Margaret Adamson
Australia's Ambassador to Cambodia
Ms Adamson is a senior career officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Prior to becoming Australia's Ambassador to Cambodia, she held the position of Assistant Secretary, EU and Western Europe Branch. Overseas, Ms Adamson has served as Ambassador in Warsaw 1998-2002, Consul General in Berlin (1993-96) and Counsellor in Bonn (1987-91). She also served in Hanoi (1976-77) and Vienna (1977-80). In Canberra, Australia, Ms Adamson has held a range of positions including Assistant Secretary, Pacific Islands Branch (1997-1998) and Director, Non-Proliferation Policy Section (1991-92).
ExpatWomen's Interview with Margaret
ExpatWomen: Margaret, I think we should call you Wonder Woman. How have you managed to achieve such great career feats, whilst also juggling the demands of a partner and three children, who I am sure have demanded your energy and attention throughout your career? Can you share some pieces of advice for those of us who are trying to combine career ambitions with the demands of raising a young family, in terms of work-life-family strategies? |
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Margaret: I want to emphasise at the outset that I am by no means exceptional. I have a number of women colleagues who are successfully combining career ambitions in overseas settings with family commitments (often better than I have!).
There is no single "formula" which can be applied to work-life-strategies, including for life overseas: every family is (thank goodness!) different. But one common feature links us all, and that is support. Without a supportive partner, and employer, the extra complications of a career away from home support networks will be unsustainable. We need formal and informal support: from a mate to talk things through with, later supplemented by a circle of friends, to institutional support arrangements within our organizations.
A critical element in the mix is child care arrangements, combined with a family-friendly approach generally. When my son was born in Bonn, my partner brought him in to the office for feeds. It took some juggling of the phone and notepad, but we managed to bond somehow, and have maintained (at least so far - he is now 18) a wonderful relationship. The Ambassador was very supportive, as were my colleagues, despite the occasional disruption to the noise levels along the corridor. We employed a baby-sitter until the children were old enough to go to local kindergartens, and thence to school.
In closing, I would emphasise that no "strategy" will work unless the whole package hangs together. The glue in my case has been job-satisfaction, combined with my partner's shared enthusiasm for foreign experience. As your readers will know, being an expat is not the same as being a tourist: your posting involves a time-commitment to the location concerned, with no quick escape route back home. And while babies are portable, children can find it difficult to say goodbye and start again. I count myself lucky to have brought up my kids in the email age. They have thus been able to choose to accompany us, and keep up with their friends on-line while making new ones.
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ExpatWomen: You moved to Cambodia at the beginning of this year. What were some of your first impressions of Cambodia, its culture and its people? |
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Margaret: Arriving in Cambodia, one quickly notices the youth of the population and, in Phnom Penh, the traffic congestion as all manner of vehicles jostle for advantage. Cambodia is a remarkable country, with a population determined to leave behind the legacy of the Pol Pot era and justifiably proud of its extraordinary endowment of cultural heritage. While there remain many challenges, significant progress has been made towards the objective of its citizens enjoying, in addition to the first priority of peace and stability, the next level of recovery: economic development, as well as access to education and health services.
