The letters cover the period between 1986 when her career as a b il ateral diplomat started as deputy Head of Mission in East Berlin, behind The Wall, unt il l September 2004 when she ended her posting as Ambassador in New Zealand. There is where a m il lstone in the Dutch Windm il l was given her name.

She left East-Berlin on 7 November 1989 , two days before the Wall opened, to go to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, her first posting in Africa .  

At the end of 1992 she was went back to Europe. Her new posting was Warsaw, Poland, an old country in a new phase of development, after the collapsing of The Wall.

At the end of 1995 she was appointed Ambassador in Cameroon, Gabon, Chad, Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea, residing in Yaoundé, capital of Cameroon.

In November 1999 she took up her last posting as Ambassador in New Zeeland, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati and Tuvalu, residing in Wellington, capital of New Zealand .

In her book she has retained the description and atmosphere of the moment of writing, and so the book gives an interesting insight of the different approaches and lifestyles from country to country.