May 7, 2024

Living the dream with author and born explorer Joel David Bond

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Join us on a captivating journey with Joel David Bond, an author and intrepid explorer who has dedicated his life to building bridges across cultural divides. In this episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, Joel shares his extraordinary experiences from teaching in war-torn Iraq to being quarantined on a Greek island amidst refugees. Discover how Joe's adventures have shaped his perspective on safety, community, and finding home within oneself. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about resilience, hope, and the human spirit's ability to rise from the ashes of conflict.
www.joeldavidbond.com

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> Speaker A>Welcome to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. Um, if you believe you can achieve Chee Chee, welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire.

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> Speaker A>Today I am joined by author and born explorer, Joe David Bond. Joe is right here in Kansas, in Olathe. He's worked all around the world doing anything from form work to, uh, building bridges in Iraq. So we're going to be talking to him about his story and why he does what he does and about everything that he's doing to try to make the world a better place. So, Joe, thank you so much for joining me today.

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> Joe David Bond>Thanks for having me on.

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> Speaker A>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

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> Joe David Bond>I think you did a pretty good introduction right there. So, Joel David Bond, I have spent the last 20 years of my life living abroad and working to help connect people across boundaries. So my mission really is to help people, uh, build bridges across, uh, ethnic, cultural, religious, socioeconomic, political boundary lines, um, so that people find, uh, new ways to connect and learn and move and operate in this world. And that kind of work has taken me from the UK to France to the Middle east, most recently where I've spent seven years, uh, helping rebuild education in post conflict society Iraq, and currently, uh, now back in the US for a short term before, uh, I move overseas again in the near future.

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> Joe David Bond>So, uh, that's kind of me in a nutshell right there.

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> Speaker A>So, tell us about what made you want to do the work that you, that you are doing and kind of like some of the places that you worked at and some of the work that you've done all around the world.

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> Joe David Bond>So, ah, my motivation really, I think, has been a need to explore, uh, when you sort of look back on your childhood and you think about all the times that play make believe or pretend with your friends and people play doctor, fireman, policeman, whatever it is. I always played explorer.

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> Joe David Bond>Um, I wanted to be Indiana Jones when I was a kid. I wanted to grow up and discover, um, new things. And so I always had this curiosity to see what was around the next corner, what was someplace else. And so I think that constant desire for exploration has kind of driven me to pursue, uh, a life of living overseas and exploring new cultures and connecting with as many people as I can.

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> Speaker A>Speaking of that, you chose to live in Iraq by choice, and that shaped your perspective on creating your memoir. So tell us about that experience and why you chose to live in Iraq. One of the probably most dangerous places in the world.

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> Joe David Bond>Oh, yeah. Well, you know, dangerous and not, um, it depends on your definition of what you call safe and unsafe. Um, but, you know, I found myself moving over there almost accidentally, like I had been given, ah, an opportunity to go teach at, um, a private international school over there. And again, at the time, you know, I thought, oh, it's dangerous, right? I shouldn't, you know, let's go test the waters. And I can always leave if it's not good. And ended up falling in love with it and stayed for seven years until I, um, was then needed. I needed to leave at the end of that time. Um, but I always found that people would be like, oh, my gosh, how could you live in Iraq? How can you? It's such a dangerous part of the world. And I would tell people, safety and security are two sides of the same coin, really. And here in America, growing up, we have this sense, uh, of, uh, always being hyper vigilant about our own safety. We've got house alarms and car alarms.

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> Joe David Bond>And especially if you live big city, you lock your doors. Um, you're sort of concerned recently, in recent years about sending your kids to school or going to the shopping mall, because who knows what shooting might happen or who's got a weapon or whatever. But when you go to bed at night here in the US, you don't ever really feel like, uh, democracy is going to disappear overnight. You're pretty assured that the system and the infrastructure is going to survive and we'll keep moving forward. But the inverse, I found is true. In Iraq, I, uh, never felt unsafe personally.

