Melanie and John's Adventures Around the World

In Belgium, Potato Fans Fret Over Fate of Frites

2011-09-20T19:55:00.001+02:00

Bintjes Are Best, but the Storied Spud Is a Global Dud for Farmers

By FRANCES ROBINSON

KAIN, Belgium—French fries aren't French—they're Belgian. And in a country without a single common language, the humble snack is a potent national symbol.

That's why farmers, fryers and foodies are battling over the future of the potato which made Belgium great: the bintje.

First grown a century ago, the bintje potato flourished in flat, rainy Belgium and fed the nation through two world wars. One legend has it American soldiers got a taste for the snack, taking it on to achieve global fame and misattributing its nationality in the process. And it makes delicious, golden frites, which are then served up with mayonnaise.

"The bintje is irreplaceable in terms of taste and crunchiness," Pierre Lebrun, agronomist and head of the Walloon potato growers' association, said to an audience of hundreds of farmers at Potato Europe 2011, a trade show earlier this month. "It's intrinsic to Belgium."

But this fruitful relationship is in danger. Global commerce demands a long, firm, smooth tuber, the better to produce the frozen, uniform obelisks required by fast-food megakitchens.

The knobby, short bintje just isn't up to the task.

In this country of 10 million, the question Mr. Lebrun poses—"to bintje or not to bintje"—isn't small potatoes. Belgium's per capita annual french fry consumption exceeds America's by about a third. The picture-postcard city of Bruges is home to the world's only french fry museum. There's even an iPhone app to help hungry Belgians locate their nearest fix. It's an empire built on bintje.

Yet while Belgium's potato production has nearly tripled since 1999, bintje cultivation has stagnated since 1996.

Fans rise to bintje's defense.

"Just like Magritte's picture of a pipe, a potato is not just a potato," says Romain Cools, head of Belgapom, the Belgian potato trade body. "You cannot compare bintje with other varieties."

"The bintje is the best potato, it makes the tastiest fries and no other type can rival their delicious taste," says Gerrit Tjepkema, a potato seedling broker who set up a website proclaiming the virtues of the veteran variety, which he sells along with others.

There are rules, of course.

"You have to fry them twice in beef dripping, once at 160 degrees, then again at about 175, and they mustn't be cut too thinly," says Paul Ilegems, author of four books on fries and fritkots, the takeout stands that fry them.

"Fritkots are like Belgium, they're makeshift, temporary structures, not like a McDonald's," says the retired professor from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. "Belgium doesn't have a national symbol, there's no Eiffel Tower, but we have frites."

He recounts the history of the bintje, created in the early 20th century by a Dutch schoolteacher, who named the new variety after one of his pupils, a girl called Bintje.

"A very good potato," he concludes.

The potato fry is all the more significant because the country is barely holding together. After decades of tension between Dutch-speaking Flanders in the North and Francophone Wallonia in the South, the last elections in June 2010 led to a political deadlock which has seen the country without a federal government for 450 days. Several months in, a viral email started circulating: 'Civil War in Belgium!' it warned, above a picture of french fries covered in ketchup mimicking two armies facing off.

"In Belgium we eat potatoes almost every day," says Benedicte Morel as she lined up at a Brussels fritkot, Maison Antoine, at lunchtime on Thursday. "And the bintje is the most famous, it's best for fries."

Dozens of people line up at Maison Antoine, which has been serving up frites for 60 years. A Spanish couple consulting their foodie guide book, civil servants from the nearby European Commission, as well as Belgians like Ms. Morel, wait for fries and one of a dozen mayonnaise-based sauces.

Displayed on a bulletin board are celebrity visitors, including Johnny Hallyday, the French rocker who came to buy Maison Antoine's frites in his red Ferrari.

An hour's train ride away, Potato Europe 2011 took place this month in fields outside the medieval city of Tournai. Farmers, processors and root vegetable buyers from Japan, Russia, Turkey and across the continent gathered to see and buy everything from new breeds of spuds to sorting lines for their harvests. They also enjoyed ultra-fresh fries, washed down with beer.

In a test field, gleaming new four-lane harvesters churned over the clay-rich soil as boot-clad farmers looked on approvingly. They pulled up popular varieties of tuber such as challenger, innovator and ramos—not a bintje in sight.

"Fifteen years ago, everything we handled was bintje; now it's around 5%," says Farm Frites' potato procurement director Leon Boer at the company's trade-fair stand. The company is one of the world's largest potato processors. "Fast food needs more length and product consistency."

Global consumers like their fries at least 40 millimeters long, or about 1.6 inches—and bintjes usually peak at about 35 millimeters, or about 1.4 inches.

It's a great potato, but its time is up, some say.

"My great-grandfather, who founded the company, used to import them, they did well in Belgian soil," says Francis Binst, general manager of Binst Breeding & Selection, which sells potato seedlings, including bintje, to Belgium's farmers. "But now other varieties have better yields due to climate change, the bintje is too sensitive."

At the trade fair, many plant scientists and frying experts concurred with Mr. Binst. Too unpredictable, and dangerously prone to mildew and slugs, they say.

But Mr. Cools, the head of the Belgian potato trade body, insists the talk of inconsistency of the potato quality is overdone.

"It looks likely bintje will do very well again this year," he says. "It's the potato that made our industry great."

PRESS RELEASE: GLOBAL FUND WELCOMES CALL BY INDEPENDENT HIGH LEVEL PANEL FOR STRONGER FINANCIAL SAFEGUARDS

2011-09-19T11:18:00.001+02:00

English Français

19 September 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GLOBAL FUND WELCOMES CALL BY INDEPENDENT HIGH LEVEL PANEL FOR STRONGER FINANCIAL SAFEGUARDS

Geneva: An independent panel of distinguished individuals commissioned by the Global Fund to review its financial controls has recommended major changes in the way the Global Fund does its business and manages its grants.

The panel, co-chaired by former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt and former President of Botswana Festus Mogae, submitted its report to the Global Fund’s Board today after six months of examining Global Fund procedures and grants in recipient countries.

The Panel finds that the Global Fund needs to focus much more on its core business of managing grants to save and protect lives. It recommends improving financial and Board oversight, simplifying grant application processes, and putting in place a robust risk management framework.

The Global Fund welcomes the findings and recommendations: “The panel’s report provides a great opportunity to sharpen the focus of the Global Fund and make it fit for the future,” said Simon Bland, Chair of the Global Fund’s Board. “We commissioned the panel to give us an honest, hard look at the institution from the outside and that is exactly what we have got. The panel’s findings will play a central role in accelerating reform. As an organization we are totally committed to making the necessary changes to strengthen oversight, improve impact, value for money and sustainability.”

The Global Fund’s Board will come together for a special meeting on 26 September in Geneva to consider the report’s findings and prepare an action plan and will meet again in November for its regular meeting to consider larger changes to the organization’s governance structure, strategy and work processes.

The report points out that the Global Fund has played a key role in saving millions of lives in the fight against the three diseases. However, it should now quickly transition from an organization responding to an emergency to a financing institution that is geared towards a sustainable response to the demands for health investments by providing maximum accountability, comprehensive risk management, efficiency and value for money.

“I have seen in Lesotho, as has been the case in a number of countries, that not only has despair turned to hope but that hundreds of thousands of children have been born free from HIV, and millions of people are alive to bring up their children,” says Dr Mphu Ramatlapeng, Minister of Health and Social Welfare of Lesotho and Vice Chair of the Global Fund Board. “The Global Fund is vital to the continued fight against these diseases.”

“The Global Fund greatly appreciates the hard work of the Panel,” added Mr Bland. “It has analyzed mountains of documents, conducted hundreds of interviews and travelled to 13 countries in a very short time. We are most grateful for their effort.”

In addition to Governor Leavitt and President Mogae the Panel consisted of Zeinab Bashir El Bakri, Director, Office of His Highness the Prime Minister of Kuwait and former Vice-President Sector Operations of the African Development Bank;Norbert Hauser, Germany’s former Vice-President of the Federal Court of Audit; Gabriel Jaramillo, Chairman of the Sovereign Bank Board and Special Advisor at the United Nations Secretary-General Office of the Special Envoy for Malaria; The Honorable Barry O’Keefe, Consultant, Clayton UTZ Sydney and former Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (Australia); and Claude Rubinowicz, Chief Executive for France’s Agence du patrimoine immatériel de l’État (APIE, Agency for Public Intangibles of France) and former Inspecteur Général des Finances.

For a copy of the High Level Panel Report please visit: http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/highlevelpanel/

*****

The Global Fund is a unique, public-private partnership and international financing institution dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS, TB and malaria. This partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities represents an innovative approach to international health financing. The Global Fund’s model is based on the concepts of country ownership and performance-based funding, which means that people in countries implement their own programs based on their priorities and the Global Fund provides financing on the condition that verifiable results are achieved.

Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has become the main financier of programs to fight AIDS, TB and malaria, with approved funding of US$ 22.4 billion for more than 600 programs in 150 countries. The Global Fund works in close collaboration with other bilateral and multilateral organizations to supplement existing efforts in dealing with the three diseases.

For more information, please contact:

Andrew Hurst

Tel: +41 587911672

Email: Andrew.Hurst@theglobalfund.org

Nalin Mehta

Tel: +41 58 791 1821

Email: nalin.mehta@theglobalfund.org

Veronique Taveau

Tel: +41 58 791 1128

Email: veronique.taveau@theglobalfund.org

Nancy Chin-Heimerl

Tel: +41 58 791 1206

Email: Nancy.Chin@theglobalfund.org

Marcela Rojo

Tel: +41 58 791 1679Email: marcela.rojo@theglobalfund.org

Follow the Global Fund on Twitter: http://twitter.com/globalfundnews

Join the Global Fund on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theglobalfund

Le 19 septembre 2011

LE FONDS MONDIAL SALUE L’APPEL LANCÉ PAR LE GROUPE INDÉPENDANT DE HAUT NIVEAU EN FAVEUR D’UN RENFORCEMENT DES MESURES DE PROTECTION FINANCIÈRE

Genève : Un groupe indépendant de personnalités de premier plan chargé par le Fonds mondial d’examiner ses contrôles financiers recommande de changer en profondeur le mode de fonctionnement de l’organisation et sa gestion des subventions.

Présidé conjointement par Michael O. Leavitt, qui a été Secrétaire à la santé et aux affaires sociales dans le gouvernement des États-Unis, et Festus Mogae, ancien Président du Botswana, le groupe a remis aujourd’hui son rapport au Conseil d’administration du Fonds mondial au terme de six mois passés à examiner les procédures et les subventions de cette organisation.

Il ressort des conclusions du groupe que le Fonds mondial doit clairement se recentrer sur son activité de base, à savoir la gestion de subventions destinées à sauver et à protéger des vies humaines. Il recommande une amélioration du suivi financier, un renforcement des fonctions de contrôle du Conseil d’administration, une simplification des procédures de demande de subvention et la mise en place d’un cadre solide de gestion des risques.

Le Fonds mondial salue ces conclusions et ces recommandations. « Le rapport du groupe de haut niveau ouvre des possibilités exceptionnelles de recentrer le Fonds mondial et de mieux l’adapter à l’avenir », a déclaré Simon Bland, Président du Conseil d’administration du Fonds mondial. « Nous avions chargé le groupe de nous donner un avis extérieur honnête et sans complaisance sur notre institution et c’est exactement ce que nous avons obtenu. Les conclusions auxquelles le groupe a abouti seront au cœur de l’accélération de nos réformes. En tant qu’organisation, nous nous engageons sans réserve à apporter les changements qui s’imposent pour renforcer les mesures de contrôle, améliorer notre impact, optimiser l’utilisation de nos ressources et garantir la pérennité de notre action. »

Le Conseil d’administration du Fonds mondial tiendra une réunion extraordinaire à Genève, le 26 septembre, afin d’examiner les conclusions de ce rapport et de mettre sur pied un plan d’action. Il se réunira à nouveau en novembre pour une réunion ordinaire au cours de laquelle il réfléchira à des changements de plus grande ampleur à apporter aux structures de gouvernance, à la stratégie et aux procédures de travail de l’organisation.

Le rapport souligne que le Fonds mondial a assumé un rôle prépondérant pour sauver la vie de millions de personnes dans le combat mené contre les trois maladies. Toutefois, il lui faut désormais évoluer pour passer rapidement d’une organisation réactive à des situations d’urgence à une institution financière appelée à apporter une réponse durable aux exigences des investissements dans le domaine de la santé en garantissant le plus haut degré de responsabilité, de gestion globale des risques, d’efficacité et d’optimisation des ressources.

« J’ai pu constater au Lesotho – mais cela vaut pour bien d’autres pays – que non seulement l’espoir a pris le pas sur le désespoir, mais également que des centaines de milliers d’enfants ont vu le jour sans être porteurs du VIH et que des millions de personnes sont en vie pour pouvoir élever leurs enfants », déclare Mme Mphu Ramatlapeng, Ministre de la Santé et des affaires sociales du Lesotho et Vice-présidente du Conseil d’administration. « Le Fonds mondial est un élément essentiel dans la poursuite de la lutte contre ces maladies. »

« Le Fonds mondial apprécie au plus haut point le dur labeur accompli par le groupe, a ajouté M. Bland. Il a passé en revue des piles gigantesques de documents, mené des centaines d’entretiens et voyagé dans 13 pays dans un laps de temps très bref. Nous sommes extrêmement reconnaissants des efforts que ses membres ont déployés. »

Outre le Gouverneur Leavitt et le Président Mogae, le groupe se composait de Zeinab Bashir El Bakri, Directrice de cabinet de Son Altesse le Premier Ministre du Koweït et ancienne Vice-présidente de la Banque africaine de développement chargée des opérations sectorielles ; de Norbert Hauser, ancien Vice-président de la Cour fédérale des comptes d’Allemagne ; de Gabriel Jaramillo, Président du Conseil d’administration de la Sovereign Bank et conseiller spécial au bureau de l’Envoyé spécial du Secrétaire général des Nations Unies pour le paludisme ; de Barry O’Keefe, consultant pour Clayton UTZ Sydney et ancien juge de la Cour suprême de Nouvelle-Galles du Sud (Australie) ; et de Claude Rubinowicz, Directeur général de l’Agence française du patrimoine immatériel de l’État et ancien Inspecteur général des finances.

