Reaching out to people in need comes naturally to the Higgins family of Dubai. Friday follows their journey on this challenging road right up to the present where they are deeply involved in helping displaced children in Cambodia.
In the world we inhabit – fraught with modern perils, starvation, homelessness, delinquency and violence – meeting individuals who have dedicated their lives to making a difference, however small, is always an affirmation of humanity. What makes it even more special is when an entire family exemplifies the spirit of compassion. A family that integrates community service into its way of life. The Higgins family of Dubai is one such family. Its five members, father, mother and three daughters, have made it their life's aim to reach out to those in need – be it working to rehabilitate survivors of natural disasters, delivering babies in the remote jungles of underdeveloped countries, or educating the poor and homeless – every task is a labour of love.
Now that their three daughters, Victoria (Tori), Jane and Claire, have grown up and moved on to live in New York, Canada and the Middle East respectively, the annual family vacation is an important part of their family calendar. But the Higgins family's annual gathering is slightly different. For them it's not about a luxury destination and rolling in the surf.
Instead, parents Jeff and Dot and the three girls meet in a place where they as a family can work together to bring a smile to the faces of people in need of love, comfort, money, education and medical care. Recently, the Higgins family has been involved in working and raising money for their favourite charity, the Green Gecko Project in Cambodia. This project, founded by Australian Tania and her Cambodian husband Rem, has opened its doors to welcome 60 former street children of Siem Reap in Cambodia, giving them food, clothes, education, love and dignity; the home has become the kids' anchor in every sense of the term. What shaped this family into such an exemplary model of social outreach? Dot and Jeff Higgins have been living in Dubai for 31 years. Their daughters were born and educated here. Tori, who now lives in New York, describes her parents: "They both have different personalities. They are constantly providing my sisters and me with wonderful examples of how to live life to the full and follow your dreams and ambitions while at the same time giving something back to society.
"I don't think it's an accident that my sisters and I are where we are today. All five of us are very different and very independent in the way we strive towards our respective dreams and goals in life, but together the five of us can be a very strong force in shaping our common desires."
Dot and Jeff Higgins always opted for the path less travelled. At a time when people from the UK rarely ventured beyond their shores, at the most it was a holiday to Spain or Portugal in the 1970s, Jeff and Dot moved to Africa in their early twenties with a young baby in tow. Jeff had an insistent wanderlust for international adventure and among many things, while in East Africa, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro while Dot waited with young Tori at the base camp – armed with just a mosquito net!
But the hunger for discovering the world was not a one-dimensional pursuit. The need to know the world and its people worked on many levels. Tori explains how the family began their journey, "It started with my mum venturing to Liberia with Médecins Sans Frontieres. She went miles away from technology and civilisation to work in a refugee camp as a registered nurse, helping deliver babies in challenging conditions.
"My little sister Claire grew up to work full-time for the NGO, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in both Lebanon and Palestine. She now works with the United Nations. My sister Jane lives in Toronto and works at the Princess Margaret Hospital, a leading cancer institute. I have lived in New York for the last seven-and-a-half years years and work for an international agency that specialises in medical communications, market reasearch and health economics within the pharmaecutical industry.
"Apart from that, I have worked with a team in New York raising funds for the post-tsunami Phuket Project, which my mum worked with to lead the first team of volunteers to build houses, and all of this has culminated in the whole family recently volunteering at the Green Gecko Project.
"As children, our global adventures were driven by my father's inquisitive mind and insatiable desire to experience a world off the beaten track. His persistence and positivity during times of adversity have always been good examples of how to live life. My mum, on the other hand, has the innate ability to make someone feel at ease and is very much a people person.
"When she visits any country where she is voluteering, she will check out the local hospitals or an orphanage to offer help, and for that purpose she goes armed with pencils or crayons for the children. After living in Africa, her dream was always to volunteer in a medical capacity."
In Dubai since 1978, Jeff continues to work as a quantity surveyor on many of the city's iconic buildings, while Dot, a registered nurse, trained in gynaecology and obstetrics, has worked at various hospitals. Despite the geographical distances between the parents and the children, Dot says they are always there for each other.
