End of a Decade

It's the last day of 2019. The decade is about to come to a close. Before it does, I wanted to reflect on the life Stephen and I have lived since I started this blog and look ahead to what the future may hold.

Stephen and I started this decade with a sense of purpose and meaning. We were on an adventure that we hoped would do some good in the world. First was Tugela, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

I dreamed of Africa long before we went. Such dreams we had. And though it was short, our time there was magical and memorable. We met good people there. We saw wonderful animals and gorgeous land. The Drakensberg Mountains remain to this day my favorite place on the planet.

We heard gorgeous music. Every day. South Africans start their day in four-part harmony. Whenever I hear the first notes of any South African song, I quite often tear up immediately. The Lion King on Broadway is steeped in South African harmonies, so when I saw it this fall in New York, I cried through nearly the whole show. South Africa is burned into our hearts and we pray for the day when the legacy of Apartheid no longer has a strangle-hold on the lives of people who live there. I pray for healing and peace, an end to the corruption and a restoration of the beauty that once dominated the land.

Our next adventure was Cambodia.

The Khmer are kind and gentle people. We felt so appreciated and loved both while we lived and worked there and all the years since leaving. I taught preschool to Khmer children and as I sit here writing I can see their sweet faces and personalities in my mind's eye. It's hard to imagine loving children more than I loved those little ones. 

I feel so proud of the safe space I created for them to be bold, to make new friends, to love books, and to have a fun introduction to the English language. Stephen built up a country office and was a wonderful mentor to his staff. Everywhere we've gone, his staff have appreciated and loved him.

Stephen is a good person to work for. He treats people with dignity and kindness. Our world is so lacking in these things at the moment, so it seems that it's all the more special.


Yangon, Myanmar was our third leap of faith. It was also maybe the most adventurous place we moved to. The country had only recently opened up to the rest of the world. Apartment choices were much less appealing than they had been in Phnom Penh. We chose the best one and still we had to regularly pump water, climb seven flights of stairs, and suffer through power outages in 95 degree weather that could last through the night. But in Myanmar, both Stephen and I did some of the most significant work to date. Stephen managed a non-communicable diseases health policy project in partnership with the government ministry of health, the University of Public Health, and other medical and health universities in Myanmar and Thailand. He catalyzed national expansion of the WHO PEN (package of essential NCD) interventions, which the government is continuing now, bringing access to diagnosis and treatment for millions of people suffering from cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

For me, Yangon gave me a wonderful opportunity to teach music specifically in a classroom setting. I again worked with preschool as well as kindergarten and first grade children. There were many challenges to living and working in Yangon in 2015-2016 but there were many joys as well.

Shortly after Yangon, we moved to Laos. A 3-month consultancy turned into nearly a year. Vientiane is a lovely city. We had a wonderfully comfortable apartment with a swimming pool and weekly maid service. Once again Stephen's leadership was so welcomed and appreciated by his staff. As we were never sure of our timetable in Laos, I devoted myself to art for the months that we were there. I had my DSLR camera for the first time abroad and I took so many photos of the amazing dragonflies, butterflies, orchids and elephants in the country.

Our life abroad meant lots of travel to surrounding countries as well. We went on holiday to Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan.

Kakunodata, Japan

Langkawi, Malaysia

We had to have extra pages added to our passports and when it came time to apply for new ones, ordered the extra pages from the start.

After Laos, we embarked on an adventure of a different kind. I went back to school for a refresher in music education then without waiting to complete a full graduate degree (it would have been my second masters) I took a job teaching music in Butte, Montana. When we talked about moving back to the states while we were still in Laos, I thought that I could serve in Montana in a comparable way to what we had tried to do abroad. Montana has a significant Native American population and they are some of the most forgotten people of our country. I thought it might be a good idea for me to work in a Reservation school. But then I took Intro to Native American Studies from a Native American professor at the U of M and his class changed my mind. As a white person of privilege, I came to the conclusion that there might be better ways for me to work to right the injustice that has been done to Native Americans. Actually it turns out that most schools in Montana qualify for Title One funding, so working in any one of those school is serving an underserved population. It has been our quest for this past decade to serve underserved populations. And even though we started the decade thinking that meant working outside our own country, the end of the decade has brought us back to the country we were born in.

My job in Butte was a dream come true. I got to teach music, something I've been trained to do and have years of experience in. I'm good at it. And that feels good. I started my career in the public school teaching first grade. And although I felt so strongly that first grade was a good place for me to be, I struggled quite a lot to fit the mold. It was almost by chance that I discovered that teaching music was a completely different story. I happened to substitute for some music teachers in the Seattle area where we were living at the time. It was amazing to me just how natural and easy it was to teach music. I had not considered music when I went back to get my Master in Teaching. So when I subbed for band teachers, choir teachers, and even orchestra teachers it took me by surprise how much fun teaching could be in the classroom.

During my student teaching, I was introduced to the concept of "looping" which essentially meant having the same students for more than one year. I loved that idea because it meant building relationships with kids. Being a music teacher for grades 3-6 has looping built in. Were I to stay in the same position, I would see the same kids over the course of 4 years. And I think that would be amazing.

I'm really proud of the work I did in Butte.

But in the end the lack of funding for specialist teachers in the school district created a position that required 80 hours a week and that was not something I could sustain. I had big dreams for my career in Montana as a music teacher. So it was with great sadness that I had to give those dreams up. My health simply would not let me continue.

Fortunately for us Stephen applied for and was offered a new job with the FDA. And since August we have been living yet another adventure in Washington DC. Stephen finds his new position suits him very well fusing all his varied and unique experiences. We like Maryland quite a lot. And I am launching my new career as a professional artist.

New years are "fresh with no mistakes" to use a phrase from Anne of Green Gables. A new decade holds even more promise. Stephen and I have so much more wisdom now. I sometimes wonder how South Africa would feel after all these years of learning and growing. Maybe we'll get to find out.

I hope that the new year and the new decade holds dreams come true for all of you out there too. Happy New year!