An unexpected journey really did happen – not the Hobbit type of journey but the Rosemary type of journey.
Oddly enough as with Bilbo Baggins, I was also a reluctant participant. My journey has split my life in two sections- there is my life as it was before my workplace injury and then my life after my injury.
Before injury
Pre-injury I – Rosemary McKenzie-Ferguson – had a very quiet life (not as ordered as a Hobbits life); I had a family, 2 cats and a dog, as well as a back yard chook yard. I sat on school committees and was involved with my children’s sports and basically just living a normal suburban life and building “the dream” the life post children leaving school and before being too old too this too that too something else.
Rosemary McKenzie-Ferguson with twin grandsons
Then my workplace injury happened and in less than the blink of an eye life as I knew it came to an end. I won’t dwell on the incident as to be honest I really don’t need to relive it again.
What I will tell you is that I never experienced such blinding pain and such a toxic feeling of fear. Over the years I have tried to understand it, I have tried to explain it and I have tried to forget it. Now I just live with it in a never-ending dance that is at times frenetic and at other times oddly normal.
After injury
Post injury my life became a living nightmare or fear, addiction to prescription medication, and endless downward spirals.
Decide the path to take
At a point I knew I had to decide the path to take. Let me pause here, path taking is not as easy or as glamorous as it is portrayed to be. There are no signposts, there is no guru there is nothing that appears with a signpost pointing in “that” direction. And in many ways (with the benefit of hindsight) I did not make the choice, it was made for me and I went along as the unwilling reluctant student. During the first 5 years I met people who had also been injured at work, a pattern started to form, I started to ask questions and I was more than frustrated because the answers I was getting did not match what I was seeing. This is where the choice really does come in. At the point I had two choices: walk away and say “that sucks” or stand and learn and fathom out what the conundrum in front of me really was. I have never been good at walking away, I knew too much to do that, but I didn’t know enough to make a stand.
There are no university courses that I could sign up for to teach me what I wanted to know and the truth is I didn’t have any idea just what it was that I wanted to know.
Rosemary McKenzie-Ferguson – Global Goodwill Ambassador Australia
What’s the news? The second Global Newsletter of Global Goodwill Ambassadors is published March 15th, 2018 – see below
The first Global Newsletter of Global Goodwill Ambassadors has been published on Valentines day – Founders’s letter and more see below
— for German version please scroll down — deutsche Version siehe unten —
— intervista con Richard DiPilla in LONG TERM ECONOMY sull› italiano vedi sotto —
LinkedIn Global Goodwill Ambassador – thank you so much
I woke up in a dream. LinkedIn Global Goodwill Ambassador (in 09/2017 screenshot above) – Brand Ambassador (in 12/2017) and Member Global Executive Board of Global Goodwill Ambassador as Director of Digital Communications (in 01/2018).
Brand Ambassador – Hans-Jürgen John
So many fans and kind people wishing me the very best. Thank you so much.
– for some of the following links you need to be logged in LinkedIn –
It is an honor to receive the titles LinkedIn Global Goodwill Ambassador and Brand Ambassador and use them to make this world a little better.
Thank you so much Richard DiPilla and the Board. For choosing me, for introducing me.
We all have a choice. Every day we hear bad news from all over the world. It can make us desperate. It can shock us.
There is a simple truth and it is not in the headline news. It is true indeed: This world is full of people who are kind. You see some of them when you open your eyes. Some need encouragement. They are real – in every town, village, every street, in every family. These people are near us despite the headline news. And these people reinvent our world in a million ways every day. I am sure that you are one of them. Thank you.
I am proud to support voluntary some of them. E.g. former member of the Swiss Parliament Roland Wiederkehr – honored Global Goodwill Ambassador and Director Switzerland.
He founded Green Cross (together with Mikhail. S. Gorbachev) to overcome the residues of the cold war. And with his organization CareCross (website soon in English) he reduces traffic accidents worldwide and helps victims – because 1,3 mio. fatalities annually on the worlds roads and 500 dead children every day on their way to school (WHO) are one of the biggest scandals. Roland Wiederkehr got the President’s award of the European Traffic Police Network for the thousands of lives he already saved. It is an honor for him to be LinkedIn Global Goodwill Ambassador. He needs support for his organization CareCross. His aim is to help reduce road accidents in development countries and support victims.
Roland Wiederkehr is a wonderful person and role model. Some of us go to cinema or watch films at home in order to see heroes. This one is real.
To watch and understand the following video you need not to know any spoken language:
His dedication is to help thousands of refugees to cope with the traumas of war, eviction, and violence. Soon his CASPEA Foundation in Switzerland will post the new campaign against Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Returning from a Hypnosis Convention in the United States he spoke at the 5th International Hypnosis Convention in Zürich (October 27th – 29th, 2017) about how to improve learning abilities by active-alert hypnosis.
Bea Ribaux is the author of several books. She helps children who suffer from dyxlexia.
Bea and Claude Ribaux were very happy that I publicly thanked them here. They mention me, Roland Wiederkehr (the other workshop participants) and Richard DiPilla and Global Goodwill Ambassadors in their article:
– for english version scroll down in their article –
That’s gratitude!
It is one of my biggest joys in life that I can contribute voluntary to such initiatives. And I am glad that I am not alone. I have a circle of true friends around me who, in turn, support me.
Matthias Wiemeyer and Petra Huber
Matthias Wiemeyer and Petra Huber helped me in many ways and continue to be a source of advice and encouragement. I joined their workshop online-journalist in 2015. Writing for websites. Online-marketing. How to start a social media campaign. Great experience and output!
