Sunday, March 8, 2009

Human Matters - Redemption for Children of War


This hard-hitting feature was published in BM Business Matters magazine in December 2007 and XL Extraordinary Lives, an international magazine for entrepreneurs, in 2008.

DR ROBI RESCUES CHILDREN TRAUMATISED BY WAR

DYNAMIC SUNSHINE COAST PSYCHOLOGIST DR ROBI SONDEREGGER IS WORKING TO HEAL TRAUMATISED CHILDREN IN UGANDA AND INSPIRING ALL PARENTS TO CREATE HAPPY HOMES

The blue-eyed blonde Aussie had an anxious wife and baby son back home and questioned his recklessness in venturing into a war zone. Dr Robi recalls his terror, “The first time I flew into northern Uganda, hostilities were quite fierce. I arrived on this tiny airstrip in the middle of nowhere and collected my bags from underneath the plane and all of a sudden there was gunfire overhead. My mind was racing with panic. I was thinking: Where am I? What on earth am I doing here? But over the next few days as I sat down and talked to the children it became obvious why I was there. There was work to be done.

“My first interview was with a 14 year old girl who came home from school one day and was working in the cornfield with her dad and brother and the three of them were abducted by rebel soldiers and marched for days to a camp where her father and brother were killed and she was given to a soldier as his sex slave. She was beaten and raped every day for three years since she was 11.

“I was horrified and numb with disbelief. And then I became outraged and furious that the world was ignoring this tragedy. The United Nations describes it as the worst unattended emergency in the most dangerous place in the world for children to live.”
A civil war has been raging in northern Uganda for 20 years. It is the most sinister of wars because it targets children. Gangs of rebel soldiers, known as the Lord’s Resistance Army, led by notorious witch doctor Joseph Kony, abduct children from their villages. Boys are recruited as child soldiers and forced to kill, mutilate, rape and commit unimaginable atrocities while girls are used as sex slaves, subjected to horrendous abuse and violation. Thousands of children who have miraculously escaped from the rebels are now living in refugee camps and are deeply traumatised.

Dr Robi, now 34, first became aware of the desperate plight of these children from an Oprah show but rather than shake his head in dismay, he heard a call to action. This was his area of expertise. He set off from his thriving clinic based on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland on that first fact-finding trip early 2004.

Shocking stories
On arrival he was mobbed by locals crying out for help. He recalls, “It was so confronting. Unfortunately I was seen as a kind of saviour. As soon as they heard there was a child trauma specialist in the camp, people came running with their stories. The shocking stories were endless. The children of northern Uganda have experienced horrors that even Hollywood is yet to think up. The human mind hasn’t prepared itself for this level of evil, cruelty and depravity. It is beyond our wildest imaginations.”

"For boys, the first thing they are required to do after being abducted is to kill straight away, he explains. The rebels will take the child back to his village and have him kill his parents, younger siblings and relatives so they will never be able to return there.”

It is common for girls to be abducted, taken to rebel camps and allocated to soldiers and raped continually for years, resulting in pregnancies and babies. Many girls have escaped with two or three babies in tow and are raising these infants in desperate conditions in refugee camps.

Dr Robi wrestles with anguish. “It’s hard to know how much graphic detail to report. Caring people need to know what these children have suffered. These stories roll around in my mind like hot lumps of coal and when I dredge them up and light the fire the after-effects burn.”

A shared commitment
His psychologist wife, Noleen shares his abhorrence and commitment to the traumatised children. With three young children, she is restricted in how much she can travel to Uganda after a heart-wrenching trip in December last year, but she is fiercely supportive of her husband’s work.

“I don’t deal with the atrocities very well, admits Noleen. I’m emotional and I get overwhelmed. Robi is a visionary. He sees the big picture and when he sets his mind to something nothing stands in the way. He’s very practical and gets on with the job. But he’s also compassionate and tender in dealing with people on a personal level. I admire him so much.”

Over the past four years, Dr Robi has trained Children of War aid workers in evidence-based trauma rehabilitation. He has developed a program called Empower and taken it to nearly two million refugees languishing in 120 camps dotted along the border of southern Sudan.

