For over 10 years, Families in Global Transition, Incorporated (FIGT) has been the global leader in cross cultural education and training to support the entire expat family. FIGT offers information-packed conferences and year-round benefits through its Associates Program and expanding educational web site.
As the leader of a global network, FIGT promotes the positive value of the international experience, and empowers the family unit and those who serve it before, during and after international transitions.
FIGT values the international experience. We believe in the capacity of the expatriate and repatriate family to transition successfully, and to leverage the international experience for all of its human and global potential.
2011 FIGT Annual Conference
Save the date for the 2011 FIGT Annual Conference!
March 17-19, 2011
Washington, DC
Stay tuned for more details!
Sumbit a Proposal to Speak - Deadline for Applications is September 10, 2010
Do you know the challenges of moving across borders? Do you have a personal history to share, a work philosophy, a special expertise, research findings or strategies for successful international relocations? If so, FIGT wants to hear from you! Click here for more information.
The 12th Annual FIGT Conference: An Overwhelming Success
FIGT wants to thank all our sponsors, exhibitors, speakers, committee members and volunteers for what was a wonderful conference.
Here are just some of the comments from participants:
"I have never learned so much readily applicable information at a conference, nor met so many people I liked in one room. Indeed, I can't think of a single person I did not like at FIGT! I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and had to laugh when I felt like I experienced a bit of re-entry shock in coming 'home' to Boston." - Laura Saylor, Boston College
"I absolutely LOVED the conference...the cracker barrels were a lot of fun...the teen/parent panel was excellent."
"The FIGT conference gave all of us the impetus or reinforcement we need to support our expats and help them to rise above a life interrupted." - Marie Brice, Zen Compass
"What a great conference! I loved the small size, the warm welcome, the relevant topics and interesting people. It was inspiring to be surrounded by people who value and respect what I do." - Jennifer Recklet, MIT
"Enjoyed the conference and networking."
Speakers and attendees traveled from:
Brazil, Switzerland, France, Japan, Germany, Thailand, Spain, Norway, Canada, Korea, China, England, The Netherlands, Argentina, and the United States
And included speakers and participants from all sectors who support families globally transitioning: Conoco Philips, Prudential, Coca Cola, The World Bank, U.S. Department of State, various U.S. American Universities, U.S. Embassy Paris, University of Switzerland, Shell Outpost, missionary workers, New International School of Thailand, writers, University of London, Schlumberger, coaches, U.S. Department of Defense, publishers, corporations, MIT, Crown Relocations, international schools, freelance journalists and many more who empower individuals living abroad.
FIGT Trailblazers
Robin Pascoe and Jo Parfitt received the FIGT Trailblazer awards at the 2010 Annual Conference in Houston, TX. Video taken by Danielle Barkhouse (http://globalgirl.ning.com/).
Expat life, expat death
By Apple Gidley (2010 Conference Plenary Speaker and Long Time FIGT Friend)
Published In Telegraph: 9:33AM BST 19 May 2010
The list of where I've been is long, from Papua New Guinea to Equatorial Guinea with many countries in between. It's been a nomadic life that started with my first posting - at one month old - to Kano in Northern Nigeria: a life of expat living. An exciting and privileged life full of different cultures and peoples, a roaming life.
But for the expat, dying is different.
Distance precluded the drama of my grandparents dying. Forty years ago there was never any question of flying back from the depths of Africa. Flowers were sent, quivering lips stilled and life in a foreign land continued stoically.
But with the jet age has come the need to attempt to get "home" in time for death. Assuming, of course, it is anticipated. When it is not the guilt of living la vida loca is palpable.
And death sometimes occurs the other way around. When the expat is doing the dying, the agony is often deeper and angrier, for those at "home".
Along with the ease of travel has come an expectation that we can get wherever we need to be with the swipe of a credit card and a hastily packed carry-on. But life and death don't always play fair.
For the past few years, I have been part of what the experts call "the sandwich generation". My children became young adults based in England along with their five grandparents, and we were across the Atlantic.
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