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> Joe David Bond>Um, people were incredibly warm and welcoming. They wanted to spend time and learn about you as a person and would look out for you. Uh, always asking if you had enough to eat, if you had something to do, if you had entertainment, if you were everything.

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> Joe David Bond>They just always were looking out for you. The infrastructure of the country was very unstable. And depending on what the neighbors were doing in neighboring countries and, uh, depending on what the rest of the world was doing, uh, you never really were certain whether or not the infrastructure would survive till the end of next week. William? Um, and so there was always that sense of insecurity, uh, on a large level, but a sense of safety on a personal level, whereas ive always found the inverse was true. Here we have a large sense of security here in the US, uh, hyper vigilance to our safety.

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> Joe David Bond>So that's kind of just one major difference that I've noticed in my time living in the middle east, persons living here. But my choice to live there, um, kind of started by accident, but I ended up out of staying by choice and loved it. Absolutely fantastic place to live with the most hospitable people I've ever met.

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> Speaker A>So you also found yourself quarantined on a greek island, and you talk about in your biohack kind of merida refugee experiences. So tell us about that experience and how it kind of, uh, helped shape your perspective as well.

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> Joe David Bond>Yeah. So my recently, uh, published memoir, as large as your spirit, a reverse refugee memoir, is the subtitle.

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> Joe David Bond>Um, talks about that quarantine experience in, uh, Greece, where I had accidentally kind of found myself stuck on this remote m greek island during the pandemic. I'd gone for five days, really just on a spring break vacation with a carry on bag. And I had intended to stay only for just a short period of time, had wanted someplace that was pretty much off grid. Um, and the day I arrived, the World Health Organization used the words global pandemic. And all the dominoes fell, of course, and airports closed and borders were shut. And I ended up being stuck on this island for five months with just my carry on bag. And I don't speak Greek. Um, and of course, at the time, you never knew how long it was going to be. It was always just another two weeks, another two weeks, another two weeks. Well, part way through my time on the island, I discovered a refugee camp on the island, um, that had all these asylum seekers from the Middle east, from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria.

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> Joe David Bond>So here I am, a man from the west, caught in Greece, trying to get back to my adopted home of the Middle east, crossing paths with all these refugees from the Middle east, caught in Greece, trying to get to the west. And so we intersected, and I ended up volunteering to teach English in the refugee camp there. And all of our lives were changed as a result of that experience.

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> Joe David Bond>So the story is sort of. Ostensibly it's about the search for home. You know, it's about me trying to get back to my home in Iraq, about these refugees trying to settle into a new home into Europe and the west. But on a deeper level, it's really a story about trying to find a place to call home in your own spirit, in your own self. What, um, does it mean to be in community, to be with people who know you? Uh, what does it mean to find a place to call home, not just geographically, but spiritually and emotionally?

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> Speaker A>Speaking of that, you also talk about how the going all around the world keeps you away from your loved ones. And, you know, you're away from your family and stuff like that, people you love, how we able to navigate that?

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> Joe David Bond>Yeah, that's the wonders of technology these days, I suppose. Um, Zoom and FaceTime and instant messaging really helps. But I've spent so much of my life as an adult living overseas independently, that I think I've kind of become almost, uh, sort of immune to the feeling of needing to be with family.

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> Joe David Bond>Um, I love being here in the US and being with my family while I'm here, but I also have just become so accustomed to striking out on my own and exploring. There's just one drive outweighs the other, I guess, in the end. Um, and I found, particularly during the pandemic experience, that was exceptionally hard because I didn't have a community of chosen families around me at that point. And part of the joy of that experience was that I was able to build a chosen family on the island while I was there during those five months. And it taught me really, in many ways, um, that you have your family of birth and then your family of choice, and that you can build homes, multiple homes, around the world, because home is wherever you are known. And if people know you and you're vulnerable and you open up and share your story, then you find a home in their hearts.

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> Joe David Bond>And wherever you have that community is a place you can settle. So I found it took a little bit of time, but partway into my quarantine on the island there, I found it almost difficult to decide to leave, um, because I had built so much of a strong relationship with the people that were there and had such diverse experience.