The program has been translated into the local Acholi dialect and teaches young refugees about post-traumatic symptoms such as flashbacks and nightmares, how to deal with the terrible memories and emotional torment of terror, shame and guilt, remorse and grief, rage and bitterness and gives them hope for the future.

“Empower has been more successful than I could have ever anticipated,” says Dr Robi. “These resilient children have been longing for recovery but just lacked the knowledge of how to go about it. One 16-year-old boy told me ‘We have been waiting for a time such as this where we can learn how to heal’.”

As young people graduate from the 13-session program, they become ‘wounded healers’ and facilitate groups of other trauma victims, ensuring a multiplier effect. Recovery groups are now underway daily, sweeping the camps with a spirit of optimism. Testimonies of forgiveness and redemption abound.

In 2006, 100,000 Empower manuals were printed. Dr Robi and his growing band of supporters have an ambitious goal: to rehabilitate one million young refugees in the next two years. And there is a sense of urgency. A tentative cease-fire means the refugees might soon leave the camps.

“Once these people scatter throughout the vast rural plains of Uganda, we will have little hope of reaching them. While they are gathered in camps we can provide rehabilitation and prevent the mentally scarred children from perpetrating retribution. We are aiming to break the cycle of violence for the next generation. We must reach as many young people as possible.”

How it all began
It is a daunting challenge but clearly this exuberant dynamo thrives on challenges. He grew up on the snowfields around Canberra and was taught to ski by his Swiss-born father from the age of two. By 11, he joined the ACT Junior Racing Squad and was one of the first youngsters to master the snowboard and as a teenager raced the Australasian circuit.

Driven by a desire for adventure, he took off overseas at 17 and in 1993, at 20, was an ace snowboard instructor to the rich and famous on the slopes of Switzerland. The golden boy was set for a glamorous career as an elite athlete in the Winter Olympics however another desire was also stirring. He wanted an education and to make a genuine contribution.

He returned to Australia to study at Bond University on the Gold Coast and on breaks, skied in Switzerland. In 1996, he instructed Prince Charles and Prince Harry in the finer points of snowboarding at Klosters ski resort. The spectacular photos made front-page news around the world.

Dr Robi’s thirst for thrills led him to the University of Tasmania in the hope of doing postgraduate studies at Antarctica. But fate threw a curved ball. On the first day on campus, he fell in love. “I saw this young girl walking in slow motion across the courtyard with sunlight bouncing off her long curly hair and I was instantly smitten!”

Romance flourished. Noleen, an idealistic young psychology student had grown up on an exotic island near New Guinea. They hiked through the wilderness of Tasmania and their love was sparked over the glowing embers of campfires.

Noleen challenged him to make a decision. She was committed to working with AIDS orphans in a remote village in Zambia. However the sports star had the prospect of a lucrative job as snowboarding instructor to celebrities during the Winter Olympics in Japan. Would he go with her to Africa or go to Japan?

Decision Time
“I climbed a mountain and sat agonising. I was so torn. Snowboarding was my dream and yet here was the love of my life going off to Zambia offering me a chance to make a difference. It was a choice between self-glorification and serving others.”

Following graduation, the couple set off to Zambia and spent a year battling bouts of malaria and primitive conditions and empowered the villagers to break the dependency syndrome and build their own health centre.

Ironically it was here that Dr Robi rediscovered his faith. “It is the great reversal. White missionaries used to go to Africa to teach but I ended up going to Africa to be taught by indigenous tribes themselves. The villagers taught me about everyday life, family and loving your neighbour. They have a natural, earthy, genuine, unspoilt form of Christianity.”

On the last day in Zambia, he took his sweetheart on a picnic on the edge of a glorious wildlife wetland and proposed with an emerald stone set inside a native fruit. The year in Zambia had crystallised the couple’s commitment to each other and to the children of Africa.

They returned to the Gold Coast and were married in 1999 and Dr Robi completed his PhD at Brisbane’s Griffith University, graduating with high distinctions and was appointed National Co-ordinator of a Commonwealth project treating traumatised child refugees.

While working in New Zealand, Noleen fell pregnant with their first baby, Jhae, now four, and they moved to the Sunshine Coast to settle near family. But ‘settle’ is not the right word. They established Family Challenge, a child and adolescent mental health clinic, which has expanded to 14 staff, with profits directed to humanitarian projects.

