Born in Sydney, Australia, Kim Edwards grew up in an Air Force family and travelled around Australia following her father's postings. Since 1979, she has worked and travelled extensively across 59 nations. For more than 20 years, she worked for a Development Agency in war and disaster relief projects in places such as Iraq, Lebanon, the West Bank, Jordan, Cyprus, India, the Philippines and Cambodia.
Since 1995, Kim has pioneered TESOL training programs in a number of countries around the world and trained thousandsof English language teachers. She holdsa BA Asian Studies, Diploma of TESOL, Certificate IV in TESOL and Certificate IV TAA. In 2003, Kim established her current business, Sea English Academy International, which delivers training in more than 20 locations across 15 countries worldwide.
Kim travels extensively, championing the cause for positive social change and the empowerment of citizens through English language and education. She is a popular university and conference speaker at international events on Business, Women and Business, Education and Cross-Cultural Communication. She is also the author of The Onion Lady – the compelling true story of her journey across the nations into war torn cities in the Middle East and the slums of Asia.
ExpatWomen's Interview With Kim
ExpatWomen:Kim, congratulations, you have successfully created a business that both draws on your international experience and provides a way for you to 'give back' to the communities in which you operate. What makes you so passionate about the English language and how did you start in this niche in the first place?
Kim: My career really started in development work in the Middle East. Despite being in war torn cities and the harshness of the environment, I really fell in love with the people and the cultures of many of the countries I have lived and worked. I love the family values, the hospitality... sharing a meal with a family in a place like Iraq or Afghanistan has always been such an incredible privilege and I feel very blessed to be able to have had these experiences. It was while working in Iraq that I was first awakened to the enormous hunger to learn English. My Iraqi Kurdish Engineers would ask for help to improve their English and we spent long evenings learning from very old and outdated English textbooks. I soon discovered that being able to speak English in most countries I travel to, is more than just about language learning. It's about providing people with the skills to be able to access further education, jobs, business opportunities, engaging in the community and relationships. The English language becomes your passport to travel and engage with the world.
ExpatWomen: Expanding your business abroad is risky and takes a certain level of courage. What motivated you to grow your business across multiple locations and what advice would you give to other women thinking of doing the same?
Kim: As I had already spent years travelling and working in an international environment, I always knew that Sea English Academy would be a global business. Many of my first clients were people that were already living overseas and so the business grew from many of my natural network.
Working across cultures and in a variety of locations is certainly not easy, but it is a lot of fun and its very rewarding. There are always new challenges, particularly in communicating across cultures and dealing with gender inequalities. You need to have a genuine interest and care for the people and cultures you are working amongst. As a woman, business is always personal and subjective. We can't help but put our whole heart into what we do, therefore it's important to recognise what area of business, and location, you naturally enjoy and are interested in. It's not for the casual or objective observer.
ExpatWomen:What business mistakes have you learned from along the way?
Kim: There are no mistakes you can't learn from, and in business there are always plenty of opportunities to learn. Good businesses don't just happen, and a good business is only as good as the team of people that work in that business. I have learnt to be intentional about building a spam team and seeking out those team members who excel in the skills I lack. Surrounding myself with the right people has been one of the greatest lessons I have learnt in business.
ExpatWomen:When you were living in Iraq during the first Gulf War, your Iraqi neighbours called you 'The Onion Lady'. Why so?
Kim:The first thing I had to do after arriving in Iraq was to cook dinner. I had planned to cook spaghetti so en-route to Iraq I had bought a few things that I knew I needed to cook spaghetti bolognaise. It was around 6pm at night when I realized that I had forgotten to buy an onion. Now everyone knows you can't cook spaghetti bolognaise without an onion. It doesn't work.
Well, I thought, I know in the Middle East that onions are a common staple so it shouldn't be too hard to find an onion. So I went to my neighbour's house and knocked on my neighbour's gate and introduced myself to a young woman called Suzann. Suzann spoke barely any English and I spoke no Kurdish at all, so using gestures I tried to explain to her what I needed.
By cupping my hands together, I gestured to Suzann that what I needed was small and round. She looked blankly. I mimed peeling an onion. Still no recognition. She then called to the other women in the house and 5 more women gathered around all looking blankly at my elaborate gestures. Confused, they took me by the hand and led me to another neighbour's house where I again dramatically gestured that I was in search of the increasingly elusive onion. No luck and so then I was taken to another neighbour's house with an entourage of intrigued women in tow. Soon over 40 women all stood around me as I vainly tried to explain what I was looking for.
Once again I cupped my hands together to resemble something small and round. All the women imitated me. I then demonstrated the actions of peeling an onion. Everyone followed my actions. Women brought potatoes and tomatoes and even oranges, but alas no onions.
In frustration I then realized that onions make you cry. So I added the gesture of crying and tears streaming down my face as I imitated peeling an invisible onion. Suddenly the crowd of women recognised the tears and yelled out triumphantly, "Peevosi! Peevosi!" Everyone exploded into a happy chorus of laughter. Woman slapped each other and clapped their hands in delight as a child was quickly sent up the stairs. The child obeyed and promptly returned with a glorious basket of onions from the rooftop. As everyone knows onions, and garlic, are always kept in baskets on the roof! I later learnt that the Kurdish word for the colour pink is translated into peevos. So an onion is literally known as a 'pinky'.
And soon I was triumphantly returning to my home to cook a wonderful batch of spaghetti bolognaise to a houseful of hungry teammates. In just one night I had gotten to know all my neighbours and from then on each time I walked down my street women would call out cheerfully, "Peevosi, Peevosi!" and I was known throughout our neighbourhood as 'The Onion Lady'.
ExpatWomen:Please share with us more about your book, The Onion Lady.
Kim: The Onion Lady was written out of desire to share the many wonderful, challenging, and sometimes frightening, experiences I have had in working and travelling throughout Asia and the Middle East. It's a very personal journey and spans a lifetime. Sometime in the future I want my grandchildren to know who their grandmother was.
ExpatWomen:Kim, we applaud both your personal and professional achievements – including your many business awards of late. Best wishes for yet another successful year at Sea English Academy!
"As I walked further down into the street I suddenly heard the sound of shouting and rapidly approaching gunfire. Too late I realized that violence was racing towards me. A lone gunman ran into the street directly in front of me firing a machine gun. The gunman swept his weapon from his right hand side and slowly arced it left. Panicked pedestrians scrambled for cover. Some never made it. I froze. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the man and his pulsing gun. Spent shells flew around him in slow motion as he drew his weapon within my range. I stood still, motionless, completely frozen in raw terror."