Tori thinks her Dubai roots have helped her bring more empathy to her job and to the work she does around the world: "New York is a million miles away from Dubai in many ways, but there are many similarities that make me feel at home in New York: it is cosmopolitan, spontaneous, fast-paced, driven, iconic, ambitious and a pivotal dot on the world map, just like Dubai. A childhood in Dubai makes you reach for the stars!"
How did the Higgins family zero in on the Green Gecko Project? It happened by chance, says Dot. "We love travelling around the Mekong Delta area – Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Jeff and I had planned to travel through Thailand for our anniversary, but owing to the tsunami, our plans had to change and we travelled overland from Bangkok to Siem Reap instead. While staying in Siem Reap, we were deeply disturbed by the dire conditions faced by the street children. In Cambodia, the local people are so cheerful and warm despite their trying circumstances, I instantly wanted to reach out to help the street children.
"We then happened to visit the Singing Tree Cafe, one of our favourite places in Siem Reap. I read notices about grassroots NGO projects in the area that were helping children. The Green Gecko Project was one of the stories that jumped out at me.
"On our next trip, we visited the Project to see what it was about. We met Tania, Rem and the children, and although there wasn't much we could do during that first encounter, we just knew we had to go back." Jeff adds: "We wanted to spend Christmas in a different way, so we decided to volunteer at Green Gecko and escape the routine of a commercialised Christmas. We got to experience and integrate with a community first-hand and give something back."
Tori now sponsors a child, Tahn, from Green Gecko who has been a Gecko for just under a year. Tahn is simply an amazing child says Tori. She is currently organising a virtual Scavenger Hunt around Manhattan
to raise funds and awareness for the Green Geckos.
All three daughters continue to do their bit for Green Gecko from where they live.
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Tori notates her experiences of the family's unforgettable Christmas in Cambodia for the readers of Friday...
"Boarding the flight from Singapore to Siem Reap, I knew the journey ahead would be filled with new adventures and (offer) a glimpse into a world a million miles apart from my fast-paced New York life, not only in terms of distance but also in understanding. Everyone I had spoken to who had visited Cambodia told me there is a spirit to the country that just moves you in a way that no other country does. I'd heard all about the wondrous 12th-century temples and exquisite Angkor Wat architecture, the hospitable and welcoming nature of the Cambodian people and the inviting flavours of Cambodian spices! But nothing had really prepared me for the real reason
"I was visiting... to meet 60 Green Gecko children who were all former street kids.
"It's not really a story when you meet the people whose lives are directly affected by their country's turbulent past: it is very much their reality. You pass young children on the street trying to sell you a flower for ‘one dollaaa, just one dollaaa so I can go to schooool', they speak in a pitiful voice that echoes in your head. A landmine child victim with stumps for arms is selling heavy books by day and plays in a street band at night. Despite this, he always has a cheery smile on his face.
"It's life happening in its rawest form a million miles away from the comforts we have grown accustomed to in the West, but most appear to accept their lot in life and do their best to get on with it.
"Enter the Green Gecko children. This haven was set up five years ago by a remarkable Australian, Tania, and her Cambodian husband Rem, who felt an inexplicable urge to help the street children. Although the daily grind of what she has taken on may seem like an uphill battle some days, she has given these kids a chance they would never otherwise have had.
"Giving up a career in Australia, where she was co-director of a successful company, and relocating to Cambodia, Tania has provided a refuge for former Siem Reap street kids as well as giving them a chance to hope.
"What started as makeshift tables on the streets providing a daily meal has now turned into a safe haven for 60 former street children with the promise that she will be there for them until every single one is self-sufficient. Children range from 3 years to 18 years of age. Tania is there for every single Gecko kid along with Rem, ‘Daddy Gecko', who is a trained social worker.
"Alex, our tuk tuk driver, dropped us at the front gate. When I first entered the Green Gecko house there was a sense of calm across the courtyard, a bright, colourful mural of animals painted on a wall, a dog sleeping under a bench and a palm tree gently swaying in the wind.
"We got our visitor's pass and headed past the Gecko helpers preparing lunch, past the football pitch and hammock and towards the outdoor classrooms housed in the newly-built classrooms.
