50 words for 50 countries

50 words for 50 countries: the wanderings/wonderings of an aid worker.

Welcome to my blog: 50 words for 50 countries – wanderings of an aid worker.  Each week (or thereabouts) I will write 50 words (or thereabouts!) about one of the 50 countries I have been lucky enough to visit.  I have had an incredible 20 years of working in international aid mostly in Asia and the Pacific, but also a little in Africa.  I have also travelled, like many of you have, extensively, much of it by myself, which is a real privilege, and occasionally with other like-minded wanderers.

The more I travel, the less I photograph, the more I am left with a sense, a fleeting moment, an impression, of what I have seen, who I have met and where I have been. Travel to me has been all about a series of moments: random, beautiful, frightening, exciting.  So this blog tries to capture those few moments of my experiences of the wider world.  They are, like all travel experiences, immensely personal and individual.  But here they are.

At the suggestion of some of my readers, I have written ‘the Backstory’ to just a few of my 50 words, on a separate page, which is a little paragraph explaining a little more about the context of the poem, for those interested in understanding further.

I hope these glimpses into my world are evocative and thought-provoking.  I hope they make you laugh, make you angry, make you cry and make you smile.  I hope they make you recall special moments from your own travels or inspire you to venture further.  I hope they make you think and wonder, as I do, at all there is to see and understand and feel; at all the justice and injustice in our wide world and at the fact that we walk but fleetingly upon this earth and must do so lightly, with grace where we can, and openness were we cannot.

Travel well.

Julie Mundy