Hello everybody!
I am very pleased to launch this brand new WAT blog.
I have only recently joined the WAT team and I am super excited about it. It is so great to get to share this adventure with you guys. Today, let me tell you a bit more about why the concept appealed so much to me.
After a few years of travelling, I went back home to Switzerland to take some proper time to heal from a painful loss, as well as to process everything that my eyes had seen and my ears had heard over several months spent discovering new places and cultures. The world is made up of an infinity of different realities, and in the small parcel of it that I have seen, I have witnessed many contradictory things; incredible beauty and generosity, friendship, dedication and creation, all too often cohabiting at the same time with pain, misery, fear, environmental degradation and hate, among many, many other examples. The list is unfortunately very long.
My time in the Middle East, in particular, has left me with a sense of hopelessness that I knew I had to work on if I was ever going to keep living this way. Because now is not the time to give up. Now is the time we all face those problems together, instead of denying they are there. The world is in pain, and there is no problem with honoring and grieving this pain, and to stick together as we prepare solutions. As we show other ways to people. We can’t do this alone, and the more I have grown and learned from the lessons that life has put my way, the more I realized the importance of companionship and solidarity.
So here I was, feeling kind of lonely in my Swiss mountains, wondering where to go next, what to do with what I know. You see, in “normal” society, who I am is not particularly valued: I hate routine, I struggle with authority, I am always looking for ways to question the status quo, and I have no particular interest in making money for anything other than being able to sustain myself and hopefully maintain a traveller’s lifestyle, while contributing positively to the world around me, and of course, doing what I love the most, which is writing.
If you aspire to some of the same things as me, you might know how difficult it is to stay true to yourself in this world. Our values are all messed up, we are happily consuming all of our resources and exploiting people to satisfy our addiction to new technologies and maintain an illusion of comfort and safety. We use the many distractions available to poison our minds and bodies in order to forget that most of us feel lonely and disconnected, and frankly quite lost in the ocean of new opportunities that globalization has brought to us. This picture might be pretty grim, but we can’t deny the many illnesses that our world is suffering from.
That said, there is hope. There is a side to the picture that many of us are not aware of: ordinary people doing their best to find solutions to the many problems we’re facing, thinking in new and original ways, trying to make a difference, or even just going around putting smiles on peoples’ faces just by being kind or lending a compassionate shoulder. All of these people are here, patiently working everyday to clean the mess we’re in. Unfortunately, they rarely get the credit they deserve, often simply because their stories would not sell as much as more sensationalist ones, or maybe because they might inspire people to get out of the state of fear we are being kept in, that makes it so much easier for us to be manipulated. When we do step out of that state, however, and open ourselves to all the love that is surrounding us, we realize that we are not alone in our struggles, and that together we are stronger.
That’s what happened to me when I discovered the WAT movie project. I was introduced to the idea of sharing a formidable journey through the Himalayas with people from all over the world, all sharing the same values and a desire to spread messages of peace. By doing so, we will have the opportunity to meet the local populations and get to know their daily lives, while exploring our inner minds, because if we ever want to reach world peace, we will have to start with ourselves. The connection was instantly made with the beautiful people carrying this idea, and a wonderful adventure thus started, reminding me of the path that I want, that I chose to be on, giving me meaning and sense of purpose. And the best part is, I didn’t have to do anything more than just being myself; a Traveller.
We Are Travellers is about a group of people from all over the world, uniting each of their unique talent and contribution to a project far bigger than them. By doing so, we are sending a message to the world. We are refusing to conform to an era of individualism and constant profit-seeking, that no one can deny is reaching its limits. We are choosing to open our eyes to the harsh realities of this world and respond to them with hope, as well as positive words and actions.
It is a great honour for me to be part of this.
If you are interesting in taking part in this journey or if you want to learn more about what we are preparing, feel free to contact the WAT team. If you wish to contribute, check out our fundraising page; we are going to need all of the support we can get in order to bring this message out there.
In the meantime, we will keep sharing are thoughts on this platform, so that you can get to know us a bit better. Don’t hesitate to share yours too!
I am looking forward to embarking on this new journey with you!
Much love,
Sophie