"In the mornings the younger children are schooled at Green Gecko, while the older children attend the local Khmer school they belong to; in the afternoon, the roles are switched.
"Tania had to fight hard to get the children accepted into private school, as the principal of the school was initially reluctant to admit them. assuming that the children would be unruly and disruptive in class. Today though they perform solo on stage at school concerts, win many awards and are among the highest achievers in their class.
"A sea of children in yellow, green, purple and red Gecko T-shirts comes rolling towards us. The children are full of smiles and laughter, excited to meet us and learn our name. Each colour represents the Gecko house they are in... the buzzing bees, the energetic elephants, the singing snakes, the fabulous frogs, the mighty monkeys, the cool crocodiles. This morning's class is split in two: my mum is teaching numbers and logic and my sister Jane is teaching the solar system in the Me and My Planet class. The kids sit down on benches and open their school books.
"The teacher asks them to write today's date: Friday, December 19, 2008. As the class progresses in a mixture of English and Khmer, I realise that despite the challenges, the children are extremely dedicated and driven to perform their best. The pride they take in their work is unbelievable.
"As class finishes, a group of the younger Geckos approach me with a globe of the world. My sponsor child, Tahn, is among this group, a cheerful and enthusiastic 10-year-old who is the newest Gecko.
"After only 8 months with the Gecko family, his English is coming along great, his disposition is polite and charming and the permanent grin on his face says it all. I would never have guessed that only a year ago he was on the street begging for those precious ‘dollaaa's' after his father died and his mother was struggling to bring up her six boys. They thrust the globe into my hands and Tahn and his friends want to show me where Cambodia is, followed by England, America, Australia, Canada, France and Africa... they're geographically savvy given they've never left their own country!
"Together, we figure out where New York, Dubai, Toronto and Brazil are."
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"In the midst of the hustle and bustle of Siem Reap is a modern gallery exhibiting local photography and artwork, not too dissimilar to any gallery you would find in London or Paris.
"It is here where the Geckos are proudly displaying some of their art work in oils on large canvases. For all the Gecko artists, this is the first opportunity they have had to express themselves, and some were a little unsure to start with.
"To me, various subconscious meanings jump out from these paintings in symbols representing peace, safety, family, togetherness and spirituality."
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"Have you heard of the phrase ‘Life is a journey, not a destination'? After spending time with Tania, Rem and all the Gecko children, I realise they are all on one of the most amazing and incredible journeys of life, hand in hand," says Tori Higgins with admiration.
"At the end of the day, isn't that what life is all about?"
To learn more about Green Gecko: http://www.greengeckoproject.org
Dubai made the difference
The three Higgins girls – Tori, Jane and Claire – who completed schooling at the Dubai English Speaking School (DESS) and the Shaikha Latifa School for Girls, have nothing but fond memories of Dubai.
Tori feels their chequered cultural experiences have shaped the perspective that she and her sisters have of the world today: "Before Dubai, I lived in Nairobi, Kenya, where my first words were in Swahili. When I left Dubai, I studied Business and French at university in Scotland with an exchange year in Angers, France, and have au-paired in France during the holidays. I speak fluent French, basic Arabic and Italian; my quintessential British accent always conjures up an automatic set of assumptions which do not fit my background at all!
"I left England when I was 8 months old to live in Africa and moved to Dubai when I was six in 1978. Dubai was a very different world to what it is today; no one in the world had heard of it, Shaikh Zayed Road was barely a road then, the Trade Centre was the tallest building in the Gulf and Umm Suqeim was considered miles out of town. Dubai was a lot simpler.
"My childhood consisted of many hours diving under waves on Jebel Ali beach with friends, swimming in the pool at the Dubai Country Club, climbing sand dunes on the way to the East Coast and exploring the old Arabian souqs and oases that existed back then.
"At school, my classroom was like a scene from the United Nations, I had friends from every background and culture.
"Being a global nomad or a ‘third culture' kid certainly makes you very open-minded, tolerant, accepting and empathetic to other cultures and their viewpoints.
"Life is more adventurous and exciting this way, the global culture nomad!"
