The Personal Ripples of a Tsunami Ten Years Past

Ten years ago this morning, I dodged a bullet when I left the coast of Thailand's Phuket Peninsula an hour and a half before the Indian Ocean tsunami came ashore. Seeing as how modern humans are typically fascinated by ten-year time frames, I have found myself thinking about this approaching anniversary a good bit lately. If you care to stroll down that memory beach with me, I invite you to this link – the start of a week’s worth of up close reporting from the tsunami’s aftermath.

I have also found myself reflecting on what has transpired in my life since that event. Given the significant impact that morning, really that next week, had on me, the tsunami was – more or less – the beginning of this "gran adventura" I am on now.... shifting my career to a greater focus on human communities in an international context. The first five years were the equivalent of this idea’s gestation period. The plan was fully birthed in late 2009, when I left my job, and my home, in Bozeman for parts unknown.

I say parts unknown, because much like a baby just born, and much is my style, I set sail on this global sea of possibilities with little understanding of what I was getting into. I had as good a map as Columbus, and one could easily argue far fewer provisions. I had more passion than knowledge, more vision than plan.

What I did know was that after twenty years of work which, by the end, seemed focused on meeting those human needs at the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, I felt a pull as big as the world to offer my services to those seeking to meet their needs at the bottom of Maslow’s pyramid. Specifically, I wanted to shift my work from the realm of self-actualization, to that of securing one’s physiological and safety needs. This is, I believe, how the tsunami really left its mark on me, much the result of my having spent a day working in a hospital, and a day at a make shift morgue, immediately after the tsunami.

Two Bottoms of the Pyramid

My desire to work at the bottom of a pyramid of needs was, I quickly learned, very fitting, because a predominant concept and focus of international development is supporting populations of people living at the bottom of the economic pyramid. My bottom of the pyramid interests aligned well with a major focus of the international development field I wanted to enter. Also, as I learned more about this field, I found myself being emotionally and intellectually inspired by such aspects of it as women’s empowerment and gender equity, human rights and land rights, enterprise development and sustainable livelihoods, renewable energy and climate change resilience.

To me, it all seemed interconnected through the lens of sustainability, and I found my socks going up and down with excitement when thinking and talking about programs that provide economic, social, and environmental benefits to their recipients. I came to believe, and still do, that this idea of pursuing a “triple bottom line” strategy is really the only strategy that will work if we, as a species, want to have a prayer of sustaining ourselves over the long run.

Two Entities Heading South

Equally fitting was the timing of my departure for international waters: late 2009. As I pointed my career south (with a preference of focusing my work on Latin America or Africa), the U.S. economy had just finished heading south. Fast forward to today, and I can see how the economy’s slide has influenced my present situation in at least one way, and possibly a second.

The second way has to do with the fact that I am again looking for work, and some have made the argument that the downturn in the economy means there are generally fewer jobs, and thus generally more competition. That is probably true. However, I think my present situation has more to do with the fact that there is a huge pool of talented people interested in working in international development, and most of them have more formal training in this field than I do (what I have learned about how not to pursue a mid-life career change is a topic for another time).

The Allure and the Reality of the U.S. Economy

More intriguing than the lessons I learned about career transitions, particularly at an older age, is how both the power of the U.S. economy, and the downturn in the U.S. economy, have led to my feeling less of a need to work internationally. To be sure, I still want to work internationally. However, if my professional objectives are to support communities of people struggling at the bottom of the pyramid while also experiencing different cultures, I have come to realize I can satisfy these objectives on any continent, including my homeland of North America.

What has shifted for me is fully realizing that a person can work in an international context without having to work internationally. What made this shift possible are my learning more about the allure and the reality of the U.S. economy. Just like with Columbus and his crew, the allure of North America, or more specifically the United States, as a promise land continues to inspire people from around the globe to risk much in order to travel to the U.S. in pursuit of a better life. This is still so much the case that the continued influx of people into the states is now one of the leading national policy discussions in the U.S.

There's No Place Like Home

Another leading national policy discussion has to do with the increasing number of people living in poverty, and the growing economic divide, in the U.S. I have heard that the poverty rate is at about 10% of the citizenry (not surprisingly, many or most of whom are of non-European decent), and the economic divide has some notable economists warning of a future oligarchy. This reality of the U.S. economy has captured much of my political attention in the past year or so, even now as I find myself spending time in Ecuador.

The possibility of helping address this reality, while at the same time fulfilling my professional objectives, is why I was psyched to recently apply for jobs with the following nonprofits: [1] Adelante Mujeres, which provides education and economic empowerment opportunities to low income Latina women and their families in Oregon; and [2] Economic Inequality Media Project, which is promoting the film and campaign called Inequality for All (about Robert Reich’s take on the widening income inequality in America).

The human experience is a global experience

So, ten years out from the Indian Ocean tsunami, the effect of that seminal moment in my life continues to ripple through my life. One such ripple is the broadening of my perspective about where I need to go, where I should go, where I can go, geographically speaking, to provide my skills to those who could use some help meeting their most basic needs. Another ripple is the broadening of my perspective about where I need to go to experience different cultures. My realizations make my search all the more global than I had previously allowed myself to think.

Fulfilling our physiological and safety needs is part of the human experience, as is the existence of people who struggle to meet those basic needs. What I have always known, but now I really “get”, is that the human experience of struggling to fulfill one’s basic needs occurs all over the globe..... even in the land of plenty. So, if one of my professional objectives is to support people in their efforts to meet their basic needs, through my experiences of last five years, I have been reminded that I need not travel too far to fulfill that objective.

As well, I also now fully “get” that I don’t need to go to another country to experience its culture. It may be the best way to do so, but it is not the only way. Due to the global nature of economy, communications, and travel, communities or diaspora of people from one country can be found in many other countries. This is particularly true in the states, given the allure of the United States to people throughout the world. So, if I want to have the human experience of immersing myself in a Latin American culture, or an African culture, I now know I can find that experience somewhere in the states.

Work at the Local Level by Going Global, or Think Globally and Act Locally?

Time will tell where I end up next, and I look forward to time telling me. In the meantime, as I reflect back on all I have done, and seen, and learned, since this day ten years ago, I am reminded of the Darrel Scott tune “A Crooked Road.”

I walk a crooked road to get where I am going,
To get where I am going I must walk a crooked road,
And only when I’m looking back I see the straight and narrow,
I see the straight and narrow when I walk a crooked road

To those of you who have supported me along this crooked road, thanks so much for all you have done to make this gran adventura a reality. It has meant the world to me, both figuratively and literally. To those of you whom have been part of my living and work experience during this great walkabout, you have been part of what is easily the most fascinating five years of my life. Gracias a todos…. here’s to making a difference, and having fun doing it.