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The Unique Firefly

By Laura Maya

In the oppressive heat of a Kolkata monsoon, a chance encounter with a teenage victim of sex trafficking changed the course of my life in the flap of a butterfly’s wings.

In that tiny gust of wind, I was propelled back to the remote village of Nepal where I had lived years before; back to a humble mudbrick home in the Himalayas and a Nepali family who had adopted my husband and I as their own.

Over the following years, we stayed in the village, worked in the local school and started an NGO to prevent human trafficking. Nepal became “home” and the elderly couple we lived with became Ama and Baba: “mum and dad”. David and I worked hard to improve our Nepali and as our language improved, Ama and Baba started asking questions about where we were from and what life was like in our world.

In a moment of inspiration/insanity, we offered them the opportunity to travel with us back to David’s native France so they could see it for themselves. 

A few months later, Ama (64 years old) and Baba (78 years old and deaf with no teeth) exchanged their quiet mountain rice fields for the fast cars and bright lights of Paris. It was the first time they’d seen hot water fall from a tap, used a seated toilet, taken an aeroplane, driven on a motorway, showered naked, seen the ocean or eaten with a knife and fork. 

What unfolds is a fascinating, hilarious and sometimes disastrous intercultural exchange between four people from three different countries as we explore each other’s worlds.

As our unusual French-Australian-Nepali quartet travels from the Champs-Élysées of Paris to the mountains of Italy, the vineyards of Switzerland and the streets of Amsterdam, we explore every facet of the Global North through the lens of the Global South – exploring not just each other’s cultures, but our own as it’s seen through someone else’s eyes.

From religion – “Why is there a half-naked man hanging on the walls of your holiest temples?” – to marriage – “What do you mean people need to find love before they’re married?” – no conversation is off limits. The economy and employment, holidays and entertainment, the environment, education, medical care, nursing homes, childcare, we dissect it all…
 
This story is a testimony to how friendships can develop beyond the limitations of culture and language, and how the world can change if only we take the time to seek out those who are different to us and find magic in all the things that makes us unique and, ultimately, the same.  

I have completed the first and second drafts of this novel and aim to have a completed manuscript ready for publishing by the end of 2018.

The Unique Firefly is a working title, named after the hotel we stayed in that was destroyed in the 2015 Nepal earthquake. 

If you’re interested in representing or publishing this book, please contact me here. 

To be one of the first to find out when the book is available, please join my mailing list…

