Between Here and Benin

Dr. Debra Kouda | Between the Pacific Northwest and Benin, West Africa
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Dr. Debra Kouda is building something she's been afraid of for seventeen years. A cultural immersion travel company in Benin, West Africa. This is what that sounds like, in real time. debrakouda.substack.com

  1. Aug 7

    🔥 The people who are not afraid of fire

    Dry season in Benin starts with smoke. The rains stop, Harmattan comes down off the Sahara, and men and boys pick up sticks and walk toward a field that is about to be on fire. Nobody calls anyone, they know what they are doing. I thought about that on a smoky walk here this week, and then I thought about preparation. In this one: Part 1 of the three parts of transformative travel, and the half of it that rarely gets talked about, which is the guide's half. What I want to know about you before you ever get on a plane, and what I do with the answers. Reflection as the box the whole thing sits inside rather than a step you tick off. Plus a confession about how much I hate talking about myself, a podcast that proves I can do it anyway, and an invitation. → Read Issue 18 https://tinyurl.com/3ew6jcny → Listen to Episode 177 of the Travel Coach Network podcast https://tinyurl.com/5943yhad → Join the Founding Circle https://tinyurl.com/2af4xexa Get full access to Between Here and Benin at debrakouda.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Jul 31

    Africa Wanted Me

    Episode description I should have started this journal the moment that I found out that Africa wanted me. In 2003 I was a senior at Oregon State, newly accepted to an internship at the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, and about $7,000 short of being able to go. So I wrote a letter to 85 people, put a return envelope in every one, and asked them to come along. They said yes. And once I got there, I sent an email home every week for eleven weeks. My dad recently found the printouts. This is the first one, read aloud, exactly as I wrote it at 21. Typos included. Before it, the story of how I got there, and after it, what all of this eventually turned into. The Founding Circle is open. Thirty people, $300 for the year. Once a month we meet, and I take you to Benin. Join here About this publication Hi! My name is Debra. My husband and I are building Hello West Africa, a transformative immersion experience in Benin, West Africa, for people who want to change how they see Africa and themselves. We have three incredible kids and a piece of land where we're making it real, one day at a time. Get full access to Between Here and Benin at debrakouda.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Jul 30

    📬 My dad handed me a folder of emails I wrote in 2003

    Issue No. 17 — Podcast Show Notes I've been circling this idea for years, and it took one conversation to say it in plain language. Transformative tourism is so much more than the trip. The experience is only one part of a three part system. Part 1 is preparation, before anyone gets on a plane. Part 2 is the experience itself, which is where almost everyone puts their attention. Part 3 is integration, when they go home, and it's the part almost nobody builds for. If you don't support somebody there, everything you did before it is at risk of being lost. I also walk through an example from higher education for each part, because transformative learning theory came out of adult education in the first place. Applying to college, going through college, and then the alumni office, which is where the comparison gets uncomfortable. Two other things in this one. This newsletter is turning six months old, and I'm merging my two series into a single weekly letter. And a few weeks ago my dad handed me a folder of every email I sent home from Namibia in 2003, when I was interning at the Cheetah Conservation Fund. I'd been doing Part 3 for twenty years without a name for it. Mentioned in this episode The 10 Phases of Meaning (earlier issues of this newsletter) Cheetah Conservation Fund, Namibia The Kabolé Research Lab Cape Verde versus Argentina Get full access to Between Here and Benin at debrakouda.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Jul 10

    🗞️ I started getting the newspaper delivered... and it led me somewhere I didn't expect.

    Transformative Travel Can Be Designed. Here Is How PDF → https://thekoudacompany.com/store/p/transformative-travel-can-be-designed-here-is-how About two weeks ago, I started getting the newspaper delivered...not for the news, but for the crossword. And it got me thinking about how rarely we put ourselves in front of ideas that challenge us, and what happens when we do. In this episode, I'm using the World Cup as a lens for transformative learning theory: Cape Verde's thirty-year journey to the round of 32, the African teams shifting assumptions in real time, the US loss to Belgium and what it means for soccer in this country, and the visitors posting videos saying America is nothing as they expected. All of it is transformative learning, happening in public, on a global stage. From there, I get into the problem the field of transformative tourism hasn't solved yet, why time matters more than anyone is measuring, and the idea that came out of a phone call with a new friend from Dubai. Get full access to Between Here and Benin at debrakouda.substack.com/subscribe

