Walk Talk Listen Podcast

Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Step Vaessen (episode 30)

Step Vaessen is a Senior International Correspondent of Al Jazeera English who is back in her home country The Netherlands since a year now. Previously she reported on Asia for more than 20 years and was one of the most senior international journalists covering the region. After Asia she went for a couple of years to Moscow. She has been working for Al Jazeera since 2006 and before she worked for NOS-TV. She witnessed first hand most of the major news events in Asia: the fall of president Soeharto in 1998, the violent aftermath of the referendum for independence in East Timor, the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, the protests against Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaya Purnama and major natural disasters in Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and numerous religious and ethnic conflicts. She covered stories in China, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea. She made several documentaries for 101 East: Indonesia's killing fields about anti-communist massacres in 1965, Indonesia's Rock governor about the rise of president Joko Widodo and a film for the Correspondent series: Trail of Murder, Indonesia's bloody retreat from East Timor, which was nominated Best Documentary at the Asian TV awards in Singapore. For Talk to Al Jazeera she did several interviews with Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo and Jakarta's governor Basuki Tjahaya Purnama. She published a book (in Dutch), Jihad with Sambal, and won an Academy Award in 2005 for her reports on the Indian Ocean tsunami. Step and I know each other from Indonesia as we were both in that country during the 2004 Tsunami. During our conversation Step refers to the recent riots that occurred in the Netherlands, this is a link to the story. You can follow Step via twitter and instagram.
 
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Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Alicia Fall (episode 29)

Alicia Fall is the founder of Her Many Voices Foundation (HMVF), a small organization that does big things in the world. The mission of the foundation is to ignite the Artivist (Artist/Activist) in all people, in order to move their passions to purpose, for the betterment of women, children and our Mother Earth. They aim to achieve their vision by uniting humanity through the arts. The "Her"  in Her Many Voices makes reference to Mother Earth and the "Many Voices," to all of her children, which makes us all sisters and brothers. Comprised of artists, activists and global community members, Alicia and her team believe that women and children are the primary shapers of the future of our global community and we believe that providing vulnerable populations with education and resources to elevate themselves will uplift the community as a whole.
 
In the conversation, Alica refers to Earth Day, April 22nd as a special event will be happening to celebrate Indigenous Wisdom.  You can follow the Foundation on Facebook and Twitter. This episode contains an Alicia Fall's original song called "Many Blessings".
 
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Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Rachel Parent (episode 28)

Rachel Parent (born 1999) is a Toronto-based activist for issues related to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in foods, and especially government regulation in regard to food labeling. She is the founder of the non-profit Kids Right To Know. Rachel's interest in genetically modified foods began when she was 11 years old.She was required to research material for a school project and chose the subject of GMOs, when she found it troubling that Canada did not require food manufacturers to put labels on genetically modified foods. She refers in the podcast to a ten-minute interview on the Lang and O'Leary Exchange to debate her position that GMO labeling should be mandatory and that GMOs should be independently tested (she was 14 years old at that time!). At the end she also mentions another organization she has established focusing more on the arts and earth: Gen-Earth.org. If you want to even know more about Rachel after this podcast, listen to The Beatles and Paolo Nutini. :)
 
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Virtual Walk Talk Listen with David Hales (episode 27)

David Hales served as President of the College of the Atlantic, Chair and President of Second Nature, the managing organization of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, and as Director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. He led environmental policy and sustainability programs for the US Agency for International Development. As a diplomat, he has represented the USA in numerous negotiations on climate change, urban affairs and policy, and biodiversity. He served in the Carter administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior. He was the first American to serve as Chair of the World Heritage Convention. At present he serves on the board of trustees of the Parliament of World's Religions and is the chair of the board of trustees of The Future Generations University. He recently played an instrumental role in the publication of a new edition of the book Faith for Earth: A Call for Action made available by the Parliament of World's Religions and UNEP. We talked about David's dance with truth and meaning while listening to the song Monster of the band Steppenwolf.
 
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Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Eunice Kamaara (episode 26)

Eunice Kamaara is a professor of Religion at Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya, and International Affiliate of Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis (US). She holds MPhil in Religion, MSc. in International Health Research Ethics, and PhD in African Christian Ethics. Her three-in-one public role involves teaching/training, research, and community service. She trains on Advanced Research Methodology including Research Ethics and Integrity; Transformative Teaching and Learning; Gender Mainstreaming; Higher Education Management; Quality Management; Project Planning and Development including Monitoring and Evaluation; Adolescent Sexual/Reproductive Health; and HIV Prevention and Intervention. She conducts trans/multi-disciplinary and community participatory research on gender, character values, and holistic health, and has over 100 publications.  Eunice is passionate about translating research findings into practical development through policy influence and community uptake. She is President of the Eldoret Based Gender and Development Network (EldoGaDNet), a community participatory self-development agent. She enjoys mentoring adolescents and youth.  She has served on the  board of Church World Service. Her public role overlaps with her private role as mother, daughter, wife, sister, aunt, neighbor, among others. She is Presbyterian by birth, Roman Catholic by marriage, and Christian by choice. Eunice is a Top 30 WHO Africa health innovator: https://www.afro.who.int/news/who-innovation-challenge-announce-30-finalists-africa-health-forum-cabo-verde The book mentioned in this podcast is: Humankind . A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman.
 
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Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Sharon Eubank (episode 25)

Sister Sharon Eubank is the first counselor in the general presidency of the Relief Society, the Church’s organization for its six million female members ages 18 and over. She is also the President of Latter-day Saint Charities, the humanitarian organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sharon was scheduled to accompany Maurice during his 100 mile 2020 campaign but this had to be canceled as a result of the pandemic. Episode 25 will give you some idea what these two would have discussed if they would have walked together and it is much more than only about the wonderful collaboration of LDS Charities and CWS or about the Toy store Sharon once owned. Sharon is very hopeful for our future and our youth in particular and believes strongly in the power of service via platforms like Just Serve, CROP Hunger Walks or Best Gift. 
 
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Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Vy Nguyen (episode 24)

Vy Nguyen is Executive Director at Week of Compassion with the Disciples of Christ (Christian Church). He places special emphasis on connecting younger generations to the faith-based humanitarian and development work. Vy formerly served as a CWS staff member in the fundraising office based in Northern California. A former refugee himself, he not only shares his experience of fleeing his country of birth Vietnam, but also asks us to imagine what a life would be during which you don't really know what tomorrow will bring.
 
For more information about his organization, go to www.weekofcompassion.org. Or follow them on twitter or instagram.
 
Please like/follow our Walk Talk Listen podcast and follow @mauricebloem on twitter and instagram.  Or check us out on our website 100mile.org

Virtual Walk Talk Listen with Kristin Andrus (episode 23)

Kristin Andrus was born and raised in California, US but lives in Utah now. She calls herself the Chief Culture Officer in her home to 6 kids, but she is also known as an exercise maniac (she is behind Free YouTube Home Workout) and is a virtual mentor of many of her social media followers (84K instagram followers). She also partakes in the company Traeger grills which is led by her husband, CEO Jeremy Andrus. Last but not least, Kristin is passionate about philanthropy and there is hardly any day that she is not trying to help, mentor and work with people who are less fortunate. Her energy is contagious and uplifting and always speaks from her heart, also in this podcast. She ends the podcast with a very important tip for all of us.
 
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