Cultural backround & beliefs

I’ve written about this more than once, but I keep getting in touch with unique people, who certainly deserve comments.

While in Brisbane, I met these three very different people, all with strong parents and with very interesting characteristics.

Angie is Australian, grew up in the cost, daughter of professors, with a very clear sense of what’s important in life, i.e. building respectful relationships, developing herself intellectually and working in something that matters.

Anh is daughter of Vietnamese parents and developed a very nice bi-cultural identity, respecting the differences and finding her place. She founded the Engineers without Borders in Brisbane, to work with emergency situations and sustainable development, and is going to Cambodia for 1 year, from where she intends to meet her Vietnamese relatives quite often.

Alan (Anh’s boyfriend) is son of an Australian Christian missionary, who met his mother in Papua New Guinea. They moved to Australia when Alan was 4 year old, but the memories from his birth country are very present in his house, in his mother’s accent, in various pictures and in lots of stories. Alan is very glad he came to Australia, as it’s very safe and full opportunities over here, while the situation is New Guinea is concerning, because of unemployment, migration to the cities and violence.

I find it very interesting to understand people’s backgrounds, influences, beliefs and mental models…