In 2005 Dr Robi launched The Frontline to motivate adults and youth to use their creativity to help the traumatised children of war. “Lots of people approached me saying ‘I’d love to get involved but what could I possibly do?’ And I’m thinking there is so much you can do! You’ve got resources and skills and so much to contribute, but you just don’t know how. The Frontline is a movement to answer that question. It encourages people to make a difference in their own right.”

The result has been phenomenal. The Sunshine Coast community, churches and businesses have rallied behind the cause. Last year’s Sole Savers shoe drive saw 10,000 pairs of shoes donated, which will be presented to graduates of the Empower program so they can “walk tall” into their new lives. In other initiatives, school students have made films and recorded songs and the media has thrown its weight behind the cause.

The website deliberately uses military language. Dr Robi believes, “This is a good fight. We are engaged in a fight, not against the rebels, but against our own apathy and indifference. We aim to ignite passion in the hearts of people to help these kids. That passion becomes contagious and enhances your own life. When you become enthusiastic about contributing to something greater than yourself there is no faster way to build self-esteem.”

The Empower program is set to go worldwide to reach child victims of war, trauma and abuse everywhere. With his irrepressible positive attitude, he declares: “This message of hope has such great transferability to trouble spots around the world. It teaches young people how to put their lives back together, push through the pain of the past and look forward to a successful future.”

Resourcing parents everywhere
Dr Robi has given more than 250 lectures to packed audiences across Australia and has just released a series of CDs aimed at strengthening families: 93% Stress Free Parenting aims to reduce stress and increase fun in families; Dads & Lads encourages fathers to be more involved and Childhood Emotional Resilience addresses childhood anxiety. These innovative resources can be purchased from the Family Challenge website with proceeds going to Empower.



Visit http://www.thefrontline.org.au/ and http://www.familychallenge.com.au/

Images by award-winning photographer Kevin Evans. Visit http://www.kevinevans.com.au/

Success Matters - The Irrepressible Allan Pease

I first had the pleasure of interviewing the mischievous Allan Pease back in August 1986 and I wrote one of my funniest ever features on him for the Geelong Advertiser. (It is impossible NOT to be funny when quoting Allan Pease.)

Allan popped up again in September 1997 when I did a phone interview with him from Sydney to promote his latest book and he confessed he was clawing his way out of debt. I wrote a humorous feature on the joke-a-minute guy for the Sunshine Coast Daily and then a year later I promoted his best-seller Why Men Don’t Listen & Women Can’t Read Maps in my popular weekly newspaper column, Family Matters.
When I launched into an interview in March 2008 at his spectacular Coast mansion with mesmerising ocean views, I reminded him of these previous encounters, spread over 20 years, and he quipped: “You really should stop stalking me like this!”
Yes, the master of the quick come-back will never be out-witted in the art of repartee. And as I was to discover his whole life has been dedicated to making a miraculous come-back.
He is the most resilient man I have ever met and provides us all with an inspirational Triumph over Hardship Success Story.
This cover story was published in BM Business Matters magazine in April 2008.

Mr Body Language Bounces Back
HE WAS A BEST-SELLING AUTHOR, POPULAR PUBLIC SPEAKER AND FABULOUSLY WEALTHY WHEN IT ALL CAME CRASHING DOWN. BUT ALLAN PEASE HAS MADE AN ASTONISHING COME BACK TO BE MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN EVER.

Internationally acclaimed Allan Pease squeezes in our interview and photo session between stepping off a flight from Cairns and dashing to Brisbane for lunch with the Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan.

I am treated to an early morning welcome from a perky Pease and his stunningly beautiful wife, business partner and co-author Barbara at their magnificent sprawling estate perched on Buderim Mountain with sweeping ocean views. And I meet their adorable children Brandon, 3 and baby Bella.

But the picture wasn’t always so rosy. Just 13 years ago, at 43, Allan Pease, renowned worldwide as Mr Body Language, who had audiences roaring with laughter, hit rock bottom. It was a mega crisis that would have destroyed a lesser man.

Back then he was reeling from a divorce, diagnosed with cancer and facing financial disaster, in debt for $1.48 million to the Tax Office.