Pour obtenir une copie du rapport, veuillez cliquer sur le lien : http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/highlevelpanel/

Le Fonds mondial est un partenariat sans équivalent entre le public et le privé et une institution financière internationale dont la mission est d'attirer et de décaisser des fonds supplémentaires pour la prévention et le traitement du sida, de la tuberculose et du paludisme. Ce partenariat entre gouvernements, société civile, secteur privé et communautés affectées s’inscrit dans une démarche novatrice de financement international consacré à la santé. Le modèle du Fonds mondial s’appuie sur les notions d’appropriation par les pays et de financement selon les résultats, ce qui signifie que les pays mettent en œuvre leurs propres programmes en fonction de leurs priorités et que le Fonds mondial en assure le financement pour autant qu’ils donnent des résultats susceptibles d’être vérifiés.

Depuis sa création en 2002, Le Fonds mondial est devenu la principale source de financement des programmes de lutte contre le sida, la tuberculose et le paludisme en approuvant le financement de subventions pour un montant total de 22,4 milliards de dollars US alloués à plus de 600 programmes dans 150 pays. En étroite collaboration avec d'autres organisations bilatérales et multilatérales, le Fonds mondial apporte sa contribution à la lutte menée contre les trois maladies.

Pour tout supplément d’information, veuillez contacter :

Veronique Taveau

Courriel : veronique.taveau@theglobalfund.org

Portable: +41 79362 9704

Suivez le Fonds mondial sur Twitter : http://twitter.com/globalfundnews

Rejoignez le Fonds mondial sur Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/theglobalfund

Le Muranie on rue Merciere (Lyon, France)

2011-09-18T18:31:00.001+02:00

Il Vicoletto: Best restaurant in Stresa, Italy

2011-09-18T18:21:00.003+02:00

Join the fight to save lives

2011-09-16T12:55:00.002+02:00

By 2015, we can practically end mother-to-child transmission of HIV and dramatically cut the number of people who die every year from tuberculosis and malaria. This would mean achieving the first HIV-free generation -- a goal shared by everyone working to fight these diseases, and a goal we're on track to reach thanks to the work of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and its partners.

Millions more lives saved from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and an HIV-free generation by 2015.

Morgan Freeman, Annie Lennox, Jeremy Irons, Alan Cumming, Djimon Hounsou, Deepak Chopra and many others have pledged their support for these goals. Sign your name and join us!

To overcome AIDS, malaria, and TB, the United States joined nations from around the world to develop the Global Fund, an innovative approach to global health. Formed in 2002, the Global Fund unites dedicated citizens, scientific innovators, and visionary governments together with commitment and resources in a common mission: winning the war against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

The Global Fund has saved more than 7.7 million lives by funding treatment and preventative care programs across the planet. But these programs are at risk. By adding your signature, you join Annie Lennox, Morgan Freeman and others calling for a stronger, healthier world. Co-sign the letter of support today.

The strategy works. It's already helped save more than 6.5 million lives. This year, Global Fund-supported programs will help save over a million lives.

In only a few years, no child will be born with HIV. Hundreds of thousands of children will no longer die from malaria. Deaths due to tuberculosis will be cut in half.

But in a war against disease, we must remain vigilant. There is still much work to be done.

Join the fight to save lives.

We simply cannot win the war against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria without the vocal support of millions of people throughout the world. Please, show your support for the Global Fund.

Together, we have the power to keep saving one million lives every year.

David Kato Vision & Voice Award Launched

2011-09-16T10:43:00.002+02:00

On 26 January 2011, Ugandan human rights defender David Kato was murdered. As the Litigation and Advocacy Officer with Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), David campaigned tirelessly for human rights and particularly for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people across Africa. His campaigning work lead him to work with a number of organizations around the world including the Global Fund and UNAIDS.

In recognition of his life and courage, and the continued struggle of LGBTI individuals around the world, the Global Fund has joined IPPF and other partners committed to eliminating violence, stigma and discrimination have established the David Kato Vision & Voice Award. This award is to be presented annually to an individual who demonstrates courage and outstanding leadership in advocating for the sexual rights of LGBTI individuals, particularly in environments where they face continued rejection, marginalization, isolation and persecution. Nominations for the award are now open and can be submitted until 1 November 2011. Nominations are accepted for any individual whose leadership and life work has directly contributed to addressing the sexual rights of LGBTI people in their community. The award recipient will be announced on Human Rights Day (10 December 2011) and will be invited to an event at the end of January 2012 to collect the award.

For further information and to submit a nomination, please visit the award website: http://www.visionandvoiceaward.com/

A collection of feelings...

2011-02-24T20:11:00.002+01:00

My Angel Baby

To the baby that I carried

But never seen your eyes

Or tell you how much I loved you

Or ever to hear your cries.

You will never be forgotten

The excitement we had for your coming.

When I realized I'd never hold you,

The feeling I had was numbing.

My angel baby is who you are.

My angel baby you'll always be.

Your loving memory will live in my heart

So you will always be right here with me.

A Part Of Me

As I sit and remember

When you were still a part of me

I try to forget...

Your life was never meant to be.

You were given a life, a soul, a name

But now things will never be the same.

You were mine to give life to

Though only for a while

Things had changed...

I will never see your smile.

Yet my love for you

Will never disappear

Though your voice, your laugh,

I will never get to hear.

You will always be my baby

Though I've never seen your face.

Not a thing in this world

Can ever take your place.

They Say Love is Blind

They say love is blind and you made this true.

I never got to place you in a outfit either pink or blue.

Never rocked you in my arms as you quietly slept.

Not one tear did i get to dry as you sadly wept.

I loved you none the less with all of my heart.

My world crashing down when we were torn apart.

I dream of you wrapped in a blanket of a white angel wing.

The lullaby you hear is the comfort I wanted to bring.

I still hold you everyday the only way i know how.

God doesn't take my love for you this much he does allow.

It is as stong as it would have been if I would have seen you.

After my journey in life is done I will carry my love through.

It will carry me straight to you, you will never be hard to find.

We will be together and I will hold the love that was blind.

Looking into eyes that are mine that show a soul I made.

I will place you upon my chest where you always should have laid.

They say love is blind and you made this come true.

I will place you in an outfit either pink or blue.

I will rock you in my arms as you quietly sleep.

I will dry your tears as you happily weep.

I Did Not Expect This

This is natural, they say

It is all for the best

I cannot move past this heartache

This pain in my chest

Those days were surreal

Did this truly just occur

Happiness turned to sorrow

My life now a blur

This is natural, they say

I knew I was going to lose you

The most difficult emotion

There was nothing I could do

I am given no explanation

This is natural, they say

Were you pink or were you blue

My complexion is now grey

Trying to move on

A forward step everyday

I will always remember you

This is natural, they say

Angel of my Tears

How do you love a person

who never got to be,

or try to envision a face

you never got to see?

How do you mourn the death of one

who never got to live.

When there's nothing to feel good about

and nothing to forgive?

I love you, my little baby,

my companion of the night.

Wandering through my lonely hours,

beautiful and bright.

What does it mean to die before

you ever were born,

to live the lovely night of life

and never see the dawn?

Ah! My little baby,

you lived like anyone!

Life's a burst of joy and pain.

And then like yours, it's done.

I love you, my little baby,

just as if you'd lived for years.

No more, no less, I think of you,

the Angel of my tears.

- Author Unknown

Piece of my Heart

How was it to be that I now am robbed of such joy?

Of watching you grow or finding out if you’re a girl or boy.

Never did I get to hear your cries or even see your tears,

Or kiss your little brow and hug away your fears.

I am just left here now with pain and few memories,

Of the days that were happy with you inside of me.

For you were loved and wanted oh so much,

What I would give just to have felt your touch.

The hours crawl by yet the time does not seem to slow,

I want to scream out to the world you are gone, why don’t they know?

How is the world still turning when I feel it should have stopped?

Why are people laughing and living when it feels like I can not?

Not enough tears can be shed to express the love we have for you,

No words can describe what we all wanted to be able to do.

I would have just held you and breathed in your sweet smell,

Shouted with joy and phoned all the people we wanted to tell.

But this time we called loved ones with the sad sad news,

That too little were you to live among us and we were meant to lose.

But nothing will ever erase those twelve weeks we had together,

For a piece of my heart you now hold always and forever.

Wasn’t meant to be….

2011-02-24T18:16:00.001+01:00

Not this one

Not this time

The first one in my life

The miracle that never came to be

Now my belly is empty

And my heart has been left alone

Hopes were being built

Dreams being promised

Never knowing why

Always wondering what could have been

I am sorry you never came to be

The little button that was inside of me

You can.....

2011-02-24T12:10:00.003+01:00

You can shed tears that she is gone or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she’ll come back or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left.
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her and only that she is gone or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back or you can do what she’d want! Smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

2011-02-24T12:04:00.005+01:00

Love of Mother Poem

Now that I am gone,
Remember me with smiles and laughter.
And if you need to cry,
Cry with your brother or sister
Who walks in grief beside you.
And when you need me,
Put your arms around anyone
And give to them what you need to give to me.
There are so many who need so much.
I want to leave you something - -
Something much better than words or sounds.
Look for me in the people I’ve known
Or helped in some special way.
Let me live in your heart
As well as in your mind.
You can love me most
By letting your love reach out to our loved ones,
By embracing them and living in their love.
Love does not die, people do.
So, when all that’s left of me is love,
Give me away as best you can.

2011-02-02T19:33:00.004+01:00

"Gone From My Sight"

By Barbara Karnes

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says “There, she is gone!”

“Gone where?”

Gone from my sight. This is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says: “There, she is gone!” there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: “Here she comes!”

And that is dying.

A celebration of the life of Lois (Smith) Illingworth

2011-02-02T18:32:00.002+01:00

Peacefully on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 in her 85th year surrounded by her loving family.

Daughter of the late Charlotte and William Smith. Beloved wife of the late William Hazen. Loving mother of Linda (Scott Burrell), Judi, Carol (Chris Boland), Paulene (Andre Bourgault), Jo-Anne, Deb (Malcolm Ravells), Shaun (Isabelle Martineau), Tracy (Lorna Wilson), Darren (Emily Duquette), Michael, Kerri (Andre Mazhar) and Melanie (John Kotsopoulos). Cherished grandmother of Jason Boland (deceased), Sacha Gagnon (Lisa), Trevor Curren (Jen), Courtney Williams (Ryan), Jesse Illingworth, Taylor Illingworth, Charlotte and Rebecca Illingworth, William and Eva Mazhar. Great-Grammie Oosie to Brooke, Austin and Liam Gagnon, Lenni Illingworth, Tazzy Curren and the expected little button. Dear sister of the late Kenny, Corky, Leonard, Elaine, and Bev.

Family and friends may visit at the West Chapel of Hulse Playfair & McGarry, 150 Woodroffe Ave at Richmond Road Thursday 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Visitation will also be held after 10 a.m. Friday, February 4, 2011 at Woodroffe United Church, 207 Woodroffe Ave until service time at 11 a.m. Interment to follow in the spring at Auld Kirk Cemetery, Almonte.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the Canadian Cancer Society, Canadian Diabetes Association or The Heart and Stroke Foundation would be appreciated.

Kots' Best of Athens

2011-01-06T13:51:00.000+01:00

At Athens Airport, grab the free “2Board Magazine”. It has some great itineraries and recommendations

Best Museums

New Acropolis Museum (grab a coffee or lunch on the top floor deck with incredible views of the Parthenon)
Archaeological Museum (renovated before the Athens Olympics in 2004)
Benaki Museum (for a nice overview of Greek history, from ancient to modern)
Cycladic Art Museum (also a good top floor spot for lunch with a view)
Byzantine Museum

Best Tourist Sites

Acropolis/Parthenon
Archaeological Walk around the Acropolis (pedestrian area goes around the entire parameter of the site -- superb walk, many places to also take a break)
Lycabettus Hill and St George Church (for huge views of Athens including the Acropolis)
Panathinaikon Stadium (site of first modern Olympic games)
Zappeion (there was a kids Christmas market there, not sure if still up -- area can be reached by foot from the Panathinaikon stadium or from Constitution Sq)
Roman Agora (in the Plaka area)
Plaka (touristy but nice to walk through all the small streets. If you want to eat in this area, don’t go to places with photos of their food or menus that prioritise English over Greek)
Syntagma (Constitution Sq) -- enjoy the ceremonial guard and their wacky outfits

Best Areas for Coffee/Drinks

Kolonaki (Tsakalof St, Griveon/Delfon streets, Skoufa St)
Adrianou (also for food)
Syntagma (Valaoritou Street, 6th floor of “Public” store on Syntagma Sq for great views)
Makrigianni (pedestrian area beside the new Acropolis Museum)
Gazi (funky former industrial area, near Thisseion metro station)
Glyfada (coffee, food, stores, beach front walks)
Faliro Boardwalk (Ostria café has access to the beach)
Mikrolimano (Piraeus)

Best Shopping Areas

1. Monastiraki flea market

2. Ermou Street (all the major labels -- vibrant pedestrian street)

3. Kolonaki (for higher end stuff)

4. Glyfada

Restaurants

1. For the quintessential souvlaki experience go to the base of Mitropoleos Street right at Monastiraki square. There are three classic restaurants there that spill on to each other (Thanasis, Savvas and Bairaktaris)

2. Adrianou (pedestrian street running between Monastiraki to Thisseion metro stations -- great Acropolis views

a few specific recommendations:

“Fasoli”, “Meat Bar”, “Oikeio”, “Kalamaki Kolonaki” (Kolonaki)
“Kuzina” (Adrianou)
“Alatsi” (Museum belt, near Hilton)
“Sardelles” and “Mamacas” (Gazi)
Ariston (for hand made Greek cheese, spinach and other pies -- near Syntagma on Voulis St).
“Palia Taverna Tou Psarra” (Plaka -- touristy but nice location)

Musical entertainment: Bouzoukia

Not for the faint of heart, but classically Greek. On Friday or Saturday nights only, see Sakis Rouvas at Athinon Arena (Piraeus Street) – no reservation for bar area/reservation needed for table. But warning, the party starts, very, very, late.

