About Us

Allan and Margaret enjoy travelling, currently in South East Asia.  They like to visit their many friends in Malaysia spending  time particularly in Melaka, Penang and Kuala Lumpur.   In their free time they voluntarily advise local charities and NGOs. They are especially involved with a women’s organisation called eHomemakers which has established a virtual community for home workers. One of the many aims of eHomemakers is to support women in deprived communities in Peninsular Malaysia and in the indigenous communities in Borneo.

               

Margaret with Kelabit women in their longhouse in Bario, Sarawak, Malaysia.

 
They have designed and delivered courses on NGO management to various disability groups and AIDs charities in Kuala Lumpur. Visited communities in Sarawak to provide development advice and spoken at a Malaysian Government sponsored national conference on ‘Work Life Balance.’

              

Allan with Senator Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, Malasia along with distinguished delegates, organisers and other speakers at the Work Life Balance Conference, Kuala Lumpur

Between 2009 and 2010 Allan and Margaret were living in Delhi and working India. Allan was the senior management adviser with the National Trust for the welfare of persons with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities. The National Trust is an Agency within the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment of the Government of India. Margaret was an organisational development adviser with the Deafway Foundation an organisation for deaf people.

      

Allan enjoyed working with Mrs Poonam Natarajan Chairperson of the National Trust, left and with Mr Atul Prasad Joint Secretary and National Trust CEO right.

                

               Margaret signing with deaf girl in an Ashram in Ujjain.

                     

       Margaret presenting certificates at a workshop in Bhopal

Allan and Margaret were previosly touring south India having spent several months in Malaysia as part of their tour of South East Asia. There are journal entries and photographs from their travels in Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia and of Course Malaysia.

                      

                      Margaret and Allan in Bangkok Thailand

Prior to this, in 2006 t0 2008 they lived and worked for two years in Phnom Penh in Cambodia as management advisers to the Fisheries Administration which was part of the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

                 

                       Allan discussing work with Nari. 

                  

         Margaret explaining strategic management techniques.

              

Allan and Margaret at farewell meal and presentation for services to the Cambodian Fisheries Administration

Their role was to advise and train senior management on strategic planning, project management, designing and implementing management systems and developing and using action plans. Details of their work are in the journal entries for Cambodia.

Allan and Margaret with the Cambodian Fisheries Delegation during cross border trade talks in VunTau Fishing Port Vietnam.

Between 2004 and 2006 Allan Margaret spent two years in Gambia. Allan was the Managemet Adviser to the Board and Chief Medical Director of the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH) in Banjul.

                    

     Allan working with Mrs Awa John the Principal Accountant at RVTH

                     

       Margaret distributing rice and sugar to blind villagers during Ramadan.

Margaret was the Organisational Development Adviser to the Gambian Organisation for the Visually Impaired, GOVI.

              

During their time in West Africa they toured Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Benin.

Before embarking on their travels Allan was the Operations Director for Sypol Ltd a leading UK Health, Safety and Evironmental consultancy. Sypol were enormously supportive of Allan and Margaret’s work in Africa.

In the ten years between 1992 and 2002 Allan was the Group Environmental Director for Willis an international insurance broking organisation. During this period he travelled extensively working in Europe, USA, India and Japan. He was also the Director of a Dutch company and a Director of Global Liability Management.

                    

                Allan and Margaret with their sons Andy and Dave

Prior to this Allan was the Managing Director of a large UK health, safety and environmental consultancy. Earlier in his career he was a research scientist in a UK Medical Research Institute. He has a degree in physics and postgraduate qualifications in occupational health.

Before travelling, Margaret was a development adviser in an Educational Accreditation Organisation. This followed three years as an Educational Project Manager with a prominent UK Womens Voluntary Organisation.

She has over ten years experience in lecturing on Information Technology, literacy and numeracy in colleges and universities. Her early career took her from primary school teaching to adult education. She has a degree in psychology, postgraduate qualifications in computer science and teaching qualifications, including teaching English as a foreign language.

Both Allan and Margaret were born and educated in Scotland, UK.  They have two adult sons living in England.