Today we’d like to introduce you to Alys Willman.
Hi Alys, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up and went to college in rural Indiana, and thought I’d always stay there. But then I met a radical Jesuit priest who talked me into going to Guatemala with a little radical group to witness what US policy was doing in Central America. I came back, quit my job, closed my eyes and put my finger on a map, landing on Chile, where I moved for 9 months to learn Spanish. After that I moved to Nicaragua for three years, and from there Peru.
Those years were a kind of self-exile. I was a stranger in foreign lands. I was welcomed. People – especially women – worried about me, a girl on her own with no family for thousands of miles. They mothered me, kept me safe, taught me how to speak and dance, how to kill a bat with a machete, how to know which scorpions are deadly and which ones just make your face numb. They gave up their bed when I needed a place to sleep. They became family to me.
The experience of being welcomed when I was far from home and family has shaped everything about my life. Because I was welcomed so openly, I was able to connect and learn. I came to understand how big the world is, how many different ways there are to say what you want to say, to build a house, cook a meal, celebrate a wedding, raise a child, be a community, run a government.
Since that time, I moved to NYC for grad school, then to DC for a job with the World Bank. I married two men (sequentially, not simultaneously) that I met at a party in Managua in 1998. My husband Danny and I reconnected in NYC and moved our family to DC for 8 years, but we quickly tired of the rat race and so in 2016, we took the kids out of school, sold the house, quit our jobs and moved into a VW van for a year, driving all around the US and Canada. We ended up parking in Athens, GA near his family, and have a much slower-paced life now. We keep bees, grow vegetables and I write and play music.
We have tried to emulate all the hospitality we received in Central America to our community here, especially in these times when the immigrant c0mmmunity is threatened. That’s how we know Beto – and he and I have become friends, co-conspirators and musical collaborators.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Getting divorced with a one-year old and going on welfare to finish grad school was tough, but I had a lot of social support. Things have been way easier for me than a lot of my neighbors and friends.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m an international development economist. I worked as staff at the World Bank 2008-2016, took a year off, and since 2017 have been a contractor for the World Bank and other clients including the Carter Center, IOM and USAID (may it rest in peace).
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I live in Athens. I love that when you have people for dinner, they show up with a guitar and a tambourine. You’re gonna see funky yard art and weird Halloween decorations, and you can pretty much wear flip flops everywhere.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alyssingingstrong/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alys-willman-8a6039a
- Other: https://alyswillman.bandcamp.com/