Kids

1. Kinepolis in Kifisia

2. Technopolis (fun exhibits in Gazi)

3. Avenue Mall

Only 8 days left! Please support this campaign

2010-09-27T22:28:00.001+02:00

Born HIV Free

Born HIV Free is a campaign by the Global Fund to mobilize public support for a world where no child is born with HIV by 2015. Originated and supported by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Global Fund Ambassador, this is one of the most ambitious campaigns of its kind.

Born HIV Free will run until the key replenishment meeting of the Global Fund in New York in October, in order to mobilize public support for donors’ decisions which will determine whether the battle to virtually eliminate mother to child transmission of the virus will be won or lost.

Please put an end to the transmission of HIV from mothers to their children by supporting your country’s contribution to the Global Fund.

Sign up here:

http://www.bornhivfree.org/f/#/en/home

Also, see the videos on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/bornhivfree

We need 500,000 signatures by Thursday 30th September 2010!

2010-09-27T22:24:00.002+02:00

Third Voluntary Replenishment Meeting

2010 marks the Third Voluntary Replenishment Process. The replenishment process is critical not only to the future of the Global Fund, but also to many millions of people affected and infected by HIV, TB and Malaria around the world and whom depend on it for life-saving treatment, commodities, support, and services. The replenishment is not just about money.

The Third Voluntary Replenishment Meeting will be held in New York, from 4th to 5th October 2010. International leaders, governments and donors will come together to ‘pledge‘ their financial commitments to the Global Fund for the coming three years. The replenishment must raise at least USD$20 billion if the extraordinary gains made by the Global Fund over the past decade are to be sustained and accelerated. While many may argue that USD$20 billion is a huge sum in these ‘resource constrained’ times, it is a reasonable investment which will continue to pay substantial dividends over many years, when compared to the USD$700 billion deployed overnight to bail out Wall Street banks during the financial meltdown.

Contributing to the success of the Global Fund is its commitment to the core principles of demand-driven, country-owned responses. Some international donors have pre-empted the outcome of the Third Voluntary Replenishment, and have begun calling for caps on the amount of funding to be made available for each round. This would be a disastrous consequence, going against the very basic foundation of which the Global Fund was established upon, and would leave countries and communities without the resources identified as necessary to effectively respond to HIV, TB and Malaria.

In signing the letter, we demonstrate our support for the Global Fund and demand that governments commit to the health of communities across the world by increasing their financial contribution to the Global Fund and raising the USD$20 billion at the Third Voluntary Replenishment.

We need 500,000 signatures by Thursday 30th September 2010!

Please sign here

http://www.globalfundreplenishment.org/

Return to Africa

2010-03-02T18:33:00.000+01:00

It was my first time back in Africa since I left Equatorial Guinea in December 2008. This is the Africa I remember, this is the Africa that keeps drawing me back. Equatorial Guinea was not Africa, it was its own unique “dark” version of a dark continent a century ago. Being in Nairobi and Juba brings me back.. to other times, other memories, other lives, other reasons for being there. Surprisingly, even being at the UNDP office in Sudan brought back happier memories of Kigali and Kampala. UNDP Equatorial Guinea was not an office. It was an impound lot, a waste site, a decaying corner of a decaying street.

The air in Nairobi was cool but surprisingly refreshing, despite the exhaust fumes! I stayed with Sabine and her family (Jobo, Jimmy and Sophie). Westlands is so lush. I went to bed with birds singing and I woke up to birds singing! I had mangos fresh off the tree.

It was surreal seeing Sabine in Nairobi after all these years (2006). She was great letting me - and my back and forth itinerary – stay with her and her family.

My time in Nairobi was short-lived (and leisure time non-existent) because of a full-day meeting on my only full day there. I took the morning flight (jet link) to Juba, South Sudan. It wasn’t as bad as it was played out to be. The Quality Hotel wasn’t as bad as I was made to believe. Juba itself is like a town being built from scratch. It consists of roads, containers and Sudanese huts. At 35-38 degrees, the weather was not unbearably hot. However, I can’t imagine what it would feel like at 40 to 42 degrees in a container with no air-conditioning! It was even more surreal to see Sujitha (from UNDP Rwanda). It was great to have a quick catch-up over lunch.

In Khartoum, we stayed at the Al Salam Rotana. An oasis in the desert! The children wear military camouflages as their school uniforms! It was pretty… interesting to see.

The Sudanese are a mix of north Africa/Middle East and black Africa. The Dinkas are amazingly tall. I had no idea people could be so tall!

On my back and forth to and from Nairobi to Juba and Khartoum, I was able to squeeze in a dinner with Sabine at an Ethiopian restaurant, nyama choma just before another flight, and an overnight safari in Lake Nakuru.

Ciao Italia!

2009-12-16T21:58:00.000+01:00

This past weekend (11 to 13 December 2009) JK and I drove to Italy, reason being Axel’s 40^th birthday. JK picked me up at work and we drove straight to Turin. We stayed at the amazing Le Méridien Lingotto which is located in a converted Fiat factory. The hotel itself is what you would hope for in a renovated warehouse: high ceilings and good use of old materials (furniture, photos, windows, etc.). At 21:30, we threw our bags in the room (#325) and headed to La Pista restaurant. La Pista is located on the top floor (4^th) of the same building as the Lingotto, the same floor as the Fiat test track. We indulged ourselves by going for two different degustation menus. What a steal for four courses with wine! Unfortunately, I only made it through the first two courses (antipasti and primi piatti) because of some lingering stomach bug from Indonesia. So, JK ate most of my main course and I took the dessert in a doggy bag!

....Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention “la piece de resistance” for car lovers: the roof has a race track where Fiat tested their cars.

On Saturday morning, JK and I walked around the entire track (photos will be posted on Flickr later). We then headed to Eataly for our gourmet fix. Eataly is perhaps the best Italian marketplace ever!

After loading up, we then drove to Florence. We stayed at the Hotel Kraft. It had old world charm. We celebrated Axel’s birthday with Carlos and 30 of his other friends at Acqua al 2. The staff kept bringing bottle after bottle of red wine and plate after plate of pasta (I stopped counting at 5) followed by a huge plate of grilled beef, rocket, tomatoes, and parmesan. It was almost buffet-style! Unfortunately my stomach bugs were restless and wouldn’t let me enjoy the smorgasbord.

The following day (Sunday 13 December) stored were open as a “special” exception for Christmas. So, we explored the tourist sites (Piazza della Signoria and Palazzo Vecchio, Il Duomo - Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Ponte Vecchio, etc.) while popping into stores.

After enjoying a coffee and cookies at Axel and Silvia’s apartment, we then drove the 6+ hours back to Geneva.

Johnny K’s Brussels “Cheat Sheet”

2009-11-02T09:46:00.000+01:00

In this post, JohnnyK provides you with his tried-and-true tips for a successful Brussels adventure.

Sites:

• Grand Place (the ultimate square!)
• Galéries St-Hubert (gorgeous covered arcade/mall – the first in Northern Europe)
• Place du Sablon (a visit to chocolatier Marcolini is a must – it is open on Sunday; also check out the patissier Wittamer for mean cakes)
• Palais du Justice (an immense building – it stands in the upper town where you will get nice views of Brussels).
• Avenue Louise (this is just 3 minutes walk from Justice; posh shopping but all closed on a Sunday; however, small pedestrian streets off Louise have some nice cafes that are open on Sunday)
• Royal Palace (boring building but beautiful park across the street)
• Place du Jeu de Balle (a must on a Sunday morning – a nice square with one of Europe’s most famous flea markets. Restaurants on the N-E corner serve traditional soups and do brisk business on that morning).
• Musée des Beaux Arts (superb collection and small crowds relative to other big cities – go there if its raining; there is a delicious cafe in there as well)
• Comic strip museum – very wacky – classic Belgium!
• Place des Martyrs (nice symmetric square off the main commercial pedestrian area of rue Neuve)
• Manneken Pis (ridiculous but a must)

Classic walks:

Through the winding streets around Grand Place and the Galleries Saint-Hubert, including rue des Bouchers (don’t eat there, unless you go to Vincent or Chez Leon) and on the other side of the Grand Place towards the Manneken Pis (note that the bar directly across the street has an amazing beer selection and is worth a quick break, even if it is in the heart of tourist land).

Also walk west down from the Grand Place, past the Bourse (there is an excellent authentic Belgian frites place on the south side of the Bourse), across the street and into Saint-Gery. There are lots of 30-something cafes and bars there and I highly recommend you take a stroll in the evening. Further west there is the trendy street Antoine Dansaert which leads to a few more fantastic squares (I think near your hotel): Place Saint-Catherine and Place du Vieux Marche-Aux-Grains.

Get an Art Nouveau map at the tourist info centre (they cost €2 I think). The best Art Nouveau areas are just outside the city centre. Square Ambiorix has some classics and is just a quick metro ride away. It is also adjacent to the admittedly underwhelming EU district. Even better, the Horta Museum (Horta was one of the big Art Nouveau architects) is on rue Americaine, which is at the beginning of a fantastic neighbourhood with Place du Chatelain as its centre. Lots of restaurants off of this area. Beautiful buildings too.

On Sunday morning head over to Jeu de Balle to check out the awesome flea market and then walk through the streets of the traditionally working class area of Marolles. The best streets are rue Haute and rue Blaes. Both have shops open on Sunday (shocking!) and both lead you back toward the Sablon (for chocolate and the Musee des Beaux Arts!) or else to a small square (Place Breugel) where there is a public glass elevator that takes you right up to the Palais de Justice (for nice views).

Places to avoid:

Place de la Monnaie (horrible square – fortunately being rebuilt – home to famous theatre where Belgian “revolution” began).

Restaurants:

Go for classic Belgian food! This is comprised of dishes like: carbonade (Flemish beef stew in beer), jamboneaux (the most amazing leg of pork in a mustard sauce), chicons farcis (endives – a very rich and tasty Belgian specialty), moules/frites and steak/frites, lapin a la kriek/geuze (two different types of Belgian beer), Waterzooi (nice creamy stew), and stoemp (a potato mash with huge local sausages on top). Remember, massive portions and French tastes! You will not be disappointed.

I recommend the restaurant “Fin de Siecle” near your hotel on Rue des Chartreux 9. The sign is very small and it is definitely a local scene, so look first for the big “Greenwich” café sign (the Greenwich is a famous chess café of the intelligentsia). It is right beside it. If it is too full, try right across the street in the triangle-shaped building which splits the Chartreux and Artevelde streets. If neither of those work, you can try the classic Falstaff (Henri Mausstraat 19) which is in an Art Nouveau building right across from the Bourse (and down from that frites shop). The food isn’t sensational, but it is well made and includes all the classics. On Anton Dansaert there is a trendy (interesting illuminated interior) and well known place called “Bonsoir Clara”.

There are a million other restaurants to choose from, so I leave it to you (and your tour book!). Place Saint-Catherine, also near your hotel, has some good eats.

Beer:

Right off rue des Bouchers is the famous “Delirium” which has the largest beer collection in the world. It is a bit touristy on a Saturday night, but a Sunday visit could be good. There is also the bar across from the Manneken Pis. After that probably the classic – although not with a massive selection – is “A la Mort Subite” (Rue Montagne aux Herbes Potagères 7). They say it hasn’t changed in 100 years and still serves the range of Mort Subite beers (the old fashioned “geuze” is my favourite – lambic beer indigenous to Brussels). I would contemplate going there on Saturday night for a beer before heading down to the St-Gery district.

Most bars will serve at least a few interesting beers, including the best mainstream beer in the world (in my opinion), Duvel. They should always serve the beer in its correct glass BTW (a nice touch). Just don’t go for Leffe or Stella, since they’re easy to find elsewhere and don’t represent the epitome of Belgian brewing.

Other great beers (light to heavy): Saison Dupont, Geuze Boon, Kwak (just for the funny presentation!), Orval (lighter than it looks), Saint Feuillen, St Bernardus, Rochefort, Triple Karmeliet, Bush (strongest beer in the world I believe), etc etc.

Highlights from our trip to Greece (September 2009)

2009-09-27T13:16:00.003+02:00

Featuring:

Hollywood (Amanda)
Maverick or (Dave)
Alain Prost (John)
Coco (Melanie)

JK and MK met Dave and Amanda at the airport in Athens. When we arrived, A was wearing short shorts and high heels! Thus the creation of her nickname: “Hollywood”. We didn’t know how right we would be in assigning this name to her.

Other evidence that we chose the name “Hollywood” correctly:

Not ordering from the menu (special requests for roasted potatoes Greek style)

Zonar’s (Athens) 40euro coffee and dessert then wanting to fill up water bottle when it doesn’t cost more than 50cents
Going to the poshest café in town (see above – Zonar’s) for a “BM”
Wanting souvlaki everyday, even right before a big meal
Sunset coffee in Oia, order peanuts and proceed to eat both bowls
Fava obsession
Fart heard around the world at Kamari beach in Santorini
“Windy” car rides, especially the drive to Platanos
Bringing enough luggage for two months (arrived with 3 x 23kgs for 10 days but left with 4 x 23kgs plus 4 carry-on bags)
Greek accent contest (Hollywood wouldn’t believe she didn’t have the best accent out of everyone)
Special 10 minute “I’m hungry” hand across stomach rendition
Hollywood’s 10% “fat yogurt or bust” obsession

Other great memories include:

The vomit symphony on the ferry from Crete to Santorini, made worse because the ride went from two hours to four because of bad weather conditions. This ferry ride also included a “Rihanna” spotting. However, the most unbelievable of all was John’s 2 minutes to midnight boarding of boat to Santorini (he boarded drenched in sweat, only to find the rest of the gang oblivious to his travails and having fun drinking canned coffee).
The "lobster index” was established on Day One in Crete. Left to their own devices because M&J had to attend a wedding, D&A proceeded to Rethymno’s waterfront for a late afternoon coffee. They were then convinced by the waiter to see the live lobster they had in the back of their restaurant. Despite having some suspicions, the couple relented, receiving a supposedly 1.3kg lobster filled partially with cheap crab meat! All that for a “discount” price of 60euros (just the lobster)!
When we were pulling into Fira harbour Hollywood looked at the hilltops and thought she saw snow when in actuality it was the white-washed Cycladic houses atop the crater.
Melanie finding planted olive pits and Amanda seeing pine nut maggots at Tamam restaurant in Chania. Crete.
Maverick’s Rambo moment when he got stung by a wasp and pulled out the stinger with his leatherman knife.
JK early morning drill sergeant.
JK being consistently anxious and strung out. Evidence of this was noted when Hollywood bought 4 cans of Jacob’s coffee drink but JK thought MK bought them so got mad and yelled!