  5. Jun 26

    🌍 Issue No. 15 | Building Hello West Africa

    Issue No. 15 | Building Hello West AfricaA trip in the Wayback Machine to understand why I'm building Hello West Africa Links mentioned in this episode: Goals for Peace → LINKTransformative Travel Can Be Designed, PDF → LINK Someone reached out this week after reading one of my LinkedIn posts and told me he could finally put a name to the experiences that had been shaping him. His words brought tears to my eyes and sent me all the way back to the beginning. In this episode, I'm sharing the origin story of Hello West Africa: growing up in Fairbanks, hosting exchange students from Ecuador and Russia, hearing all the warnings before Namibia, joining the Peace Corps, and eventually landing in Benin. It's the story of how I came to believe, really believe, that people are just people, and why I want others to experience that too. I'm also talking about the Goals for Peace soccer tournament D'Aquin is organizing this December in the Dassa-Zoumé region of Benin, what's been happening with the business, and why the World Cup has me feeling like it really might be time for Africa. Get full access to Between Here and Benin at debrakouda.substack.com/subscribe

  6. Jun 18

    🌍 Issue No. 14 | Building Hello West Africa

    This week's episode is a shorter one — because I pulled a muscle in my back. The same muscle I first pulled in the summer of 1999, mopping floors at the local vet clinic while "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls played on the radio. But a shorter episode doesn't mean nothing to say. This week I share: The early mornings and late nights in BeninWhat it was like waking up before sunrise in the scholfis — our little schoolroom and office — with twinkly lights and a candle, working on my doctoral program while the rest of the house slept. And why lying on a full sack of unshelled peanuts under the night sky, watching for the Southern Cross, is one of the experiences I most want Hello West Africa guests to have. What's happening with Hello West Africa My first investor conversation is scheduled for next Tuesday. I'm also shifting my language from "investors" to "founding partners"...because Hello West Africa is communal at its core, and the people who help build it should feel that. Plus: the pitch is coming together, two podcasts are on the calendar, and digital nomads are on my radar as a new market. The World Cup The African teams are showing up. The US team surprised me completely. And I took a drive after the Paraguay game, rolled down the windows, and played Magic in the Air by Magic System. There really was magic in the air that night. All games are on the Fox One app. Transformative Travel Can Be Designed. Here Is How. The guide people kept asking for. Seventeen pages, plain language, a framework you can actually use. Find it at the link below! Get it here! Get full access to Between Here and Benin at debrakouda.substack.com/subscribe

  7. Jun 11

    Issue No. 13 | Building Hello West Africa

    Show Notes — Issue No. 13 | Building Hello West Africa From a panther enclosure in Florida to believing in myself again In this episode of Between Here and Benin, I take you back to a zoological conservation center in northern Florida, where I was 24, raking leaves and picking up sticks in a Florida panther enclosure — and stumbled onto Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on the truck radio. That job, and what came after it, is the story of how I learned to trust myself. And how, at some point, I stopped. And how I finally got it back. This episode covers: Working as a carnivore specialist at a private conservation center in Florida The move to Pier 55 Starbucks in Seattle Standing in front of the ferry terminal and hearing a voice that said: take the French class, everything will be okay The Ted Lasso speech on belief that has been living in my head all week The first Hello West Africa advisor meeting The first investor inquiry The launch of my new guide! Transformative Travel Can Be Designed. Here Is How. Sixteen pages, plain language, and a framework you can actually use. Get the guide → HERE Between Here and Benin is written and hosted by Dr. Debra Kouda, co-founder and CEO of Hello West Africa. New episodes every Tuesday and every other Thursday. Hello West Africa is currently seeking aligned investors and Founding Supporters. Reply to this episode or reach out directly if you want to be part of building this. Get full access to Between Here and Benin at debrakouda.substack.com/subscribe

  8. Jun 4

    The Transformative Learning Travel Guide People Kept Asking Me For

    The Transformative Travel Guide People Kept Asking Me For In this episode of Between Here and Benin, I share the story behind a guide I finally made after being asked the same question twice, and finding myself with nothing good to send. Transformative travel is gaining traction in the industry, but the research behind it lives almost entirely in academic journals and doctoral dissertations. This guide brings it out into the open, in accessible language, for the people who are actually building experiences. What's inside the guide: The transformative learning theory, clearly explained. Mezirow's 10 phases of meaning, with real examples The five conditions that have to be present for transformation to occur The Transformative Learning Arc: a four-step framework developed from doctoral research 16 pages. Plain language. A framework you can actually use. Find the guide here → TAKE ME THERE Between Here and Benin is written and hosted by Dr. Debra Kouda, co-founder and CEO of Hello West Africa. New episodes every Tuesday and every other Thursday. Get full access to Between Here and Benin at debrakouda.substack.com/subscribe

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About

Dr. Debra Kouda is building something she's been afraid of for seventeen years. A cultural immersion travel company in Benin, West Africa. This is what that sounds like, in real time. debrakouda.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Dr. Debra Kouda | Between the Pacific Northwest and Benin, West Africa
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    47
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Debra Kouda
  • Show Website
    Between Here and Benin