For all kinds of workshop concerning writing and marketing check out Schreibszene
Never forget from where you started: When I had no job I got the chance to join https://derarbeitsmarkt.ch
Half a year I learned a lot there. How to write. How to make video interviews. How connect to other professionals worldwide. Special thanks to Robert Hansen, Rita Gabathuler-Dux, Carmen Püntener, Paola Pitton, Daniela Palumbo, Simone Gloor, Anja Piffaretti, Doris Urfer … and many more.
Jörg Mathys from Kölliken is my former employer and a close friend. He is a modest farmer and hard worker. And a role model for me. Be trusting. Be kind. Even to the grumpy, the disappointed, the misguided. Give them a chance and one day they will change their mind and be kind and supporting, too.
My employer Migros Basel is part of the big retailer Migros here in Switzerland.
I got the chance to work for the Marketing Services Department. The world of business is hard. Competition, hire and fire are words which reign this world.
Migros is different and makes a difference. It employs people who cannot find another job because they have disabilities or because they are older than 50 years. The company gives 1 percent of its total revenue !!! back to society. It supports film, art and social activities. I a world which experiences tax income decreases and governments have to save money this company takes over moral responsibility. Great role model for business worldwide!
Gottlieb Duttweiler is the founder of Migros. Gottlieb and his wife Adele Duttweiler transferred ownership of Migros to their customers. The Adele und Gottlieb Duttweiler Stiftung ensures the future work of Migros as a cooperative. The Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI) is named after the founder of Migros – one of its principles is «Focus on people and not on capital». It is an independent think-tank and the oldest organisation of its kind in Switzerland.
Richard DiPilla and his Global Goodwill Ambassadors Foundation is like a rock, an island in this world.
It has the potential to change dark to light, war to peace, hungry to satisfied and hate to love. It already started to change the world. First one person, one idea. And now it covers the world, like a carpet of green grass after a fire, like a carpet of love and goodwill. There are about 1600 Global Goodwill Ambassadors.
Vivere in pace e creare una società globale stabile – inizia nella vostra famiglia e poi l› amore e la buona volontà si sta diffondendo intorno al globo.
Richard DiPilla – fondatore degli Global Goodwill Ambassadors – parla del compito di rafforzare la bontà.
INTERVISTA CON Richard DiPilla – Fondatore Global Goodwill Ambassadors (GGA) – Long Term Economy:
Whats new in the world of Goodwill? – Global Goodwill Ambassadors – Newsletter 03 – 2018
The March 2018 GGA Newsletter is huge. These links bring you directly to the content:
Wonderful Initiative by Richard DiPilla – Global Goodwill Ambassadors – Newsletter 02 -2018
Global Goodwill Ambassadors – Founder’s Letter – Richard DiPilla
The Beginning of Global Goodwill Ambassadors
From its humble beginnings, four years ago, I sought to highlight the Goodwill work of a single LinkedIn Connection. The birth and growth of the Global Goodwill Ambassadors were born. Almost immediately, other connections were telling me their stories and the humanitarian work they did for the love of goodwill for all. We witnessed a chain of narrative voices.
I could hardly comprehend, that there was and still is a thirst for learning about global humanitarian efforts. A residual affect was an understanding that the mainstream news defined, countries, nations, regions, races, genders, and castes, of geo-political reporting. However, there was much more time with the coverage of a terrorist attacks, but no coverage of all the heroes in these countries, who were saving lives and doing selfless work to make the world a better places.
Global Goodwill Ambassadors Mission
Four years later the Global Goodwill Ambassadors has nearly 2000 designees and a structured board in many countries. Our simple mission has remained as pure. And that was on the first day! We recognize individuals who are engaged in humanitarian work without bias or commercialization.
The later is what keeps us pure as possible. No, we have no website. Websites can put many people in difficult regions at security risk.
We have a LINKEDIN company page and group page that can be found at: Global Goodwill Ambassadors (GGA). We also have a presence on many other social media; but our catalyst is the LinkedIn profile, the volunteer and humanitarian work individuals have listed.
By using the company page you can list your designation with our official logo. We have nomination guidelines with a committee, and a GGA Executive Board.
Global Goodwill Ambassadors Executive Board
Ted Batchelor serves as our General Council and has a duel role as Chairman of Canada.
Lisa Jones serves many key roles, International Development, Training, oversight of our Screening Committees, Executive of Profile Production, Executive Steering Committee.
Hans-Jürgen John is our Director of Digital Communications and the Publisher of our GGA Newsletter.
Anthony James is our World Communications Director.
Our Executive Advisors are often names you will recognize as nominators of Ambassadors. We have Country Chairpersons and Directors, Nomination and Engagement Directors, and GGA Brand Ambassadors.
Each person does his/her part to grow our ambassador numbers. With each new designation we are extending the reach of goodwill.
In a recent article that I would like to tell my grandchildren, that rather than sit idly by, I did something to bring a sense of peace and harmony to the world. The truth is, every Global Goodwill Ambassador, can say the same thing.
The sum total of expense and profit in currency for this initiative is ZERO. Our only currency is Goodwill. I challenge all people who read this newsletter to do good deeds and give back to the world. We all share the same world. Don’t just take, give back to make it a better place. As a GGA you will join together with people who are doing the same.
Richard DiPilla is on LinkedIn. Please follow there his account.
The second Global Newsletter of Global Goodwill Ambassadors will be published March 15th, 2018:
I commented to a LinkedIn-Post of Vincent Coyle who founded Reconciliation Day:
«Hate and destruction can be aims of humans. These humans cannot follow opposing aims at the same time. Replace old aims by new: love and education = reconciliation».
The trick is to let words change the world.
I still feel like I woke up in a dream come true and have to realign myself first. I am overwhelmed and thank you all for your kind words.
All those who supported me in the past but are not mentioned here: Thank you so much!!!
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