Memorable meals:

Mezedes night at To Ouzeri in Fira, Santorini
Tamam in Crete
Meat night in Platanos
Fish lunch at Kamari beach, Santorini
Fish and mezedes late lunch in Messolonghi
Souvlaki (or pita) with gyros (Athens, Santorini, Galaxidi)

Memorable quotes:

“Melanie, noooooooooo”
“Pere biologique”
“Ochi Yianni”

Sunburn in Bern

2009-08-15T17:50:00.001+02:00

On a beautiful sunny Saturday morning, we hopped on an SBB train for JK’s 37th birthday adventure and headed for Bern, Switzerland’s capital city. It is called the city of fountains. By walking all over, we saw the Bear Pits, the House & square of Parliament, the Town Hall, the Clock Tower - Zeitglocken Turm and the Käfigturm (Prison Tower). As it was scorching hot that day, we sought shade in the Englische Anlagen and found a nice cafe.

Tip: If the day is warm, wear a bathing suit and bring a dry bag. I would then suggest you jump in the River Aare near the Kirchenfeldbrücke and the Englische Anlagen and let the current bring you down the river to the Hornhausebrücke.

Bern Tourism Information

Photos will be posted on Flickr soon...

2009-07-29T20:19:00.001+02:00

Give & Get a little this weekend: Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy in the US, CAN & PR are turning (RED) all over – 30% off for you and 5% from ALL purchases go towards helping to save lives in Africa. A lot of goods = a lot of good. http://www.gapinc.com/giveandget/globalfund/.

Please note the friends and family coupon isS NOT valid for Product (RED) merchandise. When you go into a Gap store and buy any Product (RED) item, 50% of the proceeds will go to the Global Fund. With the give and get coupon, all items are discounted 30% from your purchase and then 5% of the proceeds will also go to the Global Fund. However, the fine print says, 30% is not taken off Product (RED) merchandise because it'ss a third party partner and it's going to charity anyways....we wouldn't wanna take away from the people the Global Fund helps now would we?

Also an interesting read: http://www.gapinc.com/public/SocialResponsibility/socialres.shtml

Coping on Fantasy Island

2008-10-17T12:57:00.002+02:00

MK: Here are some coping mechanisms I have picked up during my 1.5 years in Equatorial Guinea.

E.G. Rules:
1. You are on your own;
2. Tough luck; and
3. It is your fault.

EG Solutions:
1. Suck it up;
2. Deal with it; and
3. Solve it!!

Conjugal Copenhagen

2008-03-09T19:21:00.008+01:00

JK: Having last seen Melanie on the 8th of January 2008, the opportunity arose to perpetuate our bizarre reunions.

Bigger is better..........

2008-02-26T17:55:00.002+01:00

M&JK: Some people say that size doesn't matter..... but that's because they are not fortunate enough to be in possession of something as big as this!

Imagine the panic running through JK's nerves as he decended the plane in Malabo expecting customs, police or military to confiscate his new toy.

Home for the holidays

2008-01-13T18:50:00.006+01:00

M&JK: Jingle bells, silent night, egg nog, rudolf the red nosed reindeer, mistletoe, and Frosty the Snowman.......

Since 2003, the Europe-Africa duo have not spent Christmas in Ottawa - a place where mass consumerism, big gulp, and double doubles roam free.

We finally made the pilgrimage across two continents to celebrate the best time of year in the best place in the world... HOME. Some of our good memories included.......

Captivating Cairo

2007-12-15T18:32:00.005+01:00

MK: I was sent to Cairo for a Global Fund Monitoring and Evaluation Workshop. Because of the awkward flight schedules, I was in Cairo from the 8th to 15th of December 2007.

Fortunately, it gave me time to tour the city and trek to Giza and see the pyramids on camelback. Check out the photos of the pyramids and Cairo.

Stimulating Safari

2007-11-03T19:32:00.004+01:00

M and JK: The miracle workers were back at it again.......

Photos on Flickr and Picasa Web Albums.

Congratulations ER and PH!!

2007-11-03T18:48:00.000+01:00

M&JK: We would like to congratulate E&P on the birth of their first baby. Mathias Emmanuel Henault was born on the 2nd of November at 1:18 am weighing in at 3 kilos 520 (7pounds 12 oz). Best wishes to the proud parents.

Wedding Bells

2007-10-27T20:21:00.021+02:00

M&JK: The infamous couple met on the European continent to attend JK's cousin Agelikki's wedding. It was a beautiful church ceremony in Plaka followed by an intimate dinner at the Grande Bretagne Hotel in Syntagma Square.

Congratulations!!

Photos on Flickr and Picasa Web Albums Wedding and Picasa Web Albums Athens.

Hash #120 and Hash #121

2007-08-23T10:13:00.002+02:00

There is nothing more enjoyable than going for a hike in the forest....... that is, of course, unless you are hiking in the tropical forest of central Africa where poisonous spiders and killer ants haunt you at every step. Once a month in Malabo, a mixed groups of locals and foreigners embark on a 4 hour adventure into the unknown.

JK was lucky - or unlucky depending on who you are - enough to partake in Malabo's Hash Walk ritual on his 35th birthday. Word got out to the organisers and when all was said and done, JK found himself sitting in a cooler of ice and freezing cold water while the Hashers sang to him. When the chanting was over, hey had to chug a beer while everyone poured beer on him. Poor JohnnyK!!!

Congratulations Melissa and Alex!

2007-08-15T12:53:00.000+02:00

MK: We would like to send warm congratulations to our friends Melissa and Baron von Alex on the birth of their second son, Julian Alexander Fama von Schilling.

Although he was late coming, when he finally did decide to make his appearance, he was in a hurry! He arrived on August 14 at a good weight of 8lb 3oz. We wish Alex, Melissa, Enzo, and Julian all the best.

Where on earth is Equatorial Guinea?

2007-06-10T13:48:00.000+02:00

You may ask yourself, "why does it matter where Equatorial Guinea is?". Well, this country unknown to the majority of the world just happens to be where our fair Mélanie is hiding.

According to Lonely Planet, "the diminutive Equatorial Guinea is a slowly developing speck of a country that has few tourist attractions aside from its shorelines and jungle interior. It attracts adventurers looking to get off the beaten-path and explore a bit of the unknown."

While, BBC News reveals, "Since independence in 1968, Equatorial Guinea has been ruled by two men - from the same family - who have been described by a variety of human rights organisations as among the worst abusers of human rights in Africa.

In recent years the former Spanish colony has become one of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest oil producers.

Large oil and gas deposits were discovered off Bioko in the mid-1990s and their exploitation has driven spectacular growth. In 2004 Equatorial Guinea had the world's fastest-growing economy.

AT-A-GLANCE:

Politics: President Obiang seized power in 1979; rights groups have condemned his rule as one Africa's most brutal; he faces a "government in exile" and a separatist movement

Economy: Equatorial Guinea is sub-Saharan Africa's third biggest oil producer

International: Equatorial Guinea and Gabon are in dispute over islands in potentially oil-rich off-shore waters

But few people have benefited from the oil riches and the country ranks near the bottom of a UN human development index. The government has started a scheme to divert a share of oil revenues into social projects.

The corruption watchdog Transparency International has put Equatorial Guinea in the top 10 of its list of corrupt states. Despite calls for more transparency in the sector, President Obiang has said oil revenues are a state secret.

In 1996 Equatorial Guinea's first multi-party presidential election was held amid reports of widespread fraud and irregularities, returning President Obiang Nguema with 99% of the vote.

Equatorial Guinea's territory includes the island of Bioko, off the Cameroonian coast, which hosts the capital, Malabo."

For initial photos of Equatorial Guinea, click here.

The question for all of you now is, "When are you coming to visit?" ;-)

Mumm's the Word

2007-06-03T19:22:00.000+02:00

JK: With Mélanie's departure date for Eqatorial Guinea (EG) finally set (it had been postponed for an extra week due to visa delays), we decided to take one last adventure. By Canadian standards, the distances in Europe are so short and offer hugely rewarding end-points. Wanting to do something new and interesting, we decided to take a less than three hour drive over to the Champagne region of France. How we never thought of doing this before, I do not know.

Once in the regional capital of Reims, we checked into our discount hotel beside the train station (OK, we travel, but we economise too!) and quickly made a beeline for the Mumm champagne house. Touring the absolutely vast underground cellars containing somewhere around 20 million bottles was a revelation (see pic below). Of course by the end our throats were parched, craving a sampling of the bubbly elixir. Thankfully we were rewarded by very generous tastings. From there we went straight to Pommery. Its cellars were even wackier and deeper, chalk full (pun intended -- the soil is extremely chalky) of modern art installations (see pics) along with another 25 million bottles. The sampling at the end was just as tasty and generous.

After a nice meal and a laser light show (look above) to celebrate the opening of the TGV speed-rail line to Reims, we inspected the glorious cathedral lit up in the night (look left). The cathedral was the site of many, many royal coronations and retains all of its grandeur to this day. The next day we contuined our elixir pursuit by driving through the "route de champagne", admiring the countryside and eventually stopping in to Moet & Chandon, home of none other than Dom Perignon (in the town of Epernay).

Shortly after that our one night and one and a half day adventure was over. We would certainly go back in a second -- at the very least to find the winery that makes "Cristal", every gangsta's favourite bubbly! ;) Booya!

Bike riding in Knokke

2007-06-03T14:41:00.000+02:00

Ah, the lazy days of spring.... this time a bike ride in Knokke (north sea coast of Belgium)

Galleries Lafayette or Bust!

2007-05-31T16:17:00.000+02:00

With JK participating in a conference at the "Sciences Po" university, MK decided she would join in the fun and take the Thalys to Paris for a little adventure! The whole experience was made even more enjoyable with ER there, who was also going to Paris the same day for business.

Chatelain is the place to be on a Wednesday evening!

2007-05-30T19:23:00.001+02:00

Place du Chatelain is THE place to be on a Wednesday evening. Place du Chatelain is the most trendiest market in Belgium, if not Western Europe! What could be better than buying fresh cheese, bread, olives, and cured meats in one area and then establishing a position at the wine stand. Amid a congregation of uber-Eurocrats, you can purchase a bottle of wine for 5euros - complete with proper wine glasses - to accompany your amuses-bouches. Place du Chatelain is also where you meet the most interesting characters......

Titillating Tournai

2007-05-28T19:18:00.000+02:00

OK, perhaps the title is a slight exaggeration :) but we found our experience in the town of Tournai to be yet another illustration of a tendency we have noticed in Belgium: that the country, for one reason or another, undersells itself. Sure, we all know about Bruges, Antwerp and increasingly Ghent, but many other places in this country don't get the attention they deserve. We felt the same way about Mechelen, Dinant, Namur, Ypres, Mons: all surprises and underated.

Tournai is near the border with France, about a 1 hour train ride from Brussels. Mel and I went for one of our typical weekend day-trips to celebrate her (alas, temporary) return from Rwanda. The UNESCO World Heritage city centre was the obvious highlight, with the not two, or three, but five Romaneque towers of the Notre Dame cathedral being the standout. The main square (pictured above) was also a classic showpiece of Flemish architecture (the city is francophone, but the look is decidedly Flemish). More pics here.

Final observations from Rwanda

2007-05-27T23:25:00.000+02:00

MK: Now that I have left, I thought I would share with you my final observations about Rwanda that might not necessarily be evident to an short-term guest or else found in Lonely Planet!

Rwandans LOVE to give long speeches. I am not exaggerating or talking about 10 minutes. I mean hours!
Rwandans - like their Ugandan counterparts - switch "l" with "r" and vice versa. So, in Rwanda, I am known as "Merani". When John came to visit me at UNDP he informed them that he was "son mari" but what they understood was "somali".
Rwanda has the highest percentage of females in parliament in the world.
Plastic bags are illegal and you can get fined for carrying one.
Rwanda is a small village. Everyone is linked and everyone knows everyone. So watch what you say and do!
Rwandans have bad cell phone manners. This is made official when the President bans all cell phones at any event he is at (cameras are allowed). When a cell phone rings in a meeting, it is usually followed by the person bending down, covering their mouth and speaking which actually amplifies their voice!
Women and children feel the need to pull my hair out of its roots. Then when I turn around they act like they have no idea what just happened!
Finally, while walking by some less well groomed locals with a stench that turned my stomach in a million ways, I realised I must have extraordinary olfactory glands.

Goodbye Rwanda, Hello....

2007-05-27T20:46:00.000+02:00

....Equatorial Guinea!!!!

MK: After much ulcer-inducing events that occurred over a series of four weeks in Rwanda, I packed all of my personal effects into 2 boxes and had them shipped to what I thought at the time was… a black hole, a mystery to most people in this world (Africans included). This obscure abyss was to be my new home for the next year. But before I embarked on my latest escapade, I was first to be rewarded with fourteen days and fourteen nights with my beloved husband. The next few posts will reveal how our estranged relationship makes us go on interesting adventures when we do get together!

Sadly our time together was to be a fleeting sparkle in our hearts. The Government of Equatorial Guinea was ready to issue my visa so that I could travel to an unknown island (for the most part) in the Gulf of Guinea in Central Africa. I was about to embark on yet another journey. I was going to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea to work with the UNDP as the Programme Manager of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Have fun with the links!

