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 between extremes, like when she went from years of living on a budget as a backpacker, to a long stint working in the exclusive designer shops in Amsterdam’s PC Hofstraat. She currently lives in Beijing, China, with her husband and children.

Throughout all of her adventures, Tanya has striven to maintain a sense of the basic goodness of humanity, always looking beneath the surface of people’s behaviour to try to understand their problems and motivations. This level of empathy has led her to try to help less privileged people in some of her host nations, including Syrian refugee children in Istanbul, and orphaned rural children in China, who go to Beijing requiring life-saving surgeries.

Please enjoy this conversation with the wonderful Tanya Busquet.

And I’d love to hear from you too!

If anything in this episode inspires you to see the world a little differently or to expand your own horizons in any way, I’d so love to hear from you. Please drop a note in the comments, or send me a message about a story you’d like to share.

Let’s come together to share stories of the things we’ve witnessed, so that we can learn from one another and see that, despite the differences in the details of our stories, we’re all global citizens of one beautiful and intricately interconnected world.

With love

Michelle x

I want to hear about the things you’ve witnessed too! Please subscribe and become part of the conversation!

MUSIC: Defining Life, by Bill Conn

PHOTOGRAPHY: Michelle Neeling

Written and produced by Michelle Neeling

Get full access to Oblivious Witness at michelleneeling.substack.com/subscribe

Amerika