The Joy I

and Surprise of

Barbara Peterson Sinclaiv, Mh', R N C , OCNP, FAAN,

is chair of the division of

health sciences at Clilifornia State University,

Donringuez Hills, and editor in chief of

AWHONN Lifelines.

hrough the years, I have had the T opportunity to travel to many parts of the world. Fresh out of college, a girl-

friend and I spent the summer touring

around Europe and ever since then I have

had the travel bug! I t is a joy for me to

meet new people, try new foods, read

about the history of a region, examine

the surrounding geography and visit

places of interest (some to the world and

some only to me). Early in my career, 1 directed Peace

Corps training, and as part of this role I got to know Central and South America. I was truly hooked and appreciated all of the subsequent travel opportunities pre- sented to me. I led a then-NAACOG Educational Tour to the People's Republic of China. In anticipation of bringing Indonesian nurses to the U.S. for two years of study, I toured Indonesia. For either work or play, I have visited almost all of the United States, most of Canada, Mexico and Europe and parts of Aus- tralia, New Zealand, and Asia. I have enjoyed all of it.

A recent jaunt led me to Istanbul, Turkey, and the chance to spend just a lit- tle time with some friends who lived there. Now you must realize that I have had very little exposure to Asia Minor or Africa and I didn't know exactly what to expect. However, I knew that I had been

to some demanding places in the past and I could probably manage anything. Besides, this city is the only one in the word that embraces two continents by having one arm in Europe and the other in Asia. Although I guessed the visit would be moderately interesting, I figured at the least I would be seeing some of the areas named for Florence Nightingale (do you remember the Crimea?), and I was particularly interested in visiting the School of Nursing named after her.

was terrific! As I view it now, I believe that Istanbul is one of the premier cities of the world. It has the verve, elan and excitement that one associates with Paris, Rome or New York. The people are friendly and helpful, the food is varied and enjoyable, the places of intriguing interest are too numerous to mention and the shopping is unbelievable-especially when you consider that the Grand Bazaar has over 4,000 shops in one covered complex.

I was surprised, also, when I visited the Florence Nightingale College of Nurs- ing at the University of Istanbul. I was greeted quite cordially by the Dean of the College, Caylan Pektekin, and her two associates, Sevim Savaser and Zehra Dur-

The entire trip was one big surprise. It

AugusVSeptember 2001 A W H O N N Lifelines 7

na. I had a bilingual acquaintance with me, but as it turned out, conversation in English worked quite well. As in so many instances with nurses around the world, it was like visiting with old friends as we touched on many topics of mutual interest regarding nursing, education and health care.

Later I toured the facility, and when I entered the library I was supremely surprised to see a current copy of AWHONN Lifelines prominently displayed on the reading shelf. I was told that it was a publi- cation that was very well received by faculty and students. After explaining that I was the editor of Lifelines, I was asked if I would ever consider pub- lishing an article by someone who lived outside of the United States. I said yes, if the subject met the mission of the journal and the manuscript survived peer review. Professor Savaser mentioned a study she had undertaken, and I suggested that she write it up and submit it for publication consideration.

She did just that, and you can find her article in this issue on page 42. I am really pleased that Life-

lines could provide the opportunity for an interna- tional colleague to share findings with nurses in the U.S. I am particularly pleased to have the article printed at this time as I have been invited to return to Turkey to speak at the National Nursing Educa- tion Congress in Cappadocia, and also to consult with OWCYN nurses at their meeting in Istanbul. I plan to have copies of Lifelines available a t both meetings. Perhaps the entire experience will open other avenues for international collaboration in the future.

Conceivably, my love of travel has rubbed off on some of you, dear readers, and you will have the opportunity to visit exciting Istanbul or perhaps his- toric Boston (for the AWHONN Convention next year?) or even the yet-to-be-explored area down the road from you. In any event, I hope that you do travel and, wherever you go, you have the good for- tune to be as warmly received and well treated as I have been. My goal at this point is more of the same. I wonder if nurses in South Africa read Lifelines? +

8 AWHONN Lifelines Volume 5, issue 4