JohnnyK does Kigali

2007-05-20T15:19:00.000+02:00

JK: It was short but sweet. Just days after I got confirmation that Mélanie was leaving UNDP in Rwanda, I found myself on Rwandan soil. How is that for doing my husbandly duty? :) (OK, Mel paid for the ticket, but still...)

Getting down was easy enough since Brussels is the only European city with a direct link to Rwanda. The week flew by, with plenty of social events (I had to meet all of Mel's posse), and work (I was given a little office at the UNDP), but less touring (it was tricky because Mel was working the whole time and Kigali, while a nice city, has virtually no "classic" tourist attractions).

I did, however, take a day trip to the countryside to see Rwanda's Volcano National Park. The weather did not cooperate (but that is on par with Mel's entire time spent in Rwanda), but I was amazed by the beauty of the landscape nevertheless. It truly is the land of the (very lush) thousand hills. Other highlights included a "farewell Mel, welcome John" party at Melanie's place, meeting her hyperactive pootch Nala Shani, visiting the Genocide museum/memorial and spending time with Mel herself.

Mombasa Mama!

2007-05-06T15:02:00.000+02:00

MK: I was fortunate enough to attend a Sub-regional Environment Cluster (SREC) meeting in Mombasa, Kenya the week of 30 April to 4 May. About 60 of us attended the meeting from UNDP offices in Eastern and Southern Africa. Our conference took place at the Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort and Spa. I don't think I have ever really been to a resort before but was shocked at every meal. The food was unbelievable! Every day there was a different theme and live music during dinner. I didn't get to see much of Mombasa this time around. I forgot that the Eastern Coast of Kenya is like a sauna! Living in Rwanda and Belgium over the last few years, I forgot what the sun and heat were like! Mid-week, we went on a field trip and saw some GEF projects in action. The highlight was trying honey from sweat bees! Despite the fact that my days were fully packed from 8:00am to 6:00pm including meetings while eating lunch, I still managed to fit in a Kahawa Scrub (coffee grains), a facial, an ayuraveda massage, and a pedicure! What a treat! On the last day a small group of us went for an afternoon snorkel in the Marine Park. To see photos, click here and here.

Bundles of joy!

2007-05-05T15:54:00.000+02:00

A belated congratulations to our friends on the birth of their children:

It's a baby girl!

Jaclyn Linnane Leask, weighing 7lbs, 3oz. Congratulations to proud parents Michelle and Jason and older brother Braeden.

It's a baby boy!

Mateo Seth Namer was born on Wednesday, April 11th at 9:38 am, weighing 8 lbs, 11 oz. Congratulations to proud parents Eban and Mercedes and older sister Camila.

A visit with youth orphaned by the genocide

2007-04-19T15:34:00.000+02:00

MK: I was fortunate to link up with the Rwandan Association of University Women (RAUW). We were able to spend some time with youth who were orphaned by the Rwandan genocide in 1994. One lunch hour, we came to their orphanage, listened to a few speeches, heard each orphan present him/her selves and then we made a donation. Following the formalities, we had the chance to speak to some of the orphans. It was a rewarding day. For photos, click here.

Gorilla Trekking with Part NART

2007-04-08T12:30:00.000+02:00

Two members of the infamous NART gang used Melanie being in Rwanda as motivation to venture down from Europe to the dark continent. Their 3 week tour included Tanzania (Zanzibar and mainland safari), Uganda (Kampala), and Rwanda (Kigali and Volcano National Park). The day they arrived, Melanie had the pleasure of introducing them to one of Rwanda's hottest night clubs called, "Fair Place" where UNDP was having an "End of Year/Staff Party". The disco lights, carpet, and pure cheese/70's retro decor were too much for these Euro snobs to handle!

A few days later, Melanie, Janet, Erica, Toshi, and Lindsey crammed into a van and headed for Volcano National Park to trek the endangered mountain gorillas of northern Rwanda. The following morning, they woke up bright and early and headed for a gorilla briefing at the ORTPN base camp. It was also at this time where they selected which gorilla group to follow. They decided upon the Amahoro Group due to their numbers and location in the mountains. All seemed well until Erica was the first to be stung by the forests' nasty nettles! Her hand was red and stinging. The guide quickly found the curative plant and rubbed it on her. That began the copious screams by all trekkers stung by nettles. There was almost no body part untouched by their secretions. The highlight of the Gorilla Trek was when one of the gorillas decided Erica looked fun to play with and rammed his fist into her kidney. She tumbled to the ground in a huge silent cry of pain! To see Melanie's photos of the gorillas, click here.

Erica and Janet's Out of Africa adventure ended shortly thereafter and they headed back to Leuven and Amsterdam respectively.

6 April: Remembering the Rwandan Genocide

2007-04-05T15:46:00.000+02:00

MK: Friday the 6th of April 2007 will mark the 13th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide. Please take a few minutes on this day to remember all those that died, were maimed, and/or were affected by the hands of the genocidaires during those famous 100 days in Rwanda in 1994.

The stain of genocide is ever-present in Rwanda

Charles Gordon
The Edmonton Journal
Sunday, April 01, 2007

BUTARE, Rwanda - The taxi is not supposed to be on the road this morning and the driver has to do some fast talking to the policeman who pulls him over. The driver explains that he is taking his passenger to the genocide memorial at Murambi, 28 kilometres away. The policeman lets the taxi pass.

Every Wednesday it's gacaca day in Butare, a day when a citizens' court meets to decide the fate of people accused of crimes against their neighbours during the genocide of 1994. During the morning on Gacaca day, all business ceases.

There is no getting away from the genocide this day, if there ever is. The first stretch of road goes beside a valley in which men wearing pink uniforms are working.

They are prisoners, some of whom will have their gacaca moments and others of whom already have. The following day, at the National University, there is to be a conference on "France and the 1994 Rwanda Genocide." All classes are suspended, by order of the rector, to allow students and faculty to attend the event, during which La Marseillaise will not be not sung.

On Friday, it is the 13th anniversary of the start of the genocide. On April 6, 1994, the president's plane was shot down and this became the pretext for a slaughter that began immediately, so well had it been planned in advance.

For three months, people were murdered, with the enthusiastic support of the state, at the rate of 9,000 a day. The international community watched, didn't see and certainly didn't act.

Every year, there is a week of remembrance in Rwanda. All entertainment and recreational activities will close for the afternoon on Saturday, the second day of Genocide Memorial Week. University classes are not held for two weeks.

In one of those small-world coincidences, a man now on trial in Montreal for genocide is from Butare, the city where the university is located. The university has its own genocide memorial on the campus, in which photographs of about 150 students who died are displayed. That represents about half the death toll.

At Murambi, a former technical school three kilometres down a long dirt road from the town of Gikongoro, there is a lot of activity. A metal fence is being constructed and the main building is being painted. This is because Murambi is host to the ceremonies on April 7.

Some women are seated on the ground working and you can hear them laugh. Looking over you see that beside them, on a tarpaulin, are bones and skulls. In Rwanda, the genocide and everyday life are side by side.

Outside the first room in one of a dozen long, low brick buildings, pop music is playing on somebody's portable radio. The room is full of decomposed bodies covered in lime.

The room was a classroom. Now it has four large platforms on the floor, each covered with bodies in the poses in which they died. You are led to the next room and see more, and then to the next, then to another building with more rooms. One room contains nothing but the remains of children, some with holes in their skulls.

There is a room with just skulls and bones, another room in which clothes, most of them red, probably from the dirt, hang on lines.

Somewhere between 40,000 and 60,000 people were at Murambi in April 1994, told by the authorities that they would be safe there. Then the militias came, threw grenades into the rooms and finished their work with machetes. It took four days.

Of those killed, 27,000 have been exhumed and reburied; 1,800, or parts of the 1,800, are on display. The rest are in mass graves. French troops installed themselves at the site in the aftermath of the genocide. On top of one of the mass graves they constructed a volleyball court.

It is a little detail that will live on, bitterly savoured by generations of Rwandans.

There is no signage in these rooms at Murambi, no panel displays, no narration. A woman who speaks no English and a little French shows you from room to room, offering no commentary. After two buildings she is replaced by a man, who is a survivor and has a deep hole in his forehead.

Neither of them says much, which is all right. Maybe it's better if there is nobody to explain it.

Charles Gordon is teaching at the National University of Rwanda as part of the Carleton University School of Journalism's Rwanda Initiative. © The Edmonton Journal 2007

Melanie's Collection of photos of Rwanda and Murambi Genocide Memorial Centre. More photos can be viewed at Camera_Rwanda's Flickr set.

The national ceremony, under the theme 'We should remember the plight of genocide survivors while fighting for their justice', will be presided over by President Paul Kagame at Murambi in Southern Province on Saturday the 7th of April 2007.

UNDP Retreat in Akagera National Park

2007-03-23T15:47:00.000+01:00

MK: Well, I wasn't back from South Africa for a day when I packed up and went to the Eastern province in Rwanda where Akagera National Park is situated. This time, it was for UNDP's Annual Retreat. The highlight of the week was on the last night (Thursday the 22 March) in which we had a party. UNDP provided copious bottles of wine and alcohol for its staff. However, the staff of the Akagera Lodge felt it belonged to them as well. They had no shame in bringing trays of glasses, taking a bottle of whiskey off our table, filling up their glasses and brining them to the bar only for all of us at the table to watch on stunned! The staff proceeded to drink the whiskey they took from our table!! Other highlights included an early Friday morning Game Drive in which the Rwandese staff pointed at every living creature and exclaimed, "goat!"!!

For photos, click here and here.

GEF Training in Pretoria

2007-03-17T11:25:00.000+01:00

MK: I left John at the airport in Johannesburg and shuttled my way to Pretoria. I spent one week there familiarising myself with my UNDP counterparts in the Global Environment Facility (GEF) - photo to the left. I had a chance to reunite with old friends from my training in Bonn, Germany. Photo below.

I also had the opportunity to meet the relatives of my sister's boyfriend, Malcolm: Toinette, Michael, their 3 children (Daniella, David, and Joshua), and Dandy (Malcolm's sister) hosted me for a few days, took me sightseeing, took me shopping, fed me, sheltered me, etc. They were great hosts! I was very happy to meet such a wonderful family.

I also took a tour of Soweto. What an interesting experience! I saw Nelson Mandela's old house before he was imprisoned and where Winnie spent her days while he was in prison for 27 years, Winnie Mandela's current house, and Bishop Desmond Tutu's house. I also saw the real Soweto townships and met some of the people living there. It was incredible to learn that some of the most expensive houses are located in Soweto .... and of course, some of the poorest! To see my photos, click here.

Reunited in Cape Town!

2007-03-12T11:56:00.000+01:00

JK: The Canadian Euro-Africa duo reunited again! This time it was on South African soil -- of all places -- after a string of good fortune landed us both in the same country for respective business meetings (mine Johannesburg and Mélanie's in Pretoria). What a surreal experience it was to see each other in a totally different place -- and what a place! The Western Cape did not disappoint. Stunning is about as accurate a word that I can think of to describe Cape Town and its environs.

Our 3.5 days together were spent exploring the coast and the wine country by rented car. Despite the fact that the South Africans drive on the "wrong" side of the road, not to mention the perpetual warnings about car-jackings and theft, we managed quite nicely. The drive to the edge of the continent at Cape Point was other-worldy, reminiscent of some of the dramatic coast-lines and blue waters of the Mediterranean. Some of the beaches looked absolutely glorious, despite the uber-frigid Atlantic water temps.

Hanging with the African Penguins at Boulder beach was a highlight. The penguins came dressed in their best dinner jackets...(ok, weak joke, sorry). Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope were spectacular, although the winds were so monstrous that the svelte Mélanie was almost hurled into the air on our climb up to the summit (slight exaggeration for dramatic effect). But no wonder there have been over 600 documented shipwrecks around that bend over the last 400 years.

We also headed inland to Stellenbosch to do "the posh thing" and taste some wines. Actually, we were more into finding spectacular locations to have a nice meal accompanied by good wine and tremendous views. We were especially lucky at the Sylvanvale winery (pic below, taken from the winery's restaurant terrace). I should also add that South African wine was a revelation to me. Yum.

And just in case you're wondering, we did not fall victim to South Africa's infamous crime (although we do think the wheel on our car rental was punctured on purpose one night; fortunately we did not have to deal with the problem until the following morning -- in daylight). Ironically, the only time I was "threatened" was in Paris at the airport train station awaiting the TGV (Thalys) back to Brussels. I was approached by four totally emaciated mid-20 something men in broad daylight on a relatively busy platform. I could not understand what they were doing, since clearly it would have taken all four sets of their atrophied arms to pick up my 20kg suitcase. After encircling me (not kidding) they pulled out their customs official badges, as if they were the FBI. It was a bizarre public spot check of my bags and passport. I must have been looking particularly swarthy after the 10.5 hour flight from Joburg. ;)

For our "best of" pics (note: not all are yet uploaded), click here.
For all our South Africa photos, click here

Buffoonery in Burundi

2007-03-04T14:30:00.000+01:00

MK: Melanie and Lindsey - 2 of Rwanda’s 3 Angels - felt that being chased by a girl with a machete and catching their “night guard” smoking drugs while on duty was not enough excitement in their lives. So, they decided to get on a crowded minibus at 7am destined for Bujumbura, the capital of neighbouring Burundi. They were not far out of Kigali when Melanie had to ask the male (dare not say, “man”) squished up against her to stop picking his nose. This resulted in teasing in Kinya-rwanda and laughter from all other passengers on board (about 25 or 30).

The journey involved several stops along the way, not to pick up additional passengers (because we were already over capacity) but to purchase much-sought after food items: brochettes, cartons of buttermilk, grilled corn on the cob, donuts, etc. One female passenger was either starving and had not eaten for months or bored, because she atecontinuously (devouring six brochettes, two cobs of corn, and a donut or two) during the entire nine hour journey (yes 9, you read correctly).

The fiasco at the border (there is definitely a difference between “law-abiding Rwanda” with the “anything goes – with a price – Burundi”) entailed the same famished female going straight from the last person in line to the first person being attended to at passport control. The line-up for immigration never moved because females like her decided they were of noble blood and didn’t have to wait in line for even one second. They pushed their way to the very front without hesitation or concern. Melanie and Lindsey also witnessed a few notes being passed under the table for unwitting quick and easy service.

