A Global Perspective

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly [disrespectful] and impatient of restraint".

- (Hesiod, 8th century BC)

Older generations have always griped about the foolishness of the young, claiming that back in “their day” kids were different. And to some extent, they have always been right. Young people are different than those who came before, if only by virtue of the fact that one of the primary constants in our world is change. People are people, though, however young (or old) they may be. Just as foolishness has never been exclusive to any age group, neither has industry, innovation, and impact.

Hannah Hudson is the youngest member of the SIL LEAD team, coming on board at the end of 2019 to work as a Project Support Specialist (we’ll get back to that). If you were to quickly scan Hannah’s resume—with her background in Graphic Design and Photography—you might think of her as one of those crackshot young people we all know, charging with glib confidence through an online world that for many of us is still something of a bewildering mystery. And you wouldn’t be entirely wrong.

But Hannah, like all young people, has a story that might surprise you.

To quite literally begin with, Hannah was born in Ethiopia—on nearly the opposite side of the world from where she lives today. Her parents were there as medical missionaries, and before Hannah was two years old she’d been back to the U.S. on furlough, back to Ethiopia, then forced by civil war to leave that country and return to the U.S., before heading off to Pokhara, Nepal, where her parents then served under a different mission for another two years.

Hannah in Nepal with her sister, Amy.

Hannah’s mother’s cancer diagnosis in 1997 (the day after her 9th birthday) brought the family back to the U.S. for treatment. By then the political situation in Nepal had degenerated to the point where they were forced to look elsewhere for a place to serve. They ended up in Thailand, where Hannah finished out high school.

It’s a dizzying story, and one that’s common enough among the children of missionaries, military personnel, and diplomats: youth who’ve been dubbed “Third Culture Kids” for the fact that they don’t quite fit into either the country (or in Hannah’s case, countries) where they spend their formative years, or the country their parents came from.

After graduating high school, Hannah at first followed the path that was expected of her. She went to college, got her degree, then stepped into the workforce in the D.C. area—a location she chose in order to be near her older siblings. For six years she worked there as a designer, for a studio.

Then Hannah caught the travel bug.

To someone who didn’t know Hannah’s history, this might seem like more of a generational feature than a bug. But that would be a simplification that overlooks both her personal history, and the economic realities of today’s world. Sometimes, transience just makes more sense.

Hannah traveled to New Zealand for a year on a “Working Holiday Visa,” which required her to take a variety of jobs—never staying too long at any one of them. She worked at a caf, then at a development agency, then “woofed” at a cheese barn.

On a visit to Hobbiton.

When her year was over, Hannah returned to the D.C. area with a newfound love of coffee (which she’d never imbibed before her time in New Zealand) and a desire for a change of direction. So while continuing with freelance design, she got a job as a barista in a coffee shop for a couple of years. She began to examine her strengths—to find out where she could best contribute to the world—and eventually realized that what she had loved most about all the work she’d done thus far was in organizing and taking care of details.

When Hannah found out about an opening at SIL LEAD as a Project Support Specialist, she saw it as a perfect fit.

It’s only been a few months, but Hannah has come to see her role as that of a program manager in training. She works with program managers Chris Weber and Fraser Bennett, shadowing them as they oversee SIL LEAD’s work around the world. It’s a complex task with a lot of moving parts—processing travel reimbursement, doing Excel work, speaking with our accounting team—basically making sure that all the little details are properly organized so that the work can continue.

If that seems a little undefined, it’s because SIL LEAD Executive Director Paul Frank has made it clear from the start that SIL LEAD was not bringing Hannah on board to try and shoehorn her into a preexisting position. Rather, the intention was to take who Hannah is and what she’s best at, and allow those strengths to become the organization’s strengths as well.

It can be a little intimidating to jump into a job where it sometimes feels like most of your coworkers have a couple of PhDs and several decades of international experience. But what SIL LEAD has seen time and time again all over the world is that every single person has their own voice and talents and that, given the right opportunity, they can use them to reshape the world in wonderful ways.

This approach has allowed Hannah to hold her new position with open hands; focusing on learning everything she can about what it takes to do her job well, in order to add value to the organization.

Hannah may be the youngest member of the team, but she is proving once again that no matter who you are—no matter your age, your background, or your economic status—everyone has a story worth telling and hearing: a story that provides her with a unique perspective for making a lasting, global impact.

Lake Wanaka, in New Zealand.