Diverse International Experiences
1989 - 2019
Additional Experience
Along life’s journey, Reclaimit Ltd. environmental consultants gather additional experiences that are pivotal in the construction of our personal, professional, and corporate paradigm. Our consulting professionals are always learning, not just about the how, but the influencing why. As cultural paradigms are signification drivers behind the why, our team has some notable experiences and subsequent learnings that have us better equipped to service a customer’s why.
Tunisia: Canada Development Exchange
Date: September 1989 – April 1990
Scope: Partnered with a counterpart organization, the project was 50:50 split between rural Manitoba and western Tunisia. Working with children in a kindergarten class and then with university students at an agricultural university campus, we learned to communicate and cooperatively work together at our place of employment and successfully complete assigned tasks.
Notable Learnings:
- Work within different cultural paradigms creates awareness of alternative definitions of success and failure. Not everyone views life through the same set of lenses.
- Learned how to speak conversational French and limited Arabic.
Switzerland
Date:
Scope: Travel from Lebanon to Switzerland for a time to live with extended family.
Notable Learnings:
- First time living outside of the Middle East and quickly understood that there were differences between Middle Eastern and European cultures, how to learn about and respectfully live within each.
- Attained complete fluency in French.
ECHO International Agricultural Conference
Date: November 2016 & November 2017
Scope: Annual agricultural conference with speakers and field tours of community and social development strategies for participatory action that is positive and sustainable in a developing country context.
Afforested beach sand material with a biochar soil supplement, ECHO Florida, 2017.
Notable Learnings:
- Project strategy is optimized when environmental, social, & fiscal values are understood and appropriately managed.
- Remote North American and international development projects often mirror one another when leaders must make-due with what they have.
- Fixes are rarely quick. Planning horizons need to be longer.
ADIPEC
Date: November 2018
ADIPEC Oil & Gas trade show, Abu Dhabi, 2018.
Scope: The largest annual international oil and gas show in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Attended with the Canadian delegation to explore additional business development avenues.
Notable Learnings:
- Get out of your own region to see what is happening in other areas.
- The international business scene is a very different and complex environment to work in.
- Strategic alignment with embassy support services is crucial for hearing about in-country needs, vetting opportunities and customers and ensuring appropriate cross-cultural context in the conduct of business.
Arid Land Silviculture
Date: March 2015
Animals congregating near a water source with a Eucalyptus plantation in the background, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, 2015.
Scope: Arid Land Silviculture Symposium, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. Presentation of research, supported by field tours of numerous locations, in the management of arid land to produce forest products.
Notable Learnings:
- There is immense research investment in the management of dry land ecosystems.
- Applications in a warm, dry climate can be transferred to a cold, dry climate with careful thought about accommodating for climate differences.
Immigration to Canada
Date: 2005
Scope: Immigrate with family from Middle East to Canada.
Notable Learnings:
- Moving into another culture that is vastly different takes time to learn and appropriately integrate.
- Lessons in cultural adaptation can be passed on to help others with a similar experience.
- Attained complete fluency in English.
Sweden Summer Work Exchange
Date: Summer 1992
Scope: Worked as a technical field worker for a Swedish forestry company.
Notable Learnings:
- Definition of product quality differs in other parts of the world and are largely market driven.
- Accurate record keeping of investments in forestland is critical for evaluating the degree of success or failure at the point of sale.
- Learned conversational Swedish.
