Travel played a part in Jocelyne Johnson dealing with a tragic event in her life.
That experience also took her to Belgium recently to make a scholarly presentation.
In 2007, Jocelyne鈥檚 husband Philip was killed during a camping trip near Kamloops when a tree blew down during a storm and fell on his truck.
She and her husband had dreamed of going to Uganda one day, sparked by media coverage of child soldiers there.
鈥淎t one point we thought, wouldn鈥檛 it be great if we could go over and build some schools鈥︹�� she recounts. 鈥淲e had an idea we could be helpful in that way. We had a dream of going there together.鈥�
After he died, the idea of Uganda pulled at her.
鈥淎 big part of it was honouring the legacy of my first husband,鈥� she explains.
However, at the time her four children were little 鈥� the youngest two, the oldest about to turn eight.
鈥淚 thought, I鈥檓 not going to be going to Africa anytime soon. But through a series of events, very serendipitous, I ended up going to Uganda six months later.鈥�
Then she happened to be invited to a fundraising event at Carlin Hall regarding an income-generating project, Bead for Life, for widows in Uganda. Women were making beaded jewelry out of paper and, through that process, earning capital for their own business and learning entrepreneurial skills.
Read more:
Read more:
Read more:
At the time, Jocelyne, whose last name was Baker, had just taken over her husband鈥檚 timber frame business. She has since married Cal Johnson.
鈥淚 got all teary eyed, and said 鈥業 just have to go.鈥欌��
She did go, for two weeks, on her own. That led to a year-long visit for her and her children in 2010.
鈥淭hey say when you go to Africa, you leave a little part of your heart behind.鈥�
Her first husband鈥檚 best friend, an engineer, was then in Uganda for two years.
鈥淭he kids, they liked it, especially my two older girls, they were old enough to take everything in鈥� It was great, I don鈥檛 have a single regret for going with them.鈥�
On her return to Canada she decided to do a Masters of Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Cultural Studies. She started her Masters in 2014 and returned to work in 2016.
For her final paper she did a research project that looked at travel writing, travel blogs specifically.
鈥淭here has been a lot of research on how travel writing can romanticize places and really not paint an accurate picture,鈥� she says, explaining she was looking for examples of travel blogs that didn鈥檛 fall into that stereotype.
She looked at how travel changes people鈥檚 lives.
Read more:
Read more:
Around the same time, she came across an interdisciplinary conference calling for submissions. It was being held in April of this year in Bruges, Belgium.
鈥淚 thought, this is amazing, I鈥檒l give it a shot.鈥�
It was a small, intimate conference that brought people from Japan, France, Italy, the U.S. and Canada, all talking about different aspects of travel.
Jocelyne says she would still like to do research on a broader scale, but her experience of grief has led her to believe it helps to reframe the 鈥渓oss narrative.鈥�
鈥溾�極h woe is me, I鈥檝e lost everything that meant anything and life will never be worth anything again.鈥� Travel provides good context because some people have it worse 鈥� there鈥檚 always someone who has suffered more or is in a harder place.鈥�
She also says, with travel, a person can be more vulnerable, 鈥測ou have to let down your guard and connect with people you might not normally. There are more people to connect with and more opportunities to connect. There鈥檚 also more anonymity 鈥� you鈥檙e sitting on a bus and you may want to tell your story.鈥�
Jocelyne also found that travel allowed her to regain a certain level of control.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 control what happened, you can鈥檛 control the feelings you experience. With travel, you have some level of control. You decide where you鈥檙e going, who鈥檚 going with you. It can help people from feeling debilitated, frozen and paralyzed,鈥� she says.
Some people, she points out, say travel is just an escape.
鈥淎nd yes it is, but I think initially it is important to have distractions that can keep you from a perpetual state of sadness. You definitely can鈥檛 stay there forever, you have to work through the grief.鈥�
Jocelyne also points out that everyone is different. She travelled a lot as a young person, and believes it helps build resilience. At 12 she went by herself with a church group to Jamaica. She also travelled to Japan.
She acknowledges that everybody is different, and everyone deals with grief differently.
鈥淭here are so many things that go into how a person grieves. Maybe, for me, the legacy part was more important, the fact I was doing something to honour my husbands鈥檚 memory.鈥�
marthawickett@saobserver.net
Like us on and follow us on
.