“I was in a new relationship with Barbara and we lost all our investment properties, a 40 foot motor boat, waterfront home in Sydney, rare guitar collection and a farm with stud horses. It was all sold to repay debts. And then I got thyroid cancer on top of it. The first year I didn’t cope very well. In fact, I coped very badly. Thankfully, Barbara took over running the business."
Allan underwent harrowing cancer treatment and had a 50 per cent chance of losing his voice. It was a frightening time and the future looked bleak.

However the Ultimate Come-back Kid clawed his way back in a Hollywood-style tale of triumph over tragedy. In 1995 he and Barbara moved to England for a new beginning and the dynamic couple became more successful than ever before.

“At that time we were living in a little two-bedroom fibro shack in Sydney. I cried the day we moved in as it was a hard realisation of how low we had sunk financially. We put a map of the world on the floor and asked ourselves where is the biggest market? We liked the idea of Europe because everything is close with three times the population of America. We decided to live in England because they speak English! We put a pin in the middle of the map of England and it landed on a little place called Henley-in-Arden. So that’s where we went!”

Turning Point
“It was a major turning point. From then on, we decided we would only write best-selling books. Since that decision, we’ve had eight Number Ones in a row. The two of us together are far more powerful than I ever was on my own. We were reborn!”

Together they wrote Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps and followed it up with Why Men Don’t Have a Clue and Women Always Need More Shoes, which took the UK and Europe by storm selling 13 million copies.

The mischievous Aussie who had grown up tough as a working class lad from the backblocks of Melbourne was a massive hit with 100 million viewers tuning in to his BBC television series on body language.

He presented seminars in more than 55 countries and captured his biggest market in Germany where he currently has a Number One box office hit with a quirky movie based on his light-hearted book on gender differences.

He’s a celebrity in Spain, France, Japan, Poland and even the far-flung reaches of Iceland! He coached Russian politicians at the Kremlin in how to tone down their aggressive body language in a case of Pease doing his piece for peace!

Setting a Record for Bestsellers
Allan is rated as one of Australia’s most successful non-fiction authors in history having written 14 bestsellers. He’s sold a total of 20 million books in more than 100 countries and his books are translated into 50 languages.

He is first and foremost a super salesman and marketing genius, having started in sales at the tender age of 10 selling rubber sponges door to door. At 17 he was Number One national salesman for a company selling pots and pans and at 21 was the youngest person to ever sell more than $1 million of life insurance.

In his 20s he studied every ‘ology’ from zoology and anthropology to sociology and psychology to become a self-styled expert in body language: how gestures and facial expressions reveal the inner feelings and motives of humans, mostly power plays, sexual signals and the common art of lying! He wrote his classics on body language and devised a hilarious stage show demonstrating the funny side of human behaviour. Audiences just loved it!

Another bout of cancer
But in the midst of his second wave of phenomenal success, cancer struck again, another devastating blow, when he was 48; this time the virulent cancer was in the prostate.

Usually an entertaining comedian cracking a joke a second, Allan is in a serious, reflective mood as he opens up about the trauma and shares his painful struggles.

“We came home to Australia and I got the diagnosis. I took a year off work to research my condition and was fortunate to have contacts around the world to give advice. I came to the conclusion to go the alternative way and went purely organic vegan and made my life entirely chemical-free, which meant stripping the house and changing our lifestyle, growing organic vegies and drinking spring water.

“I did this for six months but my family members were concerned and persuaded me to undergo conventional treatments. I had my prostate removed. But I still had the cancer so I had every possible treatment. According to the doctors, without conventional treatment, I only had a three-year life expectancy.

“Even if I survived, the radiation and surgery brought the risks that I would have no sex life and suffer incontinence and bowel problems. I even had a melanoma removed from my face. I know the cancer was all stress-related. But I decided whatever happened, I’d come out on top!”

Sitting chatting about the horrendous ordeal, Allan is the picture of good health, a resilient optimist and remarkably, a new dad through IVF!

Blessed with miracle babies
“It is incredible. It was considered an impossibility! I had no prostate. I’d had a vasectomy. Barb was over 40. We went to specialists who said ‘Forget it. It’s out of the question’. But we eventually found a doctor in Beijing who was pioneering new technology that extracts the male’s DNA to fertilise the eggs.”

