Expats invited to share their experiences

 

A research organisation is calling on expats around the globe to share their experiences of living abroad.

The Expatriate Archive Centre, which now houses a fascinating collection of life stories from across the globe, aims to preserve and make accessible the memories of expatriates of all nationalities and employment backgrounds.

The Centre conserves materials which could otherwise be lost, damaged or discarded, to establish a valuable facility for researchers worldwide, and since its inception in 2002, has grown and diversified to include a wide range of writings, diaries, letters, memoirs, photographs, videos, blogs, DVDs and oral history recordings about the lives of people living and working overseas.

These include photographs from as far back as 1917, family films from the West Indies in the 1930s, the story of a Dutch couple working in Tokyo in the 1980s, up to a handwritten diary from a Maltese man living in the Netherlands in 2011.

The Archive always welcomes new contributions from expatriates and their families, and can arrange free transportation from anywhere in the world with the assistance of Voerman International Movers. The Centre is interested in anything which illustrates day-to-day life including:

 

  • Journals, diaries and memoirs
  • Letters, emails and blogs
  • Paperwork e.g. official documents, customs forms, packing lists, invitations, ID cards and licences
  • Photos, films and DVDs

 

The collection is available for research and will soon be available online. Anyone who donates material can receive a digital copy to keep. All material is stored in a climate-controlled storage room. Archival procedures and regulations regarding data protection and copyrights are adhered to, and donors’ wishes with regards to privacy are respected.

If you have a collection and would like to contribute it to the Archive, or if you want further information, visit the website at http://www.xpatarchive.com or email [email protected].

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.