Today we’d like to introduce you to Lynellyn Long

Hi Lynellyn, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?

I primarily work on refugee and migrant issues. I have worked in border and migrant camps, processing centres, and war zones; and on migration and refugee research and policy, including counter-trafficking, women’s entrepreneurship (to prevent dangerous migration), and reproductive health.

In the late 60s and the early 70s, I became involved in the Vietnam antiwar protests. When the Vietnam War ended, there was a mass migration of “Boat People”. I volunteered at International Rescue Committee in Boston, where I taught English to Vietnamese refugees at night. During the day, I ran the Jamaica Plain Adult Learning Program, a community program, that also supported refugees and migrants. Those experiences led to my joining the UN Volunteers (UNVs) in the Philippines Refugee Processing Centre in Bataan, where the UNVs helped Southeast Asian refugees adapt to their lives ahead in the US and Western Europe. From the Processing Centre, I went on to work in the Thai-Lao and Thai-Cambodian border camps. In the late 1980s, I decided to investigated the impact of long term refugee camp life on economic, social, and kinship structures for my doctoral research. For that study, I lived and worked for a year in Ban Vinai, a Hmong-Lao refugee camp in Northeast Thailand.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

I doubt that an interesting career is ever smooth or straightforward. The kinds of struggles I faced initially were career decisions about whether to take positions that paid a higher salary (e.g., doing large scale data analyses) and offered more financial security or work in conflict regions and humanitarian relief and development operations — issues that drew me in. I chose the latter.
Later, I faced the challenges of being accepted in a male dominated world when working in war zones and on humanitarian relief and development. As a wife and mother, I also experienced the challenges of trying to balance family and career. That may have been the hardest. Finally, as I took on higher level, management posts, I experienced the usual challenges of being a woman in executive roles.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

I am proud of balancing family life with founding and managing Her Economic Rights and Autonomy (HERA). HERA supports women’s entrepreneurship to prevent and redress trafficking and to provide a viable alternative to dangerous migration of young women. HERA is a registered NGO in the U.S., charity in the U.K., and Association in France. Founded in 2005, HERA UK provides economic and business training and mentoring to women survivors of trafficking and exploitation. I am fortunate that others have taken charge of HERA UK and that they continue to assist many women. In the U.S. and France, where I remain involved, HERA provides women entrepreneurs with grants in the form of equipment and technology to scale up their businesses and hire young women, who might not otherwise have work. HERA US and France are different from other organisations in that we try to prevent dangerous migration by supporting local women entrepreneurs who can address the root economic causes of dangerous migration in their own communities. We currently work in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine so have found ourselves again on the frontlines and in the case of Ukraine, working in a conflict region.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?

Optimism coupled with perseverance to focus on positive change. I believe that making even a small positive difference in an individual life is very worthwhile. Those positive experiences have helped me to remain optimistic in face of some difficult, sad, and at times, dangerous situations. Witnessing the courage of others keeps me motivated and optimistic.

Pricing:

• EUR 1000 supports a grant to a woman entrepreneur
• EUR 15000 supports one HERA country program/annum

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hera.international
• Facebook: Lynellyn Long
• Other: gmail – [email protected]