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Jun 24, 2020

"You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself." --Alan Watts

No Victims, No Heroes: We Are Each Other

By some definitions, Jolanda van den Berg might be dubbed a philanthropist, a social entrepreneur, a life coach, or even a mystic. But Jolanda's expansive life resists reductive titles. Over the past quarter century her work has transformed the lives of thousands of children in Peru, supported by her three highly-rated hotels. She has 80 locals on payroll, and offers 1:1 sessions with people going through significant life challenges. Woven through the fabric of her life is an ethos that deeply acknowledges the fact that there are no distinct givers or receivers. As Jolanda phrases it, "No victims, no heroes. We are each other." These aren't just pretty sentiments to her, but a lived experience that she first stumbled into, utterly unexpectedly, five years ago after an intensely traumatic incident.