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Laura Maya✨Nomad✨Writer✨Coach
A lovely signpost to lots of places we can’t go A lovely signpost to lots of places we can’t go right now... As a permanent wanderer, what’s surprised me most about the border closures in Australia is just how much I *haven’t* missed travelling overseas.  Any other nomadic types out there feeling the same way? Maybe it’s because this kind of lifestyle gets us in the habit of rolling with change and uncertainty... Or maybe it’s because I’m just so fricking grateful we have the freedom in Australia to travel at all... Who needs Bermuda when you can visit the Berry Donut Van? 🍩 🚌#FeelingLucky #Grateful #StrangeTimes #SignpostToEverywhere #Australia #DigitalNomad #WomenWhoTravel #SheRoams #DigitalNomadGirls #BusLife #VanLife #Berry #BerryDonutVan #NomadLife
Today’s office is brought to you by @juneelicori Today’s office is brought to you by @juneelicoriceandchocolate and this is definitely the best dark chocolate nut milk breakfast I’ve had this year... and yes, that’s a sheep 🐑☕️👩‍💻 #BestHotChocolate #Junee #VisitNSW #BusLife #VanLife #Wandering #SheepOfInstagram
Ever since I took up Kung Fu 3 months ago, I’ve Ever since I took up Kung Fu 3 months ago, I’ve traded my butter knife for a sword and bo staff as my weapons of choice first thing in the morning. Taking up martial arts at 40 is such a multipotentialite move but if you think it also sounds a bit “midlife crisisish”... well, you would be absolutely 100% bang on the money. This time last year I was in total crisis mode, struggling with severe pelvic pain and unable to function. The only exercise I could manage without triggering a flare up was walking. Now a year later I’m training at the Kung Fu Academy 5 hours a week and I find myself jumping out of bed in the morning to go swing my Taiji sword in the persimmon fields just for fun. So if this is what a midlife crisis feels like then bring it on, I say... 🌿⚔️ #WeaponsForBreakfast #KungFu #TaiChi #LifeCrisisInAction
#taiji #martialarts #fitnessgoals #40andfabulous #multipotentialite #themagicofeverything #lifegoals #multipassionate #scanner #renaissancesoul #multipotentialites
🚌 And just like that we’re back in Maurice th 🚌 And just like that we’re back in Maurice the House Bus... parked on a beautiful persimmon orchard... doing the lazy Sunday thing we do so well... 🚌 #goodtobehome #pepperminttea #darkchocolate #travelmemoir #journalling #christmaspresentsinaction #buslife #lazysundays #closetonature #lifeisgood #2021 #sofarsogood #vanlife #nomadlifestyle #themagicofeverything #multipotentialite
✨ I snapped this pic while paying for my shoppin ✨ I snapped this pic while paying for my shopping at an unusual grocery store...✨ In August and September we spent a month housesitting in a rural area of the Central Coast where the nearest supermarket was 22kms away. The closest place to buy food was a 6kms drive where a woman affectionately referred to as “the rainbow lady” sold mostly locally grown fruit and veg at a roadside stall. Either you could swap things with your own produce or you could leave money in the letter box. It all worked on an honesty system. And if you didn’t have cash, you had to go down to the horse paddock and stand in the only square metre that had enough mobile phone reception to transfer money via internet banking while Joey the Cashier Horse watched on…#InDecemberIRemember #DecemberReflections2020 #HindsightIs2020 #Housesitting #RuralLife #CountryLife #HorsesOfInstagram #OnlineShopping #LocalSupermarket #TheMagicOfEverything #Multipotentialite #horses #horsepower #roadsidestall
✨SOMETHING THAT MADE ME SMILE IN 2020✨ My once ✨SOMETHING THAT MADE ME SMILE IN 2020✨ My once daily dose of kiddy cuteness on @livefromsnacktime (swipe left for my recent faves) ✨#InDecemberIRemember #DecemberReflections2020 #HindsightIs2020 #Fun #Funny #kidssaythedarndestthings #reasonstosmile #TheMagicOfEverything #Multipotentialite #kidsofinstagram
✨SOMETHING THAT MOVED ME IN 2020✨@humansofny ✨SOMETHING THAT MOVED ME IN 2020✨@humansofny and the Facebook group the Kindness Pandemic have been my favourite digital comfort food in 2020… But the first thing I thought of when I saw this reflection prompt is images of our Pacific neighbours pushing wheelbarrows through the streets of their villages collecting money for Australian bushfire relief (photo credit @abcnews_au )In Papua New Guinea, where the minimum hourly wage is just over $1, the local people raised thousands of dollars to help communities affected by the fires. Unbelievable generosity... In an interview with the ABC one woman explained the wheelbarrow campaign was all about sending love, support and gratitude to a much-loved neighbour."We say Australia is our 'Momma Country', the country that helped us to be where we are right now. Most of us benefit from Australian aid which builds health centres and hospitals, that's why we took this initiative so that we could at least do something at the community level, that's why we did this."This is how I want to remember 2020 ✨#InDecemberIRemember #DecemberReflections2020 #HindsightIs2020 #GiveHope #TheKindnessPandemic #HumansOfNewYork #PapuaNewGuinea #Vanuatu #GoodNeighbours #GivingBack #TheMagicOfEverything #Multipotentialite
✨ SILVER ✨ Today’s 2020 reflection prompt ta ✨ SILVER ✨ Today’s 2020 reflection prompt takes me back to a toilet block on a beach where we were staying with Maurice the House Bus 🚌 One morning after a sunrise walk I found this little frog waiting patiently for someone to turn the tap on... 🐸 #Silver #FrogsOfInstagram  #DecemberReflections2020 #HindsightIs2020 #BusLife #TinyHouseOnWheels #VanLife #Camping #TheMagicOfEverything #Multipotentialite #Frogs #WaterTap
✨ MY FAVOURITE PHOTO OF 2020 ✨Our 68 year ol ✨ MY FAVOURITE PHOTO OF 2020 ✨Our 68 year old Nepali mum video called us from the Himalayas for the first time ever in March, telling us to “Stay home. Stay safe. There’s a virus going around.”When we first arrived in Ama’s village in 2009 there was no electricity, no internet and we lived without mobile phones. Now she’s video calling us from her mud-brick home on a smartphone. It just blew our minds mind so David took a screenshot. This is my favourite photo of 2020 #LoveTechnology#InDecemberIRemember #DecemberReflections2020 #Framily #CulturalExchange #Nepal #Ama #TheMagicOfEverything #Multipotentialite #VanLife #BusLife #TinyHouseOnWheels #CovidSilverLinings #Covid
✨ A SURPRISE OR “A-HA” MOMENT in 2020 ✨F ✨ A SURPRISE OR “A-HA” MOMENT in 2020 ✨For my 40th birthday, my in-house superhero, David, put together a book written by my friends and family. It was full of their favourite memories about me as well as lots of thoughts and words about how they see me, songs and poems composed for me and lots of beautiful, hilarious and sometimes cringe-worthy photos.Best. Present. Ever.Reading it was kind of like being a fly on the wall at my own funeral. But in a really happy, heart-warming, didn’t-have-to-die kind of way…#InDecemberIRemember #DecemberReflections2020 #HindsightIs2020 #BirthdayGift #Surprise #BestPresentEver #AhaMoment #Memories #Nostalgia #TheMagicOfEverything #Multipotentialite
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