jaffa, Israel |
In September, my sister Alyson came
out to visit me for her birthday. We went straight from the airport to Petra
for a full day of Indiana Jones and shouting at rude Bedouin donkey salesmen.
We relaxed for the remaining two days at a luxury resort on the Dead Sea, and
she spent the next two weeks exploring Jordan while I worked. It was
great to have her with me. Then we went off to Cairo, Egypt for the tours of
the pyramids. It was wonderful to see Egypt's wonders in relative solitude but
also sad to see Egypt's tourism in tatters due to the violence in the region.
It did make for an undisturbed visit as we didn't have to deal with huge crowds
or aggressive salesmen. Alyson officially became the fourth person in our
family to go to Egypt but unlike Dad and I, she was not ripped off by camel
owners behind the pyramid. My hard lesson learned in 2005 saw to that. We tried
to support everyone by buying the standard camel rides, perfume, papyrus,
bric-a-brac and drinking as much mint tea as humanly possible.
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| Martin Sisters in Petra |
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| What you look like after a day at Petra |
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| More Martin Sisters and Camels |
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| Me and my new Egyptian boyfriend |
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| Alyson and I overlooking Cairo |
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| My graceful Camel riding in Egypt |
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| Alyson and I looking quite adventuresome |
After my assignment with UNHCR ended,
I returned to Thailand via Stellenbosch, the premier wine town near Cape
Town, South Africa to present some papers at the Sexual Violence Research
Initiative and to see some friends. Its an amazing opportunity to be with some
of the smartest and most dedicated researchers on this topic and to catch up
with old friends who I've worked with. For an experienced traveler, I
made a serious error in going back with all my luggage leaving me unable
to bring but ONE bottle of fantastic South African wine back with me to
Thailand. I then spent about 3 days at home in Bangkok and then went to
Kyoto, Japan for the fantastic wedding of dear friends. Autumn in Japan is
spectacular. We ate like kings (or rather samarui) at the wedding and
spent long laughter filled nights in Kyoto's pleasure quarters drinking sake,
eating gyoza and okonomiyaki (famous pancakes) and making friends and
singing.
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| Presenting at SVRI |
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| Good Food with Rebecca in Singapore |
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| Photobombed by Kathy in Kyoto, Japan |
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| Human Rights Ladies and our Token Man at Onsen in Japan |
In October, a dear friend- Gus
Osorio- died. He and I worked as "office neighbors" at JSI from
2000-2003 in DC. We were in a book club together and he came to visit me in
Amsterdam and we went to London together. Our last conversation was about a
month before he died when I was trying to entice him to come to Asia. I'll miss
his big heart, beautiful blue eyes, and warm and funny ways. On the night he
died, I was sitting at a bar on the Mekong in Vientiane Laos and saw a meteorite which lit up the whole sky in green. I'm
sure it was Gus telling me he was hanging out with MCA from the Beastie Boys in
heaven and kicking the jams out. RIP dear friend.
October 27, 2015 was also a big day
as this is the day I became a British Citizen as well (I am retaining my US
citizenship - its dual nationality for me now!). My mother was born and raised
in Wiltshire in the United Kingdom and when I was born, British women weren't
allowed to pass on their citizenship to their children (not until 1981...
the whole citizenship game is super sexist world-wide). After years of randomly
asking whether or not I qualified for citizenship, I got
a definitive answer in 2014 from an immigration lawyer and applied. I
was granted and sworn in at a lovely private ceremony in the UK embassy in
Bangkok with two of my close British friends, Ross and Vanessa Self in
attendance. They wanted to take me out to the pub for a beer but it was a Thai
Buddhist holiday so none of the sketchy pubs that cater to British sexpats
would serve us beer. So in despair we headed to the Harrod's in the fancy mall for
a cup of tea. Vanessa decided to ask for a glass of bubbly and they either
didn't realize or didn't care about the alcohol ban so we celebrated with a
luncheon of roasts and some pints and bubbles and Victoria sponge. Ross and
Vanessa told me that "This is your new British super power, the ability to
drink in any place in the world." In all seriousness, I was surprised at
how emotional I felt and I really missed my mother but felt she was there with
me.
In November, I accepted a new job as
Regional Emergency GBV Advisor for the global Gender-based violence in
emergencies working group. I'm trying on the job as they have only offered me a
contract through February and I"m not sure if I want to stay in Asia that
long or commit to a job (consultant life gets under your skin even if I did
complain about it the whole time). I'm working in SouthEast Asia and the
Pacific helping build capacity to respond to gender-based violence in
emergencies. This region is mostly natural disasters and after working in Syria,
I feel anxious to go back to working on conflict and displacements. I hope to
do some good though while i"m in the position. I had to go to Geneva for
meetings and to pick up a visa so I got to spend most of the first two weeks on
the job in Europe.
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| Me and Simon |
It was good to be back in Europe and
I saw lots of familiar faces and packed in a trip to Hamburg and Berlin in
Germany. In Berlin, I got to have Thanksgiving dinner with my bestie from
Sumter, Mike Dumiak. He opened up his home to me (even though in the middle of
writing a book!) and we invited a Syrian refugee, O, to join us. O and I
met in Amman on a blind date and became friends after I realized that as a
humanitarian aid worker I am not allowed to date refugees! O was working as
a logistics officer in freight forwarded in Damascus for several years after
his mandatory army service. He loves politics and hates Assad so got heavily
involved in the political uprising in 2011. He was arrested and kept in prison
and fled to Jordan when he was released in 2012. He stayed in Jordan for three
years trying to work legally or illegally (its illegal for Syrian refugees to
work in Jordan). He was a registered refugee living with three other young
single men and waiting to be resettled in a third country. His family had
escaped later to Egypt but the borders were closed so he couldn't join them.
They were a middle class family but money was running out for them. He found
out that his claim to be resettled was rejected so he had to take the extreme
step of going to Europe with the traffickers in August of this year. I followed
him as he texted me from Turkey where he flew on his Syrian passport to Greece
where he went on one of those boats you see on the news, up through Macedonia
where they were beaten by border guards, to Serbia on to Austria and finally to
Germany. He's now living in a refugee settlement sharing a house with about 9
other Syrian men about a hour outside of Berlin where he's enrolled in some
free college courses for refugees, is learning German, and trying to settle in.
Its not easy. While I was in Germany, the attack in Paris happened and the
attitude towards Syrians has hardened. It's maddening to listen to the news of
Donald Trump and others in the US and listen to the idiots on the internet go on
about how Syrian men should be "fighting for their country" (on what
side? Against who? And with what training? That war is so complex... I've asked
him to explain it to me several times and get confused each time). O says
he'll never return to the Middle East as Europe has opened its arms to him and
he wants to repay it. He's a hardworking and smart guy (who does a great
Michael Jackson impersonation) so I'm hoping the new year will bring him more
peace and stability. It was good to be reminded of the traditions of America in
Mike's little German apartment as I made turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce
for the two of them.
So now its the new year and I'm
tired! What an exhausting but fulfilling year. New and old friends, being
with family, travel, meaningful work, new countries, and exciting new food
(Israel was a revelation!). What more could anyone wish for? Thanks to all the
friends - old and new- that I saw or chatted with in 2015. You are the
best! 2016 will have a hard time topping it but I sense positive change is
in the air. Stay tuned for news. I enclose some photos and a great recipe for my favorite hot sauce of the year.
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| Me by the end of 2015 - feeling a little tired and worn out. |
Wishing you all a lovely and exciting
New Year! May 2016 bring you adventure and passion!
Love,
Sarah
