We are a Swiss Danish family who lived 33 years abroad in Ethiopia, India and Singapore. We came back to Switzerland in the year 2000, when we retired.

Our oldest son, born in Denmark, tragically got a brain injury during delivery in the hospital and was severely disabled all his life. He went home to eternity at the age of 26 in Singapore.

Our two other children, a daughter and a son, are married and also live in Switzerland. We have in total 6 grandchildren, 3 girls and 3 boys whom we  enjoy very much.

The book Ethiopia, India and Singapore with Fritzli – is a biography from our many years abroad. The book contains a bit of everything from the different countries and ends with our return to Switzerland. It is written in the Danish language and is still available on Internet, but since I am no longer involved with selling the book, I have so chosen to release it on my homepage and it can therefor be seen here.

Our disabled son Fritzli, as we called him, short term for Fritz, was with us everywhere. It was an advantage, that my husband Fritz had good work in countries, where it was possible to have as much help as needed in the household.

Our many year’s abroad where very contend-rich in many ways. We chose to marry in Ethiopia in the year 1967. At that time Fritz worked for Haile Selasia Fondation, were he was the chef for the kitchen in Ghion Imperial Hotel, the African Union and the Galila Palace Hotel.

Haile Selaisie, who was emperor at that time, had regular stat visits from various countries. African Union had their meetings with the different African leaders at times. Galila Palace Hotel was located 100 km from Addis Abeba in the country-side. It was mostly visited from people getting out of Addis Abeba on weekends.

We came to understanding the people better during those years we lived in Ethiopia and had the opportunity to see something of the country as well. The last year was characterized by rebellion and troubled times. It was for the same reason, we decided to leave the country, one year before the war broke out.

The emperor was assassinated and many lost their life, drought broke out in the countryside; many lost their life due to hunger and diseases. It was a very difficult and tragic time for the people.

We spent 2 years in Switzerland between Ethiopia and India. Fritz worked summer and winter season in 2 different hotels. During that time our daughter was born. It was a great experience to have a healthy child.

At times the future for Fritzli occupied me a lot. What kind of life did the future have for him.  I was also plagued by negativ though against those people, who had been present at his birth. It all changed one evening, when I had a vision of Christ himself in white robes. I was sat free from my accusation and from that day on, was I able to enjoy life more again. I can also talk about it without feeling resentful.

Fritz was shortly afterwards offered a position in New Delhi India. It was like a miracle, because we had likewise considered the idea, that it would be beneficial for all of us to live and work abroad again. Fritz would have a better and more interesting job and I could have all the help I needed in the house.

At first Fritz traveled to India to se if the job was the right position for him. I arrived later on with the children. The Oberoi Imperial in New Delhi, was one of several hotels belonging to the family Oberoi. The hotel had a school, where cooks were trained, before they were sent to the various hotels, beside that, the hotel also catered for some airlines.

It became 2 very busy and interesting years for Fritz. There were large parties and weddings to cater for. Parties under 100 persons were called baby parties.

Oberoi also got the task to cater for the coronation for the king of Buthan, which became an exceptionally interesting experience.

I could easily have as much help, as I wanted. My first experience in that direction was the cast system. Not every one wanted to wash the floor, only a special cast did so.

India has different weather zones. In New Delhi it gets over 40 degree in the summer month. We decided to relocate to the Oberoi Hotel in Singapore after staying 2 years in India.

Our stay in Singapore lasted 24 years. It was very good years in many ways. The small country was only 15 years old when we arrived. Before then it was a part of Malaysia. It consists of 40 square km only, besides some minor islands. We experienced a rapid development in many areas, during the time we lived there.

Fritz worked the first 7 years for Oberoi Imperial Hotel. He there after got the position as master chef for the new flight kitchen. Also here were cooks trained and new airlines were regularly added. All together it became 18 very busy years.

Our third child was born after a few years. Thus my daily life was well filled out. Thankfully also here I could depend on help for the daily cores.

Singapore has good educational schools also for foreigner. Our children attended the Swiss and the German school.

The country is very multi cultural with the 4 major religions and all holydays as well. We experienced, how the Christian faith developed very fast, which also came to influence the country in many ways.

We returned to Switzerland in the year 2000 for various reasons. Fritz had a few years left before his retirement. Until then he worked for Mauritius airline at home in his office with menu planning. Once a month he traveled around to the different countries for food tasting and consulting.

From then on to the year 2015 we drove by car twice a year to Romania for 6  weeks at the time. Fritz dealt with upgrading in hotels more or less free of charge. I visited orphanage homes regularly and helped out were it was needed, which I appreciated personally very much.

The country had just entered the EU and many changes where constantly happening. It was therefor a good time to be part of the development.

We became fully retired from the year 2015 and from then on only took trips for holydays.  We give God the glory for the many interesting experiences and memories.