I received a B.A. from the University of Calgary and an M.S. in Communication from Florida State University. From 1968 to 2012, I worked in the field of international development education and communication.
This website contains links to the majority of the initiatives (films/videos, animated films/videos, comic books, facilitators' guides, that I started, raised initial funds for, and helped to create and manage throughout my career. (Note: Most of the resources are available on various websites and I have amalgamated them here.)
During my career, I was employed by Canadian University Service Overseas (CUSO) (1968-74); Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) (1975-89); UNICEF in Bangladesh and Eastern and Southern Africa (1990-2000); the Center for Communication Programs, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore and Moscow (2001-2008), the Academy for Educational Development and FHI 360, Washington, D.C. (2008-2012).
I worked and lived in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda, and Russia for a total of 18 years and traveled to over 80 countries on short-term assignments.
In 2015, I moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I studied creative nonfiction writing at the University of New Mexico and began to write about my life experience, adventures, challenges, and successes from my records, letters, travel reports, memories, and imagination. My memoirs have all won awards: was, Finding Myself in Borneo: Sojourns in Sabah (2019); Kid on the Go! Memoir of My Childhood and Youth (2021), and, My University of the World: Adventures of an International Film & Media (2023).
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I also wrote a travel memoir titled Guns and Gods in My Genes: A 15,000-mile North American search through four centuries of history, to the Mayflower, is a deep dive into my ancestors stories in Canada and the U.S. written in an entertaining way. It has won two awards.