Jenny Abamu

2 months ago | jamcq.com | Jenny Abamu

Over the course of this year, I’ve been thinking about how I can use my global experiences to make out-of-the-box, more enriching life choices for myself and my children. One idea that I have not only mulled over but have built an entire online testing platform for is spending summers overseas. And I am not alone in my thoughts. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing number of American parents are rethinking how they spend their summer months.

2 months ago | jamcq.com | Jenny Abamu

“Ama yabancı.” But he is a foreigner. Those two words—casually tossed out by a Turkish colleague who didn’t realize I spoke the language well enough to understand him—still echo in my mind. It was 2012, and I taught middle school English in Istanbul. We had just held a contest for the best English-language speech in the school. An Iraqi fifth grader stole the show: He was charismatic, eloquent, and spoke with confidence that put older students to shame.

2 months ago | jamcq.com | Jenny Abamu

I recently met a doctor at a friend’s holiday party. He gave up a high salary to pursue public health work in Southeast Asia with USAID, risking his own safety and health to provide medical care in communities with dire needs. He spoke earnestly about his calling to public health, almost with a religious fervor. He shared stories about having to make do, grappling with tough decisions on who received help and who went without, all while contending with understaffed and under-resourced conditions.

2 months ago | jamcq.com | Jenny Abamu

I recently showed up at a Monday afternoon pickleball clinic, expecting maybe half a dozen newbies. But when I arrived, the local gym floor looked like a party: Around 25 adults filled every available court, paddles in hand, waiting for their turn to play. The instructor joked, calling out to the crowd, “Don’t you all have jobs?” Apparently not—at least not during pickleball hour. The courts filled with teams of two, and some of us even had to linger on the sidelines to rotate in.

Jan 22, 2025 | jamcq.com | Jenny Abamu

This week, the inauguration seemed to speed past me, which is odd because I’m based in the Washington, D.C.-area. I took a moment to pause—first, to wonder about Melania’s hat fashion choice (we all paused, I guess that was the goal), and second, to notice all those tech billionaires lined up, almost in an act of kissing the ring. It said a lot: all these titans of Silicon Valley flying out to make nice with the incoming President.