Evidence of the country's traumatic recent past are visible in the ongoing significant numbers of displaced people, without secure land tenure, as well as the victims of land mines (casualties have been dramatically reduced, but millions of land mines remain to be cleared). In addition to these specific problems, one also notices that Cambodia shares the social and economic challenges of other developing countries: uneven opportunity, the gap between ostentatious wealth and distressing poverty, and of sustainable development of its natural resources while protecting the environment and bio-diversity. But there is much to be hopeful about: from the throngs of neatly uniformed school students, the bustling enterprise at the markets, growing foreign investment, larger rice yields and the government's efforts to protect Cambodia's cultural heritage, while exploiting its growing popularity with international tourists to fuel economic growth. A further signal that the country is ready to move forward is the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, now underway. By bringing to justice the senior leaders and those most responsible, the Tribunal offers the prospect of some closure for the Cambodian people and exposure of Khmer Rouge crimes for future generations of Cambodians. |
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ExpatWomen: During your career, you have also held posts in Poland, Germany, Austria and Vietnam. Can you please share with us some of your fondest memories of these locations and/or your work experiences? |
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Margaret: Each of my postings has left me with countless memories, professional and personal. In my contribution to the Department's publication "Women with a Mission" I noted that the stand-out experience for me during my career has been as a witness to the momentous geo-political changes of the last decades of the twentieth century. It was an incredible experience to be in Germany (my posting to its then capital Bonn) as the Berlin Wall fell, and share in the heady atmosphere that ensued. My subsequent postings in Berlin and Warsaw allowed me to continue my association with world history-in-the-making in what became an ambitious post-Cold War building of Europe's regional architecture.
My partner's Polish origins gave me the opportunity to experience the before and after of the Iron Curtain at close proximity, including the exhilaration of the emergence of Solidarity followed by the tough years of martial law and, at last(!), genuine democracy. To see the flowering of colour where previously grey was predominant, the flair of design, and the pleasure of the people in new shops, ice cream flavours, restaurants and travel opportunities was a wonderful accompaniment to the serious work of Poland and the Czech Republic's joining NATO and the EU.
In Germany, one of my favourite memories is of Nelson Mandela electrifying an initially serious, official audience when he came to celebrate South Africa's victory over apartheid. He mounted the stage, and began to dance to the beat of the Soweto String Quartet. We were all captured by his presence. Also in Germany (and later Cracow, Prague and Budapest), I was proud to be in the audience as Simone Young conducted operas and symphony orchestras. She is a national treasure, and a fabulous example of an expat woman successfully combining a stellar career with a family.
Vietnam and Vienna were life-changing experiences. Vietnam was in the early post-conflict phase, and had just reunified, under orthodox communist rule. It was devastating to witness the hardship and ruination first hand. But the people were relieved finally to have peace, even though under the tight rein of the regime of that time, and as I spoke Vietnamese, I was able to engage in snatches of private contact. My fondest, and most poignant, memories are of chatting to children who would gather around us aliens from the outside world – defying the strict prohibition on contacts with westerners. I met an aged Buddhist nun at a run-down temple, who sought me out to talk at length of her experiences.
And it was during my posting to Vienna that I met my partner, and began my long association with central and Eastern Europe. After Hanoi, Vienna was forbidding: cold and formal, and my lack of German made the people difficult to connect with. But I made two special friends who are still dear to me: they introduced me to the friendlier side of Vienna, including a surrogate aunty who had survived the Holocaust in Vienna. Through her I found my feet in the language, and this in turn led me to my partner. We married there, and our romance was the eclectic mix of opera, coffee houses, political argumentation and galleries that has stood us in good stead in later years, together with our children.
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ExpatWomen: Throughout your career, what do you consider to be one of your biggest challenges? |
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Margaret: On a professional level, I would say the biggest challenge has been to move successfully between different job descriptions and cultures at the same time, as many of your readers will have done. And when one does this every three years or so, paradoxically it becomes both easier and more challenging! Easier because one develops mechanisms to adapt to change; more challenging because you need to bring an open mind to each new cultural setting, without expectations coloured by previous experiences. |
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ExpatWomen: Margaret, in conclusion, what words of wisdom or advice can you share with our expat women across the globe? |
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Margaret: As I said earlier, everyone will have their own approach to the expat experience: there is no single formula. I would conclude with what must be the starting point for choosing to spend part of your life off-shore: it needs to work for you, and for your family unit. If you (or they) do not enjoy the experience then the effort will not be worthwhile. But if the collective spirit is willing, and no serious problems develop, then the dividends for all far outweigh the irritations of upheaval and adjustment. |
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ExpatWomen: Thank you very much Margaret. Best wishes for a fascinating posting in Cambodia. |
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October 2008 |
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