Just when Lindsey and Melanie thought they were nearing the finishing line and could see Bujumbura on the horizon, Burundian customs decided to stop the bus and search through all the packages and bags on board. Much to Melanie and Lindsey’s surprise, they started taking articles off the bus. Two of Rwanda’s three Angels wondered what kind of illegal substances these passengers had subjected them to. (It is also important to note here that Melanie was actually unauthorised to travel to Burundi in a public vehicle and because there is evidence of rebel activity in the area). They didn’t have to wait long to discover these criminals were smuggling Rwandan cheese into Burundi. How horrific!

With fewer load in tow, Melanie and Lindsey finally arrived in Buju. They quickly found a quaint quest house and proceeded on a walking tour with a guide from the Saga Guest House offering his services free of charge (believable?). He was quite knowledgeable about all the important landmarks: he pointed out the banks (it was Saturday and they were closed), the Kenya Airways office, some nice hotels (although we were already staying at the Guest House he worked at), the RwandAir office, etc. All useful information the next time we want to: fly out of Buju, exchange money in Buju, or stay in Buju. Melanie and Lindsey were then taken to the beach of Lake Tanganyika. This area had a nice (and cheap Hotel Saga Beach), nightclub, cultural centre/theatre, and a few different styles (and prices) of restaurants. Melanie and Lindsey – the celebrities that they are – met the owner of the expansive bar/resto/club/theatre complex) who gave them a tour followed by delicious mojitos. The two Angels were ancy to return to town, so declined the owner’s advances and departed for the Guest House. The escapade was short-lived and Melanie and Lindsey boarded the same overcrowded bus the following morning at 8am.

Introducing.............................

2007-02-27T07:46:00.000+01:00

NALA SHANI

MK: This little baby girl is the latest addition to the Kotsopoulos family. Her name is "Nala Shani" and she is part Ethiopian Wolf although she was born in Rwanda. She came into this world around the 15th of January 2007. She is absolutely adorable, even if she cries, whines, howls, and pees a lot!! Any tips on training or raising a puppy would be much appreciated.

For initial photos, please visit my Picasa Web Albums. To see Nala Shani's mother (Shiba) and her siblings, please visit Jared's Flickr set.

PAB Project Field Missions - 27 and 29 February

2007-02-11T13:39:00.000+01:00

MK: I went on 2 field missions to gather information from stakeholders for my Protected Areas Biodiversity project. One week was spent in the Northern province (Volcano National Park) while the following week was spent in the Southern and Western Provinces (Nyungwe National Park). To view photos from these trips, click here.

Rwanda's Angels

2007-02-08T17:30:00.001+01:00

JK: Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to work for the UNDP in Rwanda, and they were each assigned very hazardous duties. But I took them away from all that, and now they work for me. My name is John.

I would like to introduce you to Rwanda's Angels: Lindsey Rae, Melanie Jane, and Adriana Ilieva (aka Melanie's house mates). They are taking Kigali by force!

A Merry Time in Greece

2007-02-08T17:29:00.000+01:00

JK: Due to the generosity of the European holiday system, I was given the week off between Christmas and New Years (a perk that allows you to temporarily forget about your tax burden :)). Mélanie met me in Belgium on December 23, flying in on the highly relaxing and time-efficient Kigali-Nairobi-Addis Ababa-Paris-Brussels route, only to be forced back on to a plane to Hellas the very next morning. At least we got to indulge in the ever-expanding Brussels' Christmas Market for one day.

Greece provided us with the usual pleasing combination of family-values time, some exploration time and lots of eating time. We indulged in several Christmas dinners and enough Greek desserts (inlcuding my Aunt Dina's world famous "kourambiedes") to satisfy a small platoon. After a few cloudy days at the beginning, we also got our usual dose of Hellenic sunshine. We capitalised on it by renting a car and exploring part of the Peloponnese (specifically the prefecture of Argolida). Before we set off for Nafplio, our hub, we spent a night at the country home of my cousin's fiancé. They (Aggeliki and Evrikos) are amazing company and I must say it was with sadness that we left them the following afternoon!

Nafplio is a sensational Venetian-inspired city -- a must for any visitor to Greece. The fortress Palamidi, which overlooks the town, is also a highlight. From Nafplio we took day trips to the ancient theatre of Epidaurus, hung around the east coast taking in the sea views, and eventually made our way up to Ancient Corinth. We spent New Years in Nafplio too, which was a tad wacky, since things were unexpectedly low key. In fact, it was an uber-bureaucrat (i.e. bland) on a stage in one of the city squares who announced the New Year a good two minutes before it actually occured!!! This was accompanied by initial silence (or disbelief, since we were all looking at our watches), then expectation, as we awaited some sort of rudimentary fireworks show. Alas, no show was forthcoming. Some music was played, some peculiar people danced, we ate some cake, and then it was over!

The next day we decided to honour La Kootchina (aka Bill Mertikas), with a visit to his maternal village, Nestani. I must say I had to eat some humble pie, because I was expecting a backwater and instead found a beautiful village nestled amongst some spectacular cliffs. I even danced a zembekia in Bill's honour. From there we concluded with a short visit to Tripoli -- a city that leaves a lot to be desired.

For Flickr pics from Greece (i.e. our best), click here.
Click on the names for Picasa pics from Athens , Nafplio and the rest of the Peloponnese. Family pics here.

Barcelona or Bust

2007-02-08T17:27:00.000+01:00

JK: Since I was not going to see Mélanie for her birthday (Jan 28 .... I'm told she is still accepting belated gifts...), I decided that I would eschew the traditional Christmas and birthday gift exchange and instead surprise Mel with a trip to Barcelona (care of a great off-season deal from Virgin Express)!

The weather could not have been more superb for early January. There was not a cloud in the sky for the duration of our trip. There was a catch to all this however. Both Mel and I were suffering from the flu. And while I got better during the course of the trip, Melanie got worse -- eventually being diagnosed with bronchitis which then turned into an infection in the lungs!

Anyway, it was still a privilege and thrill to be in Catalunya. From Gaudi's endless Art Nouveau-ish masterpieces, to the glorious winding streets of the Gothic quarter and the Olympic installations at Montjuic, Barca is truly one of the world's greatest cities.

For pics click here.

Wishing you a merry Christmas and happy new year!

2006-12-23T22:09:00.000+01:00

JK: We are reunited (Melanie got back today! December 23) and off to Greece to spend Christmas and New Year with the Kots side of the family. The picture below shows us celebrating at Brussels' Christmas market over gluwein and tartiflette.

JK&MK: We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy, productive and healthy new year!

Erin go bragh

2006-12-21T11:16:00.000+01:00

JK: The Irish are "grand". That is the simple conclusion made by JK after a four day trip to Ireland for a conference in Cork. The adventure started off in perfect fashion --in Dublin-- where JK and his old high school pal Ian toured the city, consuming ample amounts of Guinness, Irish stew, and warming up with daily doses of soccer watching in some of Dublin's seemingly infinite number of hospitable pubs. The nightlife did not disappoint either, with visits to pubs and live music bars.

Dublin

At the end of the glorious weekend, JK hopped on a train to Cork. He arrived just as the sun was setting, which gave him the most glorious first impression of the "rebel county". Since he was in fact in Cork for business (delivering a paper at an academic conference), JK did not get anywhere near the amount of time required to discover the city. But he vows to return to this fine corner of Europe, and next time with "the wife" in tow. ;)

Cork, Ireland

PRESS RELEASE OF MY NEW PROJECT

2006-12-13T14:56:00.000+01:00

MK: Dear readers,

Please find below the press release for the new project that I am managing at UNDP in Rwanda. Right now, it is the biggest project at our country office.

MINITERE LAUNCHES NEW GEF PROJECT TO STRENGTHEN RWANDA’S FOREST NATIONAL PARKS

Kigali, December 12, 2006: On Thursday, Dec. 14th, the Ministry of Lands, Environment, Forestry, Water and Mines (MINITERE) will publicly launch a new Global Environment Facility (GEF) project titled “Strengthening Biodiversity Conservation Capacity in the Forest Protected Area System of Rwanda.” The 6-year project, funded by $5.4 million of support from the UNDP branch of the GEF, is being announced during a half-day meeting at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kigali, with partners and stakeholders attending from across the country.

Known as PAB (Protected Areas Biodiversity), this project represents a strongly collaborative effort including national ministries, districts, NGOs and local associations who will work together to strengthen the conservation and management of Rwanda’s extraordinary forested parks. The Volcanoes National Park and Nyungwe National Park are globally renown for their unique wildlife - including mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, and numerous rare monkeys, birds, and plants – and represent a major commitment by the government and people of Rwanda to the great variety of nature (biodiversity) found in its mountain forests. The global attraction of Rwanda’s wildlife is at the base of an increasing ecotourism, which now represents one of the fastest growing sectors of the nation’s economy. The mountain forests of Rwanda also provide important ecological functions of water catchment, maintaining water supply, preventing soil erosion, and could provide significant hydro-electric power. These services benefit a large proportion of the country.

The project PAB is led by the Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA) of MINITERE, in close collaboration with the Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks of MINICOM, districts surrounding the parks, community-level associations, and non-governmental conservation organizations, and will be executed with support from the UNDP GEF. This extensive and diverse set of partners indicates the importance of integrating conservation of wildlife and parks with the well-being and support of rural communities.

Emphasis of the PAB project will be on building the capacity of stakeholders at multiple levels to effectively conserve and manage wildlife, the parks, and natural resources surrounding them. In particular, the project will (1) strengthen management of the two montane forested parks through applied research, monitoring and evaluation, (2) increase local and district capacity to plan and co-manage appropriate development activities on lands neighboring protected areas, and (3) strengthen the central government’s institutional capacity to finance, monitor, and manage all protected areas.

In addition to improved forest conservation, the project is expected to result in increased tourism and associated economic activities, better management of trees, bamboo, soils and other natural resources in zones surrounding the parks, maintained water volume and quality essential to the entire nation, and increased income and employment in targeted neighbouring communities.

Thursday’s opening at the Intercontinental Hotel, running from 9am to 12:30pm, will feature opening remarks by the Honourable Minister in Charge of Lands and Environment Patricia Hajabakiga, UNDP Resident Representative Moustapha Soumaré, and the Director General of the Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks.

For further information, please contact Jean de Dieu Kayiranga (Information Officer) in Kigali, tel. (250)08505778 or Melanie Kotsopoulos, GEF Programme Analyst (08669000).

Worlds apart? Not really.

2006-12-09T13:34:00.000+01:00

They may be thousands of kilometers apart, but JK and MK are still connected through one of their favourite past times...... eating! Both pictures were taken on the same day (Dec 2). MK is at a UN event outside Kigali and JK is in Aachen, Germany to check out its famous Christmas Market. Pics here: (JIV Day) and (Aachen)

Where is Melanie hiding??

2006-12-09T13:31:00.000+01:00

First month in Kigali.....

2006-12-06T18:58:00.000+01:00

MK: Well, I have survived my first month in Kigali.

For the first few days in Rwanda I stayed at the Hotel Mille Collines (made famous in the movie "Hotel Rwanda"). I am now renting a room for the time being from a nice Rwandan lady named Lilian who works for Rwandair (in Sales and Marketing). She has a charming 13year old daughter named Gloria (and a husband and 2 sons that are currently living in the UK). The house is nice and is located on one of the many hills (Gacuriro) that make up Kigali. I will be looking for a house of my own closer to my office (in Kiyovu) in the new year. The only catch with living with my host family is that I am woken up everyday at 6:00am because the neighbour behind our house has decided to perform a ritual that entails him singing, clapping, and whistling for exactly 15 minutes every morning (except Fridays of course because he is an Adventist!) .

Kigali as a capital city is nice and is relatively safe and lush with green rolling hills. Although Rwanda is the most denseley populated country in Africa, it is not really polluted and is surprisingly clean. It is by far one of the easiest cities in which to live. The downsides are: a high cost of living (rent, taxis, and food are expensive), the food is not all that exciting, and there is not much to do, so boredom comes easily.

I am working on UNDP/Rwanda's Global Environment Facility (GEF) programme. Mainly I am responsible for currently their largest project on "Strengthening Biodiversity Conservation Capacity in the Forest Protected Area System of Rwanda" (GEF resources are $5,450,000 with total allocated resources of USD$13,430,000). The project will be implemented in the Nyungwe Forest/National Park (where the chimpanzees are) and Volcano National Park (where the mountain gorillas are and where Dian Fossey carried out her research). I am organising our big project launch which will be held on Thursday the 14th of December. I have already secured the Minister of Land and Environment to give an opening remark as well as the head of all UN agencies here (UN Resident Co-ordinator/Resident Respresentative). In the new year, we will hold its big launch in one of the two parks.

I am travelling to Nyungwe Forest for an overnight stay in the Guest House on Monday the 11th of December to attend USAID's Eco-tourism project the following day. It is about a four-hour drive one-way. Because it is located near the Congolese border, I had to get UN security clearance to travel.

It is great working in the field as you never stay chained to your desk! I participated in Umuganda Day in which the last Saturday of every month, Rwandans are required to partake in community service (planting trees, cleaning up the garbage, stopping erosion and floods from the rains, etc.). For an interesting article, visit The New Times. I also took part in World AIDS Day (WAD) on Saturday the 2nd of December 2006. I had kids crawling all over me and playing with my hair! Speaking of which, there is a strange thing that happens to me all the time. I will be walking down the street or standing somewhere and someone behind me will pull my hair! If I turn around, they will give me a look like nothing happened but I will proceed to point to the clump of hair that is stuck between their fingers!!

Please check out our photos on Flickr and Picasa Web Albums!

The French Are OUT!!!

2006-11-27T16:02:00.000+01:00

[JK: I am rather certain that the French would have quite a different perspective on this story]

"Business in Kigali city paralysed on Wednesday (22 November 2006) when thousands of infuriated Rwandans singing anti-France slogans and praising President Paul Kagame, staged a peaceful demonstration.