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> Joe David Bond>You know, I think home really is that space wherever you are known. And at the end of that quarantine time, I did feel a strong need to return to my other, uh, adopted home in Iraq and continue my work that was there.

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> Speaker A>So. Well, tell us about a, during your decades, you know, journeying all around the world. Tell us about a impactful or memorable moment or moments or encounters that you experience that will always stay with you. And why.

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> Joe David Bond>Oh, man, I pick one out of 20 years of travel.

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> Joe David Bond>Um, I think one that just sort of jumps immediately to my mind in terms of a memorable experience. Um, I mean, just recently, I guess, would be visiting Mosul in Iraq.

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> Joe David Bond>Um, just as by nature of the way, uh, my visit, my stay, uh, in the country there worked, um, out. I had a visa that was permitted only for the Kurdistan region in the north. Itd be similar to, for example, having someone, um, come to the US and having a visa only for the state of Kansas, and they werent allowed to visit Missouri or Oklahoma or anywhere else. They, um, could only stay in the states. So that was kind of my situation, my arrangement within Iraq.

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> Joe David Bond>And Mosul was, uh, outside of that region. And it took a while for the country to, uh, sort of implement new laws to help for more freedom of movement, um, in and around the country. And so as soon as that opened up, I had the opportunity to travel and get a visa for other parts of Iraq.

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> Joe David Bond>And when I first traveled up to Mosul, uh, which is actually ancient Nineveh, um, from the Bible, uh, has a long history, all the way back to the beginning of recorded time, basically, but most recently is famous for being the last stronghold of ISIS in the region. And they were defeated in, uh, early 2017. And the city of Mosul had been absolutely just demolished from ravaged by war. And I think ill still remember, uh, being in the taxi and driving across the plains, entering into Mosul, the second largest city, second or third largest in all of Iraq. And you go through the city, it's divided by this river. And there were four bridges that sort of connected the east bank to the west bank of the city. And all four of those bridges had been completely demolished by either side by ISIS or the coalition forces to help prevent traffic across the river contain the conflict. And I remember seeing this one bridge where the iron girders were just twisted and descended into the Tigris river underneath, um, and in order to sort of temporarily patch the bridge to allow traffic to cross from either side, they just placed two steel girders on top of the two arms of the bridge, and then put tarmac paper at the top. And so we're in this taxi, and we drive onto the first arm of the bridge, then up onto these girders, and then off the girders onto the other arm of the bridge, and then off to the other side.

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> Joe David Bond>And I remember thinking that was probably the most unsafe I felt in my entire seven years of Iraq.

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> Joe David Bond>But to go and explore that city and see just what destruction had been wrought, um, by ISIs, by conflict, by war, was, um, just absolutely sobering. The whole of the old city was like swiss cheese.

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> Joe David Bond>There wasn't a building that didn't have holes all through it.

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> Joe David Bond>Um, nothing stood higher than two stories tall.

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> Joe David Bond>And there were people still living in amongst all the ruins, um, and that really, I think, impacted me deeply to see the level of destruction, um, but also to see the level of hope that the city had to rebuild and to sort of arise from the ashes of conflict, um, and it was really inspiring in many ways, to see sections of the city being rebuilt, uh, being decorated with artwork, uh, having small businesses pop up, even amongst m the ruins of these, you know, the rubble of all these buildings, um, and to connect with a local, uh, organization that brought in volunteers to help rebuild all of this and did a lot to, uh, bring in supplies for school children and help get infrastructure back into the city. Um, and to me, that will always just be a memory that I hold as being so impactful and so life changing to see the devastation of war, but also the resilience of the human spirit to continue on despite incredibly harsh odds.

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> Speaker A>So talk about any surprises or challenges that came about when you were writing your memoir, because, you know, writing is connected. You know, it's so personal. So talk about any challenges, surprises, and how you overcame them.