Their two beautiful children are fraternal twins three years apart. The couple have four adult children from previous marriages, two grandchildren and two more grandchildren on the way.
“People ask me what it’s like to be a dad at your age and I say ‘It’s fantastic!’ I’m a real hands-on dad. When I had my children in my 20s I was working all the time but now I have time for Brandon and Bella. I’ve decided to live to at least age 90!”

A model mum
Barbara, a tall and slender former model, is radiant and obviously relishing motherhood as she dotes on her beautiful baby girl and prepares for Brandon’s third birthday bash!

“Believe it or not, as a bestselling author and CEO of our company Pease International, I can tell you that the highlight of my life is my children! Being an older mum has some real advantages as I am secure in my life and already established in my work. I am more relaxed in the way I interact with the kids and feel I have more to share with them, says Barb.

“I have also found that there are other would-be parents who I have been able to help and to some degree I have become a role model for many who have been unable to have children so far. Allan and I beat the odds with our two beautiful children and if we can, so can others.”

Allan is a staunch believer in the power of decision-making and goal setting. Once the couple decided they wanted more children they became completely focussed and devoted to achieving what doctors considered a miracle!

Driven to achieve
He has applied the same determination to other goals. He decided he wanted to play musical instruments and has now mastered piano, drums, bass, harp and guitar and is learning the saxophone.

The high achieving couple settled on the Sunshine Coast in 2000 and love the relaxed lifestyle. Allan is attempting to cut back his travelling and public speaking from 100 to 50 engagements a year so he can be at home in his idyllic Buderim retreat to spend quality time with his family.

And there are new books in progress. He is working on a biography called You Only Live Twice! For the irrepressible Peases 2008 is just the beginning of a whole new life!
Allan demonstrates some classic body language. "You're a pain in the neck!" "I don't like what I'm hearing" and the common hand-over-mouth gesture while listening is an exercise in self-control, which shows you he is stopping himself from telling you what he really thinks!


For information about Allan and Barbara’s books,resources and public speaking visit www.peaseinternational.com

Celebrity Matters- A Tribute to John Denver


Uploading my favourite music to the new ipod, my extensive John Denver collection takes pride of place. More than a decade after his tragic death, Denver’s unique music has proven timeless and more soul-stirring than ever.
His countless feel-good country songs have been elevated to the status of classics and absorbed into the popular culture of the 20th century and the psyche of millions of 70s teenagers like myself; the Baby Boomer generation. In our recent travels around the States, John Denver was our constant companion, capturing the grandeur of the Rockies, the freedom of the open road, the joy of horse riding through the forest and the cosiness of our country cabin in Montana.

The iconic singer-songwriter died at age 53 in a light plane crash off the coast of Monterey, California on October 12, 1997. The collective shock was compounded as the world was still reeling from the tragic death of Princess Diana on August 31. Denver was an irrepressible adventurer and accomplished pilot and he loved to fly. His small, experimental aircraft apparently ran out of fuel and dropped into the ocean and he died instantly.

Denver left behind two ex-wives, Annie, then 50 and Cassy, then 34 and three children, Zach, then 22, Anna Kate, then 20 and Jesse Belle, then eight. Our daughter Justine was nine at the time so I empathised strongly with little Jesse’s loss of her hero dad. The loss for his family, close friends, fellow musicians and activists was immeasurable and for his legions of fans, the grief was also deep and real.

The boy born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr, the son of a US Airforce officer of German descent, was a phenomenal success. In a career spanning more than 30 years, he produced 30 albums, including 14 gold albums and eight platinum albums in the US. John Denver’s Greatest Hits is still one of the largest selling albums with sales of over 20 million worldwide. His concerts reached millions of people in countries around the world including Russia and China.
As a crusader for peace, humanitarian causes and environmental care, his inspirational idealism lives on. His spirit will never die.

I wrote this personal reflection and tribute to John Denver which was published in the Sunshine Coast Sunday on October 26, 1997.

John Denver: Hope for an Intense Young Girl
MY friend and I had met up with two boys and went back to their barren little flat, the fea­ture of which was the massive stereo system and monster speakers spread across the en­tire length of one wall. As we hunched over the record collection, the gangling youth proudly pulled out an album and said: "Have you heard this guy?"


