Nepal Vision Trip Blog
05 Nov 2011 2 Comments
So I have been absolutely consumed by uni and work this semester and haven’t yet put up my Timor blogs (sitting on my computer waiting to be posted!) But, good news! I officially finished my degree yesterday and in typical Caitlin style, I’ve already jetted off to my next place: Nepal.
I’ve got a separate blog for the trip as I’ll be blogging on behalf of everyone, so please go check it out here: www.nepalvisiontrip.wordpress.com
As a treat, I’ll put my first post from that blog here, but make sure you get over there and read about the rest of our experiences!!
Hi everyone!
Thanks for checking out the blog that I’ll be writing whilst I’m over in Nepal. I’m looking forward to sharing my discoveries, my experiences, my reflections and my photos of my time with the International Nepal Fellowship in Nepal from the 4th-21st of November. I’ll be doing my best to update at least every second day, and will be doing regular tweets. Follow me here.
So why Nepal you ask? Great question! To be honest, I’ve been incredibly blessed to fall right into this opportunity and have everything fall into place for me. At the beginning of the year, Nepal would definitely not have come to mind as a particular place I was dying to travel to (seeing as I’m definitely not a trekker, and that seems to be the primary reason for tourism!) or really work in. I’ve had my heart set on India for quite a long time now (the sights, the smells, the sounds, the CULTURE!!!), so it seems my heart was almost in the right place – it just needed a bit of redirection (north!) this year.
In the last 6 weeks…
12 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
So in the last 6 weeks I’ve been in four different countries, with four different time zones and five different languages – from Tetun, Portuguese, Bahasa Indonesian, Thai and English, I’ve currently got many words, phrases and numbers that I’ve learnt swimming around in my head as I begin to process the many experiences I’ve been blessed with since I last blogged.
My 4 week trip to East and West Timor with the Oaktree Foundation was a huge learning experience, challenging my perceptions and understanding of development and giving me the opportunity to meet with a variety of young people, all doing some pretty revolutionary things in their country.
Following my trip with Oaktree, I was blessed with the opportunity to be a leader at the 2nd
University Scholars Leadership Symposium held in Pattaya, Thailand. After attending the 1st Symposium in Malaysia last August, it was a huge privilege to return this year and provide 340 new delegates from around the world with an even better learning and cultural experience then I’d been given the year before.
The conference aims to introduce students to humanitarian issues around the world and encourage them to take action about such issues back in their home countries.
I’ve got many stories to share from these countries – stories of defeat, stories of hope, stories of poverty and stories of small people doing HUGE things in their villages and communities. Over the next month I’ll share all these stories with you, so bare with me as I get through the backlog of blogs I need to write!
Some blogs to come include stories from Oaktree’s projects in East Timor, impressions from both East & West Timor, including the surprising differences between the two areas, an inspiring story of a woman named Poo from the Klong Toey slum in Bangkok and an overview of the Father Ray Foundation, an organisation I worked with in Thailand.
I look forward to sharing these experiences with you, and many more, in hope of giving a voice to many marginalised youth in Timor, and raise awareness about some exciting projects that are occurring in Thailand.
Featured on Paperless Wedding!
29 Jun 2011 1 Comment
in WEDDING
About a month ago, Navin and I won an engagement photoshoot competition with wedding invitation company Paperless Wedding, a great initiative that aims to take the cost and the paper out of weddings – very environmental! To win, participants shared their ideas of having a ‘green wedding’, and we were blessed to be chosen as one of the winners!
We had a wonderful shoot with the very talented photographers at Diverze Photography, and had the pain-staking task of choosing just one photograph out
of the hundreds of beautiful pictures they took, to take home with us as part of the prize.
Paperless Wedding have just written a blog sharing some of our photos and also our special story! We’d love you to check it out here. It also includes a link to my new wedding section of this blog, so I’m looking forward to sharing my ideas with some new readers!
Here’s my answer that won us the shoot:
“My fiance and I are planning a green AND socially responsible wedding and we’re coming up with as many creative ways as possible to go green and be fair! We’re planning on using locally grown organic flowers for all our bouquets and centrepieces, Rainforest Alliance & Fair Trade Tea and Coffee served at our afternoon tea and reception, recycle various wedding items for charity through the I DO Foundation and finally, we’re shipping across some TOMS shoes to wear on the big day – a company that donates a pair of shoes to a child in the developing world, when you buy yourself a pair. We’re hoping our wedding raises a lot of awareness for causes we’re passionate about. We can’t wait!”
Tomorrow I’m heading to East Timor for a month, so the wedding section of Globally Thinking will unfortunately go a bit neglected for the next few weeks. I’m definitely going to look for some inspiration whilst I’m over there though and look forward to blogging and sharing my ideas again when I’m back! 
Please feel free to comment below or email me if you’ve got any questions!
My Big Fat Socially Responsible Wedding
27 Jun 2011 2 Comments
in WEDDING
This is just a quick post to introduce my new ‘Wedding’ page of Globally Thinking!
For those unaware, I got engaged on my birthday just over two months ago and I’m now currently planning our wedding for 18th February 2012! Whilst it’s very exciting and I’m looking forward to sharing this journey with you, the real reason why I’ve decided to blog about my wedding on Globally Thinking is to blog about the theme of our wedding – ‘ socially responsible’, which happens to be the key focus of this blog!
In just two months I’ve been overwhelmed by how big the wedding industry is, and been particularly challenged not to get caught up in the hype of it all! To defy the usual extravagance of weddings, Navin and I are thus planning a ‘socially responsible’ wedding and are looking for ways to be ethical and responsible in every aspect of our wedding!
So over the next 8 months leading up to our marriage I’m going to blog about various wedding components,
from fair trade bombonieres to organic bouquets, and everything in between.
I look forward to sharing my ideas with future bride-to-be’s or just anyone that’s curious how a wedding can be socially responsible! Feel free to post comments or suggestions too – I want to share in this journey with you!
