Tandela and Mark and I returned this week – just ahead of the fog that has stalled air traffic in London! The Canadian Embassy in Nairobi worked on our behalf to get Mark’s papers ready for our departure the same evening – another reason we are very grateful.
Already I miss the warmth, both in temperature and in [...]
After a lengthy and shaky bus trip back to Kampala (7 hours) we’re enroute to Nairobi and the embassy with only two working days to get Mark’s citizenship – here’s praying. We’re getting more rains than usual here – leading to more malaria, more flooding and more potholed roads to destroy the undercarriage of cars, [...]
After 30 years I have returned to Africa and once again been inspired and humbled by the graciousness and resilience of the people; the richness and beauty of the land. Serenaded at night by a host of crickets and by day by a host of exotic birds, we are closing in on the end of [...]
Gulu is the center of UN and NGO assistance with over 1million IDP’s (Internally Displaced Peoples), including orphans and physically/psychologically damaged of all ages. What the children most need, as my friend Dr fred Oola reminded me yesterday, is funding to attend a school or to obtain a technical training to uplift themselves and their [...]
We visited two schools yesterday, both funded by Italian catholic charities, one for boys (roughly 1000) and the other for girls under 12. They shyly related their appreciation for the support to attend boarding school since most come from IDP camps (which we also visited this week, admiring the resilence of families after 10-20 years [...]
This is my first attempt at podcasting. It is from my Town Hall meeting on balancing oil and gas development with environmental responsability in Alberta. The Town Hall was held on March 29 2006 at the Crescent Heights Community Centre in Calgary. The panelists were John Squarek with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, and Jim [...]
I came across this clipping from a Calgary Sun article (Tue. Dec 5, pg. 43) where new premier Ed Stelmach gives us much the same line we’re used to in this province – don’t worry about the growth pressures, the market will solve everything…
Stelmach, whose previous cabinet duties included infrastructure and intergovernmental affairs, has ruled [...]
After 24 days we finally have a court date for the adoption process – 200 miles away from Jinja where Mark was fostered by my daughter Tandy. Judges are hard to find here but the lawyer seems to think we can complete the Uganda part of the process on December 12. We then must fly directly [...]
Tandy’s first contact in Uganda, three years ago, a young Ugandan named John took us to see the orphanage he founded at that time. With some 4 million orphans in Uganda this is one of many. About twenty children from3 -15 years, boys and girls, greeted us shyly at the door, after we made our [...]
A speaker is booming in the parking lot next to this internet cafe with Ugandan reggae. It’s very energetic and not unpleasant on the streets of this quiet town of Mbale. This is World AIDS Day of course and there have been some events around, including a band marching for AIDS support groups and continued [...]