The start of a love affair
As I pored over the artistic cover with happy snaps of smiling friends glowing with the simple pleasures of coun­try life, the strains of a beauti­ful male voice filled that little flat and touched a chord in my heart I didn't know existed and set my spirit soaring above Rocky Mountains and down dusty country roads. The year was 1974. I was 17 and that was my introduction to John Denver and the start of my love affair with him.

I went through 20 tissues, drenched both sleeves and stained my cheeks with incon­solable tears through the dying scenes of the movie Sunshine, made all the more agonising than Love Story by the heart ­wrenching pathos of Denver's hit song, Sunshine on My Shoulders.

If my first hearing of Denver brought pure joy, my second unleashed pure grief. Such was the power of the man's magnificent tenor voice, his superb song writing skills and musicianship.

Tapping Deep Emotions
He had the rare talent of ar­ticulating deep emotions and ideals and wrapping them in unforgettable melodies that weave their way into your heart.

As a teenager I bought all his records. Along with Bob Dylan, Me­lanie, Simon and Garfunkel, Joan Baez and Donovan, they helped to give hope to an in­tense young girl worried about the state of the world.

Denver was not only a star of the 70s, his brilliance con­tinued throughout the 80s and 90s. As an avid fan, I can tell you Denver produced some of his finest and most sensitive songs in the 80s. His CDs Higher Ground and Different Directions are mas­terpieces in my opinion. And I should know because I've heard each track hundreds of times driving along singing at the top of my lungs!

Earth Songs, Human Songs
John Denver was also a great environmentalist, founding the Windstar organi­sation in 1976, a non-profit en­vironmental education and re­search centre. His earth songs celebrate the beauty of the natural world and shift human con­sciousness towards apprecia­tion and preservation. What an achievement; to in­fluence people for the better on a worldwide scale.

He was also a great humani­tarian, helping to found The Hunger Project and was the first American singer to perform in the Soviet Union and China, healing East-West tensions and helping the cause of world peace.

In 1992, though stricken with the flu, I dragged myself off to the Brisbane Entertain­ment Centre and thrilled to the sight of my idol in the flesh.

John Denver was never a stingy performer. He gave a long, full concert, serving up old favourites balanced with new songs and talking warmly to his audi­ence as if we were sitting around a campfire. Sparked by the warm glow of that concert, I went all country that year; strutting around in my denims and new boots and heading for the bush every chance I got.

Christmas 1994, Andrew gave me a copy of Denver's autobiography and I devoured every word. In 1995 we went to another Denver concert and I sat right up the front with my binocu­lars in Seventh Heaven.

After the show I was amazed that John, though ob­viously exhausted, showed in­credible stamina and dedica­tion, sitting for over two hours in the foyer signing auto­graphs for an endless queue of fans.
A Smitten Fan
I sent a fan letter and copy of my book to John that year expressing all the love and ad­miration in my heart. And I harboured a secret dream of meeting him when we travel to Colorado in a year or so.

The other Monday I was sorting out the noticeboard in my office, removing out-dated snapshots and postcards. I readjusted the pin-up pho­to of my John, smiling and patting him and adding an ex­tra drawing pin to hold him secure. I would never consider taking him down. He's my in­spiration.

That night Andrew and I came home giggly after seeing the British comedy The Full Monty and my son told me John Denver had been killed in a plane crash.

I said "You're joking, aren't you?" because my kids are al­ways teasing me about John Denver. But it wasn't a joke. It was tragically true. Like the devastating news just a month earlier about Princess Diana, it is impossi­ble to accept.

It was fitting that this mag­nificent, passionate man, who wrote about the euphoric free­dom of flight should die doing what he loved. But it's far too soon. He had too much life ahead.
His beautiful little daughter Jesse Belle is just a year youn­ger than my Justine and still needs her Dad.

We all need John Denver in our lives. His positive, uplifting music is a force for good in a destructive and violent world. Thankfully the spirit of John Denver will never die. His music will live on for generations.

At every family sing-along and whenever you're on the road and feeling lonely his timeless classics like Take Me Home Country Roads, Annie's Song and Back Home Again will guide you home.

Windstar Foundation www.wstar.org
The Hunger Project http://www.thp.org/