The impromptu demo was a public reaction to Monday’s call by a French magistrate, Jean Louis Bruguierre, for the arrest and trial of Kagame and nine Rwandan top military officers, accusing them of downing the plane that was carrying former Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana.

An estimated 15,000 demonstrators from all corners of the city took to the streets, many carrying placards and banners that described Kagame as a hero, and others condemning the French government over its alleged role in the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. Some of the placards read: “France = Arrogance, ‘Stop France and its politicians from our Lovely Country;’ France, Let us mind our business and not you; Les Francais = Interahamwe (French is equivalent to Interahamwe).”

Genocide witnesses at the stadium said the French trained and worked with Interahamwe to plan and execute the killings, which claimed at least one million ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutu.“In 1992, French troops pitched camp near our home in Shyorongi (on the outskirts of Kigali) and they always mocked Tutsis until April 1994 when they worked with Interahamwe to kill them (Tutsis). I saw it myself,” Epiphany Mukasekuru, who nearly broke down, said in a brief testimony.

The president of Ibuka, an umbrella organisation of Genocide survivors, Francois Xavier Ngarambe, described Bruguierre’s allegations as scandalous and said that Paris should instead try itself together with the ringleaders of the Genocide who stay in France. “Have you ever heard of a serial killer calling for the prosecution of a policeman? They should first try Agathe Kanziga (Habyarimana’s wife), who chaired many meetings that planned the Genocide; Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, who raped women and owned a gun while he was a priest here,” said a furious Ngarambe. Kanziga and Munyeshyaka, who a week ago was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Military Tribunal over Genocide crimes, live in France.

In particular, Ngarambe blamed French troops for the butcher of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis in the areas that fell within a French-manned buffer zone called Zone Turquoise at the height of the Genocide. The zone, which stretched from Cyangugu in the Southwest to Gisenyi in the northwest of the country, is said to have provided safe passage to Genocidal forces which fled to the DR Congo as they lost power to then RPA forces. Kigali City Mayor, Dr.Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, accused the French of attempting to shift the guilt of their involvement in the 100-day slaughter to Rwandan heroes that stopped the French ‘barbaric actions.’ “We are here to remember barbaric actions of the French. Their hands are stained with the blood of innocent Rwandans and continue to be arrogant. However they will not accomplish their ill-intentions,” said the mayor.

The protesters sang patriotic songs with words that affirm their dedication to unity of Rwandans. “They should leave our defendant alone. Paul Kagame restored humanity, he is our all-time hero,” another witness, one Mukamusana, said. She accused the French military of killing Tutsi families in the former Ruhengeri province, now in the Northern Province. Bruguierre has already issued warrants for the arrest of Chief of General Staff (CGS), General James Kabarebe, Chief of Staff (Land Forces), Lieutenant General Charles Kayonga and Rwanda’s Ambassador to India, Lieutenant General Kayumba Nyamwasa. Others indicted include Joint Five (J5) head, Brigadier General Jack Nziza, Chief of State Protocol, Lieutenant Colonel (rtd) Rose Kabuye, MP Colonel (retired) Sam Kanyemera alias Kaka and Major Jacob Tumwine. President Kagame on Wednesday lambasted the French government and Bruguierre, calling the accusations rubbish."

Article courtesy of The NewTimes (Rwanda's Leading Newspaper).

Wednesday night soccer adventures in Europe

2006-11-17T11:05:00.000+01:00

JK: Contrary to popular belief, it has not been one continuous wild party since "the wife" departed for Rwanda. In fact, week one sans Mélanie was marked by life spent mostly in solitary confinement, as I worked on some PhD deadlines.

But in an attempt not to completely lose my sense of humanity, I agreed to join a posse on a kamikaze Brussels-Paris-Brussels-in-one-night trip to see France and Greece play a soccer friendly. How is that for footballing dedication? Going all the way to France to see a meaningless game and -- quite predictably -- watch another totally mediocre Hellenic performance.

Still, the experience was fun. I drove down with two Gaulic supporters, my mates Fabrice and Frederic (aka together known as "Fabric"). We met Dénis "the soccer nazi" Trigylidas and two of Fabrice's connections at the stadium.

The Stade de France is a joy to behold; a beautiful stadium with a saucer-like roof. Its only shortcoming is its location, in the heart of "le 93", the notorious banlieu of St-Denis (where some of the worst riots occured last year). On the walk back to our car, I noticed three fresh piles of broken glass -- on our street alone! Fortunately, our, uh, uber-chic white Peugeot was not a target.

Here are some pics from the match.

France-Greece friendly, November

Melanie: Our Woman in Rwanda!

2006-11-12T21:58:00.000+01:00

JK: Well, after our rather text-heavy and earth-shattering, four part educational series on Rwanda, I will spare your eyes and keep this short.

I can confirm that our fair maiden is now safe and sound in the capital, Kigali! She has already started work at the Sustainable Livelihood Unit of UNDP/Rwanda -- and enjoying it. What a great and interesting challenge it will be! Once she is settled, she will post an update on her first few weeks in Kigali, Rwanda.

Click here for the first pics our "Woman in Rwanda" has uploaded. The photo on this post shows children who died during the 1994 genocide.

Looking for Older Posts on our Blog???

2006-11-11T17:00:00.000+01:00

MK & JK: If you are new to our blog, don't forget to check out our previous posts that may not be found on this page. Instead, they are located in the "Archived Posts" section organised by month located on the right hand side of our blog. Relax, pour a glass of chilled pinot grigio, and enjoy our tales!

Rwanda 101 - Part IV (Its Present and Future)

2006-11-06T17:00:00.000+01:00

[JK: YES YES YES, your session at the dentist, uh, I mean your history lesson of Rwanda, is over! This is the last installment.]

Rwanda Today:

Rwanda today is struggling to heal and rebuild, but showing signs of rapid development, but some Rwandans continue to struggle with the legacy of genocide and war. In 2004, a ceremony was held in Kigali at the Gisozi Memorial (sponsored by the Aegis Trust) to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the genocide, attended by many foreign dignitaries, and the country observes a national day of mourning each year on April 7. Rwandan genocidal leaders are on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in the Rwandan National Court system, and, most recently, through the informal Gacaca village justice program. The current Rwandan government, led by Paul Kagame, has been praised by many for establishing security and promoting reconciliation and economic development, but is also criticised by some for being overly militant and opposed to dissent. The country now plays host to many international travelers and is regarded as a safe place for tourists.With new indepedent radio stations, Rwanda is finally attempting a free press, but some wonder how free the media really is with journalists disappearing and being apprehended whenever articles question the government.

The challenge ahead is to diversify Rwanda’s economic base, to fight poverty, to create a highly skilled and productive workforce that will drive Rwanda towards industrialization and development in the years to come. All these are included in the VISION 2020 as objectives it assigned itself.

Rwanda 101 - Part III (The Genocide)

2006-11-05T17:00:00.000+01:00

[JK: just one more "lesson" after this to go! Relief is in sight! ;)]

This lesson expands on Part II (History) by delving deeper into the 1994 Genocide.

The Strategy of Ethnic Division

President Juvenal Habyarimana, nearing the end of two decades in power, was losing popularity among Rwandans when the RPF attacked from Uganda on October 1 1990. At first Habyarimana did not see the rebels as a serious threat, although they stated their intention to remove him as well as to make possible the return of the hundreds of thousands of Rwandan refugees who had lived in exile for a generation. The President and his close colleagues decided, however, to exaggerate the RPF threat as a way to pull dissident Hutu back to his side and they began portraying Tutsi inside Rwanda as RPF collaborators. For three and a half years, this elite worked to re-define the population of Rwanda into “Rwandans,” meaning those who backed the President, and the “ibyitso” or “accomplices of the enemy,” meaning the Tutsi minority and Hutu opposed to him.

In the campaign to create hatred and fear of the Tutsi, the Habyarimana circle played upon memories of past domination by the minority and on the legacy of the revolution that overthrew their rule and drove many into exile in 1959. Singling out most Tutsi was easy: the law required that all Rwandans be registered according to ethnic group. Residents of the countryside, where most Rwandans lived, generally knew who was Tutsi even without such documentation. In addition, many Tutsi were recognisable from their physical appearance.

But shattering bonds between Hutu and Tutsi was not easy. For centuries they had shared a single language, a common history, the same ideas and cultural practices. They lived next to one another, attended the same schools and churches, worked in the same offices, and drank in the same bars. A considerable number of Rwandans were of mixed parentage, the offspring of Hutu-Tutsi marriages. In addition, to make ethnic identity the predominant issue, Habyarimana and his supporters had to erase — or at least reduce — distinctions within the ranks of the Hutu themselves, especially those between people of the northwest and of other regions, those between adherents of different political factions, and those between the rich and the poor.

From the start, those in power were prepared to use physical attacks as well as verbal abuse to achieve their ends. They directed massacres of hundreds of Tutsi in mid-October 1990 and in 5 other episodes before the 1994 Genocide. In some incidents, Habyarimana’s supporters killed Hutu opponents — their principal political challengers — as well as Tutsi, their declared ideological target.

Habyarimana was obliged to end his party’s monopoly of power in 1991 and rival parties sprouted quickly to contend for popular support. Several of them created youth wings ready to fight to defend partisan interests. By early 1992, Habyarimana had begun providing military training to the youth of his party, who were thus transformed into the militia known as the Interahamwe ("Those Who Stand Together" or "Those Who Attack Together"). Massacres of Tutsi and other crimes by the Interahamwe went unpunished, as did some attacks by other groups, thus fostering a sense that violence for political ends was “normal”.

Preparations for Slaughter
Through attacks, virulent propaganda, and persistent political manoeuvering, Habyarimana and his group signficantly widened divisions between Hutu and Tutsi by the end of 1992. During 1993, a dramatic military advance by the RPF and a peace settlement favourable to them — which also stipulated that officials, including the President, could be prosecuted for past abuses — confronted Habyarimana and his supporters with the imminent loss of power. These same events heightened concerns among a broader group of Hutu, including some not previously identified with Habyarimana. Increasingly anxious about RPF ambitions, this growing group was attracted by the new Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) and by a movement called Hutu Power, which cut across party lines and embodied the ethnic solidarity that Habyarimana had championed for three years. In late October, Tutsi soldiers in neighboring Burundi seized and murdered the Hutu President, freely and fairly elected only months before. In massacres touched off by the assassination, tens of thousands of Burundians died, both Hutu and Tutsi. The crime, energetically exploited by RTLM, confirmed the fears of many Rwandan Hutu that Tutsi would not share power and swelled the numbers supporting Hutu Power.

Meanwhile the Habyarimana circle was preparing the organization and logistics to attack the minority. During 1993, some loyalists from Habyarimana’s party expanded the recruitment and training of the Interahamwe. But others, perhaps concerned that the militia were too tainted by partisan rivalries, proposed a “civilian self-defense force” which was to recruit young men through administrative rather than party channels. The recruits were to be trained by former soldiers or communal police who would direct them in attacking the “enemy” in their communities. In early 1993, Colonel Théoneste Bagosora sketched out elements of the program in his appointment book, the intellectual Ferdinand Nahimana advocated such a force in a letter to friends and colleagues, and administrators began preparing lists of former soldiers who could command its ranks.

Soldiers and political leaders distributed firearms to militia and other supporters of Habyarimana in 1993 and early 1994, but Bagosora and others concluded that firearms were too costly to distribute to all participants in the “civilian self-defense” program (NOTE: it is also important to know that France was supplying weapons to militia forces). They advocated arming most of the young men with such weapons as machetes. Businessmen close to Habyarimana imported large numbers of machetes, enough to arm every third adult Hutu male.

Aware of these preparations, the RPF anticipated further conflict. They too recruited more supporters and troops and, in violation of the Peace Accords, increased the number of their soldiers and firearms in Kigali. They understood the risk that renewed combat would pose to Tutsi, particularly those who had come out publically in support of the RPF in the preceding months, and warned foreign observers to this effect.

The Attack
By late March 1994, Hutu Power leaders were determined to slaughter massive numbers of Tutsi and Hutu opposed to Habyarimana, both to rid themselves of these “accomplices” and to shatter the peace agreement. They had soldiers and militia ready to attack the targeted victims in Kigali and in such outlying areas as Cyangugu in the southwest, Gisenyi in the northwest and Murambi in the northeast. But elsewhere they had not completed the arrangements. In the centre of the country, they had successfully disseminated the doctrine of Hutu Power, but they were unsure how many ordinary people would transform that ideology into action. In other areas, particularly in the south, they had not won large numbers of supporters to the idea, far less organised for them to implement it.

On April 6, the plane carrying President Habyarimana was shot down, a crime for which the responsibility has never been established. A small group of his close associates — who may or may not have been involved in killing him — decided to execute the planned extermination. The Presidential Guard and other troops commanded by Colonel Bagosora, backed by militia, murdered Hutu government officials and leaders of the political opposition, creating a vacuum in which Bagosora and his supporters could take control. Soldiers and militia also began systematically slaughtering Tutsi. Within hours, military officers and administrators far from the capital dispatched soldiers and militia to kill Tutsi and Hutu political leaders in their local areas. After months of warnings, rumours and prior attacks, the violence struck panic among Rwandans and foreigners alike. The rapidity of the first killings gave the impression of large numbers of assailants, but in fact their impact resulted more from ruthlessness and organisation than from great numbers.

The killing swiftly spread from Kigali to all corners of the country. Between April 6th and mid-July 1994, a genocide of unprecedented swiftness is estimated to have left between 800,000 to 1,071,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead at the hands of organised bands of militias.

Most of the victims were killed in their villages or in towns, often by their neighbours and fellow villagers. The militia members mostly killed their victims by chopping them up with machetes, although some army units used rifles. In some towns the victims were forcibly crammed into churches and school buildings, where Hutu extremist gangs massacred them. In June about 3,000 Tutsis sought refuge in a Catholic church in Kivumu. Local Interahamwe then used bulldozers supplied by the local police to knock down the church building. People who tried to escape were hacked down with machetes.

For the rest of the story, please read "Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda" by Human Rights Watch or read Wikipedia's background on the Rwandan Genocide.

Rwanda 101 - Part II (Its History)

2006-11-04T17:00:00.000+01:00

Rwanda's History:

As early as the 15th century there were three distinct groups of people, the Hutu, the Tutsi, and the Twa living in Rwanda. The Tutsi, from further north, conquered the area, and became the ruling power, and forced the Hutu into a feudal type system that was strictly enforced. The Twa, the smallest minority group, were court jesters and often exploited. John Speke became the first European to visit Rwanda, and in 1895 the Rwandans accepted German rule to become part of German East Africa. The Germans, however, were at first completely dependent on the existing government; they did nothing to develop the country economically. The German authority kept the indigenous administration system by applying the same type of indirect rule established by the British Empire in the Ugandan kingdoms.

After Germany's loss in World War I, the protectorate was taken over by Belgium with a League of Nations mandate. Belgian rule in the region was far more direct and harsh than that of the Germans. However, the Belgian colonisers did realize the value of native rule. Backed by Christian churches, the Belgians used the minority Tutsi upper class over the lower classes of Tutsis and Hutus. Belgian-forced labour policies and stringent taxes were mainly enforced by the Tutsi upper class, whom the Belgians used as buffers against people's anger, thus further polarising the Hutu and the Tutsi. Many young peasants, in order to escape tax harassment and hunger, migrated to neighbouring countries. They moved mainly to Congo but also to Ugandan plantations, looking for work.

After World War II Rwanda became a UN trust territory with Belgium as the administrative authority. Through a series of processes - including several reforms, the assassination of King Mutara III Charles in 1959 and the fleeing of the last Abega clan monarch, King Kigeli V to Uganda - the Hutu gained more and more power. Upon Rwanda's independence in 1962, they virtually held it all.

Gregoire Kayibanda was Rwanda's first president (1962-1973), followed by Juvenal Habyarimana (1973-1994). The latter, who many view as a ruthless dictator, was unable to find a solution to increasing social unrest, the calls for democracy and the long-running problem of Rwandan Tutsi refugees. Rwanda had by the 1990s up to one million refugees scattered around neighbouring countries, the majority of them in Uganda and Burundi.

In 1990, the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) invaded Rwanda from Uganda. During the course of the fighting, top Rwandan government officials, mainly Hutu, began secretly training young men into informal armed bands called Interahamwe ("coming together"). Government officials also launched a radio station that began anti-Tutsi propaganda. The military government of Juvénal Habyarimana responded to the RPF invasion with pogroms against Tutsis, whom it claimed were trying to re-enslave the Hutus. In August 1993 the Rwandan government and the RPF signed a cease-fire agreement known as the Arusha Accords in Arusha, Tanzania to form a power sharing government, but fighting between the two sides continued. The United Nations sent a peacekeeping force named the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR ), under the leadership of Canadian Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire. UNAMIR was vastly under-funded and under-staffed. More details of this aspect of the conflict are starkly explained in Dallaire's 2003 book Shake Hands With the Devil.

During the armed conflict, the RPF was blamed for the bombing of Kigali. These attacks were actually carried out by the Hutu army as part of a campaign to create a reason for a political crackdown and ethnic violence. On April 6 1994, President Habyarimana was assassinated when his Falcon 50 trijet was shot down while landing in Kigali. It remains unclear who was responsible for the assassination — most credible sources point to the Presidential Guard, spurred by Hutu nationalists fearful of losing power, although others believe that Tutsi rebels were responsible, possibly with the help of Belgian mercenaries. Over the next three months, the military and Interahamwe militia groups killed between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates in the Rwandan Genocide. The RPF continued to advance on the capital, and occupied the northern, the eastern, and the southern parts of the country by June 1994. Thousands of civilians were killed in the conflict. U.N. Member States refused to answer UNAMIR's requests for increased troops and money. Meanwhile, French troops were dispatched to stabilise the situation under Opération Turquoise, but this only resulted in an exacerbation of the situation, with the evacuation limited to foreign nationals.

On July 4 1994, the war ended as the RPF entered the capital Kigali. In the resulting Great Lakes refugee crisis over 2 million Hutus fled the country after the war, fearing Tutsi retribution. Most have since returned, although some Hutus remained in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including some militia members that became involved in the First Congo War and the Second Congo War. In 1996, after repeated unsuccessful appeals to the UN and the international community to deal with the security threat posed by the remnants of the defeated genocidal forces on its eastern border, Rwanda invaded eastern Congo (then Zaire) in an effort to eliminate the Interahamwe groups operating there. This action, and the simultaneous one by Ugandan troops, contributed to the outbreak of the First Congo War and the eventual fall of long-time dictator Mobutu Sese Seko (former President of Zaire).

Rwanda 101 - Part I (Geography and Climate)

2006-11-03T17:00:00.000+01:00

Everything you wanted to know about Rwanda but were afraid to ask. Thus, here begins your class on "Introduction to Rwanda":

Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, with a population of approximately 8 million. It is bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. Its fertile and hilly terrain gives it the title "Land of a Thousand Hills" (in French, le Pays des Mille Collines or Igihugu cy'Imisozi Igihumbi in Kinyarwanda). Rwanda supports the densest populations in continental Africa. It is best known to the outside world for the 1994 Rwandan genocide that resulted in the deaths of up to one million people.

Rwanda's Geography:
Rwanda is a small republic in Equatorial Africa, situated a few degrees south of the Equator and on the eastern rim of the Albertine Rift, a western arm of the Great Rift Valley, on the watershed between Africa's two largest river systems: the Nile and the Congo. Much of the country's 26,338 km2 is impressively mountainous, the highest peak being Karisimbi (4,507m) in the volcanic Virunga chain protected by the Parc des Volcans. The largest body of water is Lake Kivu, but numerous other lakes are dotted around the country, notably Burera, Ruhondo, Muhazi and Mugesera, some of which have erratic shapes following the contours of the steep mountains that enclose them. Rwanda is separated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo by Lake Kivu and the Ruzizi River valley to the west; it is bounded on the north by Uganda, to the east by Tanzania, and to the south by Burundi. The capital, Kigali, is located in the centre of the country.

Rwanda's countryside is covered by grasslands and small farms extending over rolling hills, with areas of rugged mountains that extend southeast from a chain of volcanoes in the northwest. The divide between the Congo and Nile drainage systems extends from north to south through western Rwanda at an average elevation of almost 9,000 feet (2,740 m). On the western slopes of this ridgeline, the land slopes abruptly toward Lake Kivu and the Ruzizi River valley, and constitutes part of the Great Rift Valley. The eastern slopes are more moderate, with rolling hills extending across central uplands at gradually reducing altitudes, to the plains, swamps, and lakes of the eastern border region (hence Rwanda being fondly known as "Land of a Thousand Hills"). Recently, a British-led exploration announced that they had located the longest headstream of the River Nile in Nyungwe Forest.

Rwanda's Climate:
Rwanda is a tropical country; its high elevation makes the climate temperate year-round. In the mountains, frost and snow are possible. Temperatures rarely stray above 30 degrees Celsius by day or below 15 degrees Celsius at night throughout the year. The exceptions are the chilly upper slopes of the Virunga Mountains, and the hot low-lying Tanzania border area protected in Akagera National Park. Throughout the country, seasonal variations in temperature are relatively insignificant. Rwanda is considered the lightning capital of the world, due to intense daily thunderstorms during the two rainy seasons (February to May and September to December). Annual rainfall averages 31 inches (830 mm) but is generally heavier in the western and north-western mountains than in the eastern savannas. Most parts of the country receive in excess of 1,000mm of precipitation annually, with the driest months being July to September and the wettest February to May.

Current Problems:
High dependence on subsistence agriculture, high (and increasing) population density, decreasing soil fertility, and an uncertain climate make Rwanda a country where chronic malnutrition is widespread and poverty endemic.

Jenever know

2006-10-23T12:12:00.000+02:00

MK: Hasselt, Hasselt, Hasselt.....what a strange adventure! Once a year, this town in North Eastern Belgium hosts the Jeneverfeesten (Genever Festival). In other words, yet another opportunity for Flemish Belgians to drink copious amounts of alcohol and do peculiar things. Like, for example, a waiter competition as shown in the photo above. From what I can tell, this involves a bunch of males and females walking around the town balancing a bottle of Jenever and its associated glassware...I still can't explain the whole point to it but it is fun to watch!

Back to the star of the festival: Jenever. In French: Genievre. In English: Genever. It is the juniper-flavored and strongly alcoholic traditional liquor of the Netherlands and Flanders, from which gin has evolved. While the old skool version ("oude") can bring even the toughest of men to his feet, there are thankfully countless other flavours available (e.g. fruity : cherry, blood orange, sour apple, banana, lemon; creamy: vanilla, chocolate, coconut; and wacky: cactus, speculoos. Yum!!

After what was a pretty satisfying day enjoying the fest and downing jenever samples, we made our way towards the train station. Just as we were about to clear the crowds, we ran into a huge Irishman, his English wife and their drunken friend -- a Dutchman. What initially seemed like a brief encounter turned into a party, with jenever after jenever and beer after beer consumed. So much for a simple Sunday out! We just caught the last train back to Brussels, feeling just a tad wobbly to boot.

We also witnessed our first true fight in the two years we have been living in Belgium -- and it was between two posh looking Flemish lasses no less! Their battle royale eventually drew in their male mates, causing an unprecedented frenzy which the not-so-motivated police had to break-up. It was almost as if we had been transported back to nights out in Hull (Quebec).

Links:
Photos of Hasselt Jeneverfeesten 2006 on Flickr
Photos of Hasselt Jeneverfeesten 2006 on Picasa Web Album

Spa-tacular!

2006-10-23T12:04:00.000+02:00

MK: After much protest from my (JK says: "supremely macho") hubby, I finally convinced him to take me to Spa. Little do most people know that the word "spa" -- and all the fun associated with it -- comes from this Belgian town.

The town of Spa itself is small and attractive. And behind every modern-day facade you can see a city that was once brimming with grandeur. While its heyday has long since passed, Spa still attracts visitors from all walks of life. John and I spent a day at the ThermaSpa on top of the hill overlooking the town (for quite a shocking price of 15euros each = York Street Spa beware!!).

It was surreal soaking in the heated waters outside, with cool air keeping you fresh and multicoloured fall leaves providing a nice backdrop. I also tortured John by making him go in both the dry and steam sauna followed by dipping ourselves into 3 tubs of different temperatures: an ice cold, a luke warm, and a steaming hot tub. It was painful but our bodies felt rejuvenated (JK: I thought it was a bit of BS, to be honest ;)).

Oh, did I also mention that Formula 1 Grand Prix is in Spa too? Sorry guys, I have nothing to report!

Check out the links: Photos of Spa on Flickr
Photos of Spa on Picasa Web Album

The Grand Voyage Home

2006-10-19T16:19:00.000+02:00

JK: With the UNDP imploring (well, perhaps more accurately "calling") Melanie to begin a one year contract in Rwanda at the end of October, we decided it was "now or never" to make a short trip back home to Ottawa (Canada, not Illinois). So, at literally the very last minute, we hopped on a plane in Brussels, suffered through the indignities of London's Heathrow (bring on the new Terminal 5 because the current state of this airport is tragic!), and eventually made it back home.

Mel had been back to Canada as recently as February, but it was JK's first time home since moving to Belgium a full two years earlier. (This led to some reverse culture shock, see separate entry below).

Our eight days and nine nights spent in Ottawa and Toronto were tremendous (what were you expecting us to say, that they sucked? ;). Although, sleep was at a premium, but it was all worth it. Shock-quality hospitality in Ottawa was provided by Kootch "the sleep adventureman" Mertikas (when he does sleep, which is not often, the Kootch likes to try out several rooms, floors and sofas over the course of the night) and his tremendous wife Anabela "Tavaresa". Their home, and particularly the living room, looked like it came straight from the set of a designer TV show. Very nice. The same goes for our other hosts, Zvonimir Martin and Sweet Leonard Nimoy, who occupy a glorious pad downtown complete with an authentic Metallica shrine. What messiahs.

Despite the abbreviated time in Ottawa, we consider ourselves lucky to have seen so many "critical friends", titans, and legends. We accomplished tons: from the Scotsman's surprise birthday dinner, poker with Ottawa's "man-mountains", lunches with legends, elbow drops with NHS'ers, dinner with the Baron and his Italian wife, re-uniting with the Duce and co., dining and debating with the Perrakides, seeing Will sell apples for his Beaver colony, thanksgiving with the Illingworths (amongst a few other family get-togethers), and of course our impromptu wedding reception. Seeing so many new babies (all cute of course -- don't worry moms and dads!) was quite a shock for JK in particular. All this and my wife still managed to - unbeknownst to me - get a pedicure at the York Street Spa and stock up on all the necessary Aveda, Lancome, and MAC products that are crucial to her existence in Rwanda.

Toronto was also great, but the visit was far too short (one night only). The city is so interesting, but we did not have time to even scratch the surface. Still, we received excellent hospitality from my bro, "Iasonas", and his wife (Caro)'lyne. They too have a great pad north of the beaches and south of -- where else? -- the Danforth. In TO we hung with the Nico-Man and Mara, downed sushi with CK, coffee with Mel's older brother Mike, and guzzled margaritas with Dawn, my bro/sis-in-law and the Nezanator/Rob.

The reception in Ottawa, expertly organised by none other than -- how did you guess? -- Mélanie (actually, with the tremendous help of the Kootch), was a true highlight. About one hundred people came to gobble on nibblies, exchange banter and have some laughs. We were honoured that so many people came to see us on what was a Thanksgiving long weekend!!!

For photos of our wedding reception in Ottawa, click here.

For scenic photos of Ottawa, click here.

For silly photos with friends, click here.

For fun photos with family, click here.

(Reverse) Culture Shock!

2006-10-18T16:53:00.001+02:00

JK: As mentioned above, Mel had been back to Canada as recently as February 2006 (7 months ago), but it was JK's first time home since moving to Belgium a full two years earlier (October 2004). This led to some reverse culture shock, including:

Cheeriness and friendliness of most people. You could actually walk into a store in Ottawa and not fear: a) it being closed 10 minutes early; b) being told to get out; or c) receiving the trusted shrug and