Action!

Nederlands

"You have to think big Mary." my friend Bettine says on Skype. "Start small and think big." Bettine is my colleague and friend from our Outpost community and we have been friends since the Conference Learning Event in Kuala Lumpur. I followed her on Twitter and witnessed how her sister, who suffered from a malignant brain tumor, was getting sicker. I followed how worried Bettine was and one day she wrote: "enough is enough, it's time to say goodbye." Bettine boarded a flight from her host country Malaysia to the Netherlands and had to let go of her sister Marianne. Marianne was only 42 years when she died ...
Meanwhile we are racing against time to prepare our next move. While I was in Kuala Lumpur attending the Learning Event, Thijs fled Bahrain during the riots with our children. I travelled to Abu Dhabi not to return to Bahrain but instead took the children to the Netherlands. I left both my eldest boys (both in exam) in a boarding school in the Netherlands and one month after the evacuation I returned with Noëlle, back to Bahrain. Our big repatriation could begin!
Luckily we have packed our container frequently in the past 10 years. We got rid of functional furniture that will no longer fit in our much smaller house in the Netherlands. I handover my job to my successor, and once we receive our visa for Iran, our journey becomes reality.
Since our arrival in Bahrain in 2007, we dream of a road trip returning to the Netherlands. After all, we live on the same continent and we can drive back!Wouldn't it be great to drive the 10,000 kilometers while fund-raising? We regularly brainstorm about the idea, but somehow find it difficult to choose. Something with kids? Something to do with education? Something with health?
We are grateful for ten wonderful, special, sometimes very difficult, but always inspiring and meaningful years abroad. We saw the children growing up with a constantly changing background. They speak at least three languages, have friends all over the world, had wonderful educational opportunities and have seen a lot of the world. Life abroad has shaped them. Our children have the passion of a Dominican, the exploring curiosity of a Canadian  and the hospitality of an Arab.
Our trip to the Netherlands should be a remarkable final of ten years of globe-trotting. Would't it be wonderful if we unite travel with doing a good deed? If we're going to drive those long 10,000 km why not sponsored for charity?
Between all the hectic activities of our new international move, I bore the world with thoughts and tweets. Our to-do list only seems to become larger and bigger but the weeks fly by.
 
 "Are you crazy?" Bettine reacts when she hears that we're planning to drive back. Yes, we are a bit crazy, correct, but it seems like a great adventure and fun. And before I know it she gives us the answer to our question that had hunted us for the past few weeks, "which charity shall we choose?"
"World Ride 4 Hope", will be the name of our journey. We hope for a good return, an unforgettable journey and an easy adjustment to the Netherlands. At the same time we hope to raise money for a some people for whom hope is the only outlook but a premature death is inevitable ...
Follow us, support them and help them hope!

M.