I planned a trip to South America a few years ago. One of the things my partner and I wanted to achieve was to climb the Inca trail. I knew you had to book with a tour group in order to walk the trail and so we both researched into which tour group we should go with.

What we found when comparing tour companies and reading reviews is that the welfare of the porters can change dramatically from one company to the next, certain companies also negatively impacted the environment. It could’ve been easy in this situation to go with the cheapest option seeing as travelling is not cheap to begin with and our budget was tight. But I had to call upon my values and make sure the company we chose aligned with what I believed in. Based on what we had seen, read and heard we went with what we thought would be the most ethical decision.

Upon meeting our tour group we realised we had made the right choice. The money we paid covered medical insurance for the porters, gave them a fair wage, allowed the company to purchase nice equipment and proper uniforms. We found out the company built a culture house which not only housed the porters (most of them would drive several hours from their home/farm as they worked more than one job) but also had 2 floors dedicated to the children in the surrounding area. The space for the kids included a library, tv room, dedicated working areas and kitchen facilities.

On the trek we would see other porters, I vividly remember an older man carrying multiple bags stacked one on top of the other. He had sandals that were falling apart and a tattered uniform. Another carried a portable toilet on his back.

Travelling is an eye opening experience and we must actively do our part to make conscious ethical choices when we enter someone else’s backyard. We need to come from a place of reverence and values rather than one of carelessness and entitlement...

Honesty, Integrity, Compassion, Hard working, Balance, Respect.

These are the values that mean the most to me and ones I strive to embody. Through my research and asking my family, friends, and former work colleagues about what values they saw in me I was more than happy to hear they held the same opinions. It can be a daunting task asking others what they see in you when in your mind you may see yourself another way.

With culture comes identity and culture has played a huge role in crafting my values and identity and still does today. With an ever present social culture manifesting in our daily lives through the arts, through the media, and the internet we are thrust into not just our own culture but a melding pot of others which sometimes can be hard to navigate.

In todays world where we are encouraged to physically distance we have become more social connected and from that we are overwhelmed with idea's, values, concepts, beliefs that are not always our own. Does this lead us to become culturally 'disconnected' from our place of origin, and if so what happens to our identity?

This is not to say a constant evolving ‘collective culture’ is a bad thing. Ideas and information emerges from every direction and is passed and received in a nano second and with so much content but no context it can be hard for us to grasp our indentity swimming in this cultural soup. But it’s a culture we must accept.

Take a breath and ground yourself to what values you hold important. We can get so lost in how we perceive ourselves based on the perception of others that we can lose our identity. When this happens I look back to my parents and how I was raised to be and the values I was taught; Honesty, Integrity, Compassion, Hard working, Balance, Respect.

My strengths and limitations

I have a solid work ethic, I usually thrive when I work alone and not depend on others for help. In old jobs I could get by this way but in my most recent job this was not the case. Leading a team I had to adjust my way of working independently and learn to rely on others. Going solo can be extremely limiting and lonely, so working on that team aspect during my learning at EDA is exciting.

From my experience of working alone I can struggle to explain and articulate what I am doing or why am I doing it to someone else and in general my communication can be lacking at times. Being a team leader at my last job has helped me improve my communication skills and my ability to express my ideas and thoughts.

Both my parents work in careers that give to others, my dad being a teacher and my mum as a councillor in a hospice. I have been raised to reflect the mantra of giving to others and be supportive of others.

I am dedicated and driven in my goal settings. I just have to remember to make small realistic goals and eat the elephant one bite at a time otherwise I can suffer from burnout and mental exhaustion which I have in the past. This has directed me in wanting to work in areas to do with mental health and role models, attitudes towards women, and attitudes towards life. It has also given me a greater need to help others in similar situations and in general

Trouble shooting is another strength which I have a knack for and enjoy doing. This is where I can get lost in my own world and tend to direct all my energy and focus on the task at hand. Ultimately this can lead stubborness in trying to figure out the problem and the reluctancy to get help creeps in. During my learning at EDA I must remember to ask questions if I am stuck as we are all here to help each other.

All of my strengths and limitations will help me in my journey. My strengths I will try and give to others and my limitations I will work on turning them in to strengths.

During my last job as a team leader/foreman in construction I had to deal with deadlines, plans, project managers, logistics, deployment and at the end of each day the work that me and my team did I was responsible for. I was nothing without my team but I also shouldered the good and bad from clients. I had to learn fast how to depend on others and how too achieve the same standard and ethic that I was use too.

This was new territory for me. Initally I took that same solo mentality and tried to do everything myself. I would get impatient when others wouldn’t do as I did or up to the same standard or learn something as quick as I did. The issue was I wouldn’t communicate with them. I was so accustomed to my method of working alone that I was ignoring my role as team leader. Once i realised I was at fault I started to become more of a mentor and putting myself in their position asking what I would want from a leader. Honesty, Integrity, Compassion, Hard working, Balance, Respect. All the values I wanted to see I possesed. Once this became clear I worked as hard as I could to become a better leader.

I enjoyed the chance of everyday being able to instill my values and ethics into these individuals. It was rewarding to see us as a team grow and learn together. Instead of losing patience and telling someone how to do something, I would involve myself and ask them questions to stimulate their own responses. Most of the time they knew the answers, they just needed my support to get to the solution on their own. Disgarding my ego has allowed me to get where I am today, and the lessons I gain as I go through this course and the interactions I have is something I cant wait to experience.