Global Nomads sat down with Jackie and Mike Bezos to recall how they helped us get started, grow, and flourish.

Q: What has inspired your longtime support of Global Nomads Group? 

Jackie: Global Nomads was our very first grant. And we're still making grants, because they're more relevant every day.

We're proud to be one of the earliest adopters of Global Nomads and a lifelong supporter. For us, it is the connectivity—a way to support youth globally, feeding their curiosity and their need to be heard and to be known.  Right now, it's an especially important need.

Q: Is there a particular story or experience that comes to mind from your early years supporting Global Nomads’ work that you can share?

Mike: After 9/11, everybody was asking [about the terror attacks]: "Why us? We don't know them. They don't know anything about us."  And Global Nomads had the idea of gathering high school students here in the U.S. and putting them in touch via satellite with a group of Iraqi students who spoke English. Video conferences—like we’re doing all the time now—were a novelty then. 

At first, you saw two groups of kids eyeing each other with distrust. Then they started asking questions back and forth. The conversation started with learning about the clothing they were wearing, their favorite music, and similar subjects. 

Jackie: I remember one of the Iraqi kids said, "Well I listen to Dr. Dre," and the group in the U.S. replied, "Me too, me too, me too."

Mike: This dialogue brought them closer together and opened them up to deeper, more meaningful conversations. What initially attracted us to Global Nomads was the idea of conflict resolution – and the recognition that if we don't know who we're dealing with, who's on the other side, we tend to imagine the worst. When you personalize it, and you establish a conversation, you realize you have a lot in common—and of course, you have differences of opinion too. 

Q: Would you share a memory of a cross-cultural experience that sparked an awareness or distinctly affected your own life?

Jackie: Mike and I lived overseas while raising our children, and we saw what a positive effect that had on their ability to see the world from different perspectives. It was just amazing how interested they were in other young people and how, through dialogue, their perceptions shifted. 

Mike: It boils down to disarming preconceptions at a young age. Sometimes there is a history of distrust and anger among different groups—and I'm not ignoring the real history—but once you know someone, it's a little more difficult to pigeonhole that person. That's what Global Nomads has been excellent at.

Jackie: Global Nomads is an opportunity to create world leaders and peacebuilders. If you want different people sitting around the decision-making tables, they have to be versed in global thought. What better way to start than getting young people talking about important topics that affect each other in a different way?

Q: One prompt that consistently sparks meaningful dialogue in GNG programs is when we ask youth about being underestimated or ‘othered’ because of perceived identity. Did you ever experience that? 

Mike: I came to this country for political reasons, not by choice, by myself when I was 16 years old and landed not knowing the language and having to understand and get along with people that I had no idea what they were saying initially. 

In those first few years after I arrived here, I was in survival mode. And I had to learn how to ask for and accept help. It was many years later that I realized how many people helped me.

Eventually I went back and finished school. I started a career and a family. There were probably half a dozen individuals who were critical to supporting my journey and success here—my wife being the most important one.  

When I think of it, one thing that I cannot imagine was after meeting Jackie's parents, for her to go to them and say, "I'm going to marry this Cuban refugee." It must have been a shock.

Jackie: I think it was a shock. (laughing) My mother may have said, "Where's Cuba?"

Mike: Yeah, but they turned out to be my biggest supporters.

Q: Why do you think it’s so important to engage the middle & high school age group that Global Nomads works with?

Jackie:  We base everything we do at the Foundation on the current science behind learning and connectivity. We try to give young people an experience that will open up their mindset about themselves and about others. The science is telling us there's a lot going on in the adolescent brain. A feeling of belonging is critical, and also a feeling of autonomy.

Mike:  Junior high school and high school years are very formative. We want to make sure that the young people we are reaching have an opportunity to reflect on their values, to gain a better understanding of what they are fighting for or against.

For us it’s about education. Not just getting good grades – though that's important. But learning to distinguish between what seems too good to be true, what doesn't sound right, to know there is another side to pretty much every story out there. Critical thinking is so important.

Jackie: And storytelling. I think people are just now grasping how amazing the power of storytelling is and how it changes our perception, our outlook, the way we show up in the world. 

Mike: That’s how we make connections. We need to talk to other people. We need to share our experiences, and we need to learn from other people's experiences.

Q: How are you maintaining connections during COVID-19? What makes you feel hopeful?

Jackie: In this time, we can create a story of caring – a story of support.

I don't pass a nurse anymore without saying, "Thank you so much,” and I don't have to tell her what I'm thanking her for. She knows. 

That kind of support connects us. It brings us together and shrinks the distance between people around the globe.