I LOVED every second of this conversation with the wonderful Charlene Ng, and I’m so thrilled to leave it with you as the last episode in this first season of the Oblivious Witness podcast.Charlene was born in Hong Kong, has Canadian citizenship, and studied in the United States from the age of 15. Her elite education, which culminated in a degree in Cultural Psychology from Stanford University, left her with incredible tools for establishing an impressive career, but also with a harsh inner...

Aida Mustafina was born in a small city in the world’s ninth largest nation, Kazakhstan. When Aida was growing up, young girls were generally taught that their primary goals should be to respect men, and to value their own roles as good wives and mothers. Aida’s parents, however, were extremely progressive, and encouraged their daughters to make their own way in the world. When Aida was eighteen, her father accompanied her to China, where she started a new life and eventually became a...

I’m so thrilled to have another Dutch guest on the Oblivious Witness podcast! And I have to highlight a thing that would have filled my Dad’s Dutch heart with joy… There’s conversation in this episode about a close encounter with Dad’s all-time favourite musician, André Rieu! Following in the footsteps of her adventurous parents, Tanya Busquet has lived in many places across Europe, the Caribbean, the Antipodes and Asia. She’s seen life from many different perspectives, sometimes moving...

Twenty years after my own family left post-war Netherlands in search of a better life, Linda Li’s family found refuge there after fleeing the hardships of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Linda’s family were the only Chinese people in a small Dutch village near the German border, and racial taunts were an unavoidable part of Linda’s childhood. Linda and her brother and sister helped their parents to run a Chinese restaurant in the village, then during a five-week holiday in China, Linda...

I knew that Amy Devine was a kindred spirit the first time I met her in Beijing, China, but it was only as the months went by and I heard more of her story that I recognised why I felt such a connection. Amy Devine was brought up on a council estate in the UK, and like me, she ended up living a life of international adventure almost by accident. Amy’s childhood exposure to addiction and domestic abuse led her to a degree in criminology. After she graduated she moved to China, where she...

Hello, Oblivious Witnesses! If you have your hands free while you’re listening to this episode, head over to Instagram and check out the beautiful work of documentary and portrait photographer Lyra Lintern. Lyra’s stunning photographs give us an insight into the way she sees the world and the way she lives her life, and are the perfect visual accompaniment to her words. Lyra Lintern is an anthropology graduate whose interest in people and how they live shines through in everything she does....

The first time I met Corinne Canuel-Jolicoeur was on a bus travelling from Beijing to the Great Wall of China. The friend who introduced us happened to mention that we were both into writing, and that was it… The rest of the journey to the starting point of our hike went by in a beautiful blur, as Corinne and I talked about our many creative projects and passions, and I realised that I was only scratching the surface of the stories that Corinne has to share about her extraordinary life and...

Feminist icons take many forms If I had a vote in whose name should be added to icons of the feminist pantheon, I’d be casting my ballot for Chinese philosophy professor Xiaojiao Cui. I was introduced to Xiaojiao when I was looking for someone to teach me about the ancient Chinese text, the Tao de Ching. Within minutes of meeting Xiaojiao in a cafe in Beijing, I could see that beneath the warm and empathetic exterior, lies not only a fierce intelligence and an insatiable curiosity, but also a...

The first time I met Masooma Kachelo she was wearing a multi-coloured wig, fitted jeans and a white fluffy jacket with inbuilt flashing lights. And that was just the first of SO MANY spectacular incarnations of her that I’ve witnessed! Masooma’s life has been characterised by movement, change and adaptation. Her story contains moments of darkness - please be warned that there are conversations in this episode about trauma, addiction, abduction and depression - but there is always a rich...

At last! The long-awaited podcast! For 35 years I’ve been travelling the world, seeing extraordinary things and documenting my experiences. I’ve often thought, as I’ve talked with the incredible people I’ve been lucky enough to meet, “If only I could share this conversation with the world.” And now I can, and I’m so thrilled to share the first of those conversations with you today. Where I’m coming from I recorded the first season of Oblivious Witness when we were still living in Beijing, and...