A question I get asked often, because of my complex and diverse heritage, is where do you call home? To which I reply, ‘I can’t answer that question. But if you’d like to know where I belong, my answer is, I belong, where I have a purpose’.
What is your purpose? I’ve learnt a lot by listening to people’s life stories and how they make sense of things. You can say that I’ve made a career out of it! My diverse heritage has helped me appreciate different sides of stories. I’d like to say I have a foot in each camp – but that won’t work because with my heritage I’d have to have more than two feet! My parents come from cultures that are poles apart, and there are many generations of travellers and adventurers on both sides. That unsettledness could have been a problem for me, but I embraced it and turned it around when I saw that it could benefit others.
I see my purpose as being a bridge between different worlds. Sometimes you just need a different way of looking at things to start that bridging process. I have been able to step into situations of community and organisational conflict and help find common ground. That is what I did to find my own place in the world – I found the common threads and wove them together. A way of working emerged, and I developed many different tools and methods to make it easier for people to share their stories and find common ground. Through this process of unlocking stories, I am constantly in awe of the amazing things that individuals and communities do. Significant jewels emerge even from people who believed they had not contributed much. Some take what they do as ‘natural’ and they don’t realise it is a skill unique to them! Everyone’s role adds to the richness of the tapestry. Some threads are only visible to those who know where to look. There are so many extraordinary things that happen every day. We don’t often get the chance to hear of these. Or is it that, in our fast-paced world, we don’t pause to listen deeply?
I choose to share my stories, experiences, and learnings to encourage others to do the same. Of course, people can take this encouragement or leave it as they please. And that’s something else that I’ve learnt. Just because some people are not interested, it does not mean I should stop or change. I believe each one of us has a purpose, a contribution to make. It may be useful one day for someone or something out there. We should pass it on, and story is one way to do so. Part of my purpose as a bridge is to find ways so people can share their stories, realise the important roles they each play, and appreciate the roles that others play. Let me end by sharing words from my early journey. It has guided me all these years and I believe it still holds true today.
When you don’t find common ground, differences become barriers.
When common ground is achieved, differences are appreciated.
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