To Give Back in Abundance
Beyond the vision of creating a world-class emotional health education and training organization, the founders of Gosling International and Marriagology , Dr. Mike and Karen Gosling, also shared the belief that their organization should generate abundance in many forms — health, prosperity, happy passionate marriages and emotional wellness to name a few.
This also meant cultivating a culture in which giving back was a built-in principle governing their actions – When you give, you get. The founders wanted to ensure that they shared their abundance with others. With the benefits their organizations and clients were reaping from their successful emotional health and marriage building system, the question became, “What is the best way for us to share this abundance with the country and people that gave Mike his start in life?”
In 2008 The BULA Project was born!
How Will We Give Back?
Mike & Karen Gosling agreed that the most practical and meaningful way to give back was to bring hope to those people in need in the Fiji Islands whose circumstances prevented them from living safe, healthy lives and achieving their potential. The founders had strong reasons for deciding to give back in this way, the most pressing of which was to simply help others who have not had the advantages that education and living in a developed country like Australia bring, which Mike had experienced when he moved to live in Australia as a young man.
Mike and Karen want to provide improved health and living conditions for families in the Fiji Islands, help with the education and health of children, and create opportunities for improving the lives and well-being of spinal injured and diabetes sufferers. With TheBULAProject.org contributing directly to people in this way, they hope to make a difference in many peoples’ lives in the Fiji Islands.
Our Founders: Dr. Mike & Karen Gosling
Dr. Mike Gosling was born at the Nurse Morrison Centre in Suva, Fiji Islands, on 16 April, 1949. He is a 4th generation Fijian citizen.
Mike’s great grandfather, Capt. Frank Williams arrived in Fiji from Australia in 1872. His grandfather, Captain Harry Gosling, was from Hull, Yorkshire, UK. He settled in the Fiji Islands in the early 20th century at age 21 after the ship on which he was third officer was wrecked in the Yasawa Group on May 10, 1910.
Captain Gosling married Maud Williams and later established the pioneering Fiji stevedoring firm and shipping agency, Williams and Gosling, with his father-in-law, Captain Frank Williams in 1921.
Williams & Gosling Ltd was established from 1936 as a prominent Fiji firm by the Aidney family under the guidance of Senator Don Aidney (deceased 2007) and his son and current Managing Director, David Aidney. In November 2011 W&G celebrated its 75th anniversary as a public company with the opening of its new $30 million complex at Wailekutu, near Suva.
Read W&G’s 75th Anniversary The Information Pallet, August, 2011.
Mike’s father, John (Jack) William Gosling (deceased 1994) was born in Fiji in 1920. He was the youngest officer to attain the rank of Major in the Fiji Military Forces during WWII. Jack Gosling was a successful shipping manager for Burns Philip and exceptional Fiji cricketer and team manager, renown for his medium-paced swing bowling. He was in the Fiji team that once beat the West Indies!
Mike’s mother, Jean (Paddy) Gosling (nee Tarr) (deceased August 30, 2015), was an endearing and generous person who will always made you feel welcome. Jack and Paddy lived at Southport, Gold Coast, Australia, in their latter years, as do Mike’s five siblings and their families.
Mike received his primary and secondary education at the Girls Grammar, Boys Grammar and Suva Grammar Schools in Fiji, graduating with the Fiji Junior Certificate in 1963 and the New Zealand School Certificate in 1965. Mike started his working life on the Suva wharves as a shipping clerk in 1965. From 1970-1973 he was a branch manager of Morris Hedstrom Ltd, a large retail and wholesale island trader in Fiji and the South Pacific, at Suva, Ba, Labasa and Nadi. He later completed BA Accounting and MBA degrees in Adelaide, Australia. His Ph.D. with the University of South Australia examined the emotional intelligence of managers in Singapore.
Mike helps successful leaders cultivate emotionally intelligent behavior for effective leadership. Contact Mike for further details of his programs at www.MikeGosling.com.
Mike was married to Frances Huppatz with whom he has three daughters, Melissa (1969) born in Sydney and identical twins, Kristie and Talei (1972) born in Ba, Fiji. He immigrated to Australia from Fiji in late 1973 and became an Australian citizen on 15 November 1976. Following his separation from Frances in 1974 Mike moved to live and work in Adelaide, South Australia.
Mike married Karen Alm from Adelaide, in May 1977 and they have two sons, Daniel (1990) and William (1993). Karen has been a professional marriage coach, counselor, mental health social worker, author, and teacher of emotional health for more than 35 years. She has personally helped more than 5,600 clients from 85 nationalities … in Australia and South East Asia … develop greater awareness, emotional balance, and wellness in managing the dramas in their lives.
A pioneer in the field of self development and human wellness, Karen is passionate about helping others with marriage coaching, individual, couple and family relationship counselling, Adult ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) issues, and trauma (critical incident) events. She is an expert experienced counselor and a qualified mental health social worker working with the Queensland Government Transition Care Program (TCP) on the Gold Coast.
Mike and Karen are permanent residents of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, where they have lived and worked since November, 2009. Immediately prior to this they spent 12 years in Singapore, where in January 1998 they founded and operated their own company, Gosling International.
Their organization, now based in on the Gold Coast serving committed clients word wide, is a leading international emotional intelligence development, counseling, coaching, training and information products corporation.
Complete details of our marriage development and leadership programs can be found at www.marriagology.com.