By Hannele Secchia
I made a deliberate decision to volunteer through a major move. Partly this was based on my knowledge of the transition curve. I knew that loss of identity is a large piece of the journey and I reasoned that this way, I would still retain an identity in one sphere of my life while I built the rest up again.
What I didn’t realise was that our move from Ethiopia to Finland would become even more complicated than I could ever have predicted. My 14-year-old daughter’s health tanked towards the end of 2023 and her doctor’s advice was that we needed to get her out of Ethiopia as quickly as possible to make sure that firstly, she didn’t get worse and secondly, she could hopefully begin to heal. We did all of the things I had sworn to myself we would never do in transition - we split the family unit into three over a period of six months, we moved the girls in the middle of a school year, we missed our daughter’s 18th birthday (oh the pain!) and we moved with nothing in place. No home, no car, no bank account, no schools, no job for me.
My husband and daughter left Ethiopia at the beginning of January 2024 and I continued the time-consuming process of clearing out, selling, giving away and packing all of our belongings from almost 15 years in the country. Every last item had to go, as we were only taking suitcases on the plane with us to Finland.
When I landed with our 11-year-old daughter, having left our 17-year-old in Ethiopia to finish high school by herself, I went straight into a season of spending my time driving to multiple medical appointments a week. This was even more of a challenge because we lived at least half an hour from the nearest facilities. And, as our daughter’s health continued to worsen to the point where there were days she couldn’t get out of bed, care for herself or feed herself and needed a wheelchair, I became her primary caregiver.
Not only was the identity piece as FIGT’s president an anchoring factor during this time, but the structure that the regular rhythm of meetings provided was also helpful in the chaos of transition and care-giving. I never knew on a given day what my daughter would need, as her health fluctuated so drastically. In addition to all the normal challenges of moving to a new country, it was good for me to be able to focus on things other than my daughter’s situation. I had a clear goal for what we wanted to accomplish as FIGT’s Board during my tenure - a strategy for the next 5-10 years. It helped to have something to work towards, an attainable achievement when I felt totally out of control and hopeless with regard to my daughter’s health.
And I cannot understate the benefit of the support and understanding that I was given, both by the Executive Committee and the Board of FIGT. I know that at least one Board Member was praying for me regularly!
I have to be honest and say that during this past season as FIGT’s President, I felt incredibly weak at times, but I am learning that there is strength in leading out of a place of weakness and being real and honest. Especially within FIGT, it allows others to feel safe enough to share their own vulnerabilities. When we volunteer, we don’t need to have it all together, because we are offering ourselves, the unique person that we are, for the benefit of others. You may think that you don’t have much to give or that your season doesn’t allow for you to give because it’s messy, but you may end up being surprised at what happens when you bring who you are to the table.
Hannele Secchia is an ATCK who has lived her most of life outside her passport countries - Finland and Germany. In addition to those, her heart countries are the UK, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa. She comes with years of cross-cultural experience, as well as a background in HR. Having just wrapped up her tenure as FIGT's immediate past President, Hannele is passionate about helping globally mobile families arrive well, stay well and leave well.