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> Joe David Bond>Yeah. The writing process itself, for my book, uh, I tell people it's a thrice lived trauma. Uh, I lived the difficult experience. Those of us who came out the other side of the COVID pandemic, uh, have lived through a certain traumatic period there and then I had to relive that trauma by remembering it and writing it all down, and then had to relive it again as my editorial team sort of picked it apart, and we're like, well, rewrite this chapter, and this one just scene shouldn't be included. And this is probably better if you did it this way. So I kind of had to put myself through the wringer a couple of times to produce this work.

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> Joe David Bond>Um, but I really found one of the biggest things that I overcame in, that is after my editorial team sort of ripped me apart the first time I took a day and I I sat on the sofa and basically mourned my existence. But I realized they wouldnt have spent that time to, uh, give me all that feedback if they didnt believe that it could be good. If, um, they thought it was going to be terrible, they wouldnt have bothered. But, um, they believed in the project, and they believed that I had something to say. And so they spent hours pouring through the manuscript and helping sharpen, uh, up the edges of that storyline, and so, but, um, once I sort of had that perspective shift, I was able to get back to it and make some necessary adjustments and ended up with a much better book than what I had originally written, thanks to those editors and thanks to that time that I spent. So, you know, I think that writing process, as difficult as it was to work through to, you know, to have that traumatic experience and work through it, you know, twice over. I think it really gave me the opportunity to really speak to my own, um, my own inadequacies and to find ways to grow through them and to develop that resilience all the way through.

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> Speaker A>What message do you hope readers will take away from reading your story?

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> Joe David Bond>Resilience is the word that comes to mind. I really hope that people will walk away from this memoir and find themselves with a renewed sense of hope, uh, that we can do good things in the world, uh, and that there is a power in seeking to connect with people outside yourself who may be of a different background from you, and that we can learn from each other in that way. So I really hope that people sort of find within this spaces to work and live and breathe in their communities that are expansive, that help them to connect and grow and do better things in this world, that essentially they find places as large as their spirit to do good in the world.

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> Speaker A>Tell us about any other upcoming or current projects that you're working on. The listeners need to be aware of.

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> Joe David Bond>So I'm currently working on a second book, um, which I am kind of tongue in cheek, referring to as, uh, between Iraq and a hard place. That's, um, the title, um, and that one will be about my time in Iraq, more specifically. Um, and at this point it's still taking shape and it'll be quite some time, really, before that one comes out. But, um, I'm drafting some ideas and beginning to pick away at a couple of options on how to present that story. But, um, my goal is to have something out probably within the next year where, uh, people can read about that experience of what it's been like to live, uh, in a post conflict society in the Middle east.

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> Speaker A>Okay, well, so everybody can keep up with everything that you're up to. Throw out your contact info.

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> Joe David Bond>Yeah. So I'm on joeldavidbond.com, and my book, as large as your spirit reverse, uh, refugee memoir, is available on Amazon.com.

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> Joe David Bond>And I'm also available on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. Old Davidbond.

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> Speaker A>Okay, close us out with some final thoughts. Maybe if there was something I forgot to touch on that you would like to talk about it.

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> Speaker A>Just any final thoughts you have for the listeners?

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> Joe David Bond>Uh, I think we've covered all the basics there, but I really hope that everybody who's listening to this can find some inspiration that find that some, um, hope in the world and that they are inspired to go out and do good things to help make this world a better place. The kind of place that the divine would want to show up to because, uh, I think we have that power within us to really do good things.

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> Speaker A>Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Jo David Bond.com. Please be sure to follow rate review share this episode to as many people as possible. If you have any guests or suggestion topics, see Jackson 102. Uh.

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> Speaker A>Net is the place to send them. Hop on your favorite podcast app. Hit that follow button.

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> Speaker A>Leave us a review. Thank you for listening and supporting the show. And Joe, thank you for joining us and sharing your story.

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> Joe David Bond>Thanks for having me today.

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> Speaker A>For more information on the living the Dream podcast, visit www.djcurvefball.com.

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> Speaker A>Until next time, stay focused on living the dream.

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> Joe David Bond>Dream.