About

Fulfilling Journeys began as part of my Master’s degree program in Human Rights Practice at the University of Arizona, but its roots go deeper into my lifelong love of travel, history, and the belief that every person deserves dignity. I’ve always been drawn to the stories behind the places we visit. But over time, I began to realize that many of those stories are curated, sanitized, or missing altogether - especially when it comes to marginalized communities.

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That realization first hit me over a decade ago, during a “slum tour” in South Africa. It was eye-opening of course, but it also felt deeply voyeuristic. I left with a gnawing discomfort: was I witnessing, or gawking? That experience planted the seed for this blog. I began to ask: how can we tell these stories better? How can tourism become a tool for truth-telling, not exploitation?

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This blog is my attempt to explore those questions. It’s not necessarily a travel diary; it’s more of a human rights project. One that interrogates how history is remembered, who gets to tell it, and how tourism can either uplift or erase. I had hoped to continue this work after graduation, but life pulled me in other directions with work, Covid, and moving across country. Still, the questions never stopped echoing.

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Now, I’m returning to this space with renewed urgency in 2025. The Trump administration’s efforts to rewrite public history by attacking museums, removing exhibits they deem to be rooted in “DEI,” restoring Confederate monuments, and minimizing the legacy of slavery have made it painfully clear that truth-telling is under siege. And when history is distorted, human rights are too.

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Fulfilling Journeys is my way of pushing back. I’m not an expert; just a traveler committed to listening, learning, and honoring the stories that tourism often forgets. Whether I’m exploring my own city or visiting somewhere new, I’m asking: who gets remembered, who gets erased, and how can we do better?

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Because justice begins with memory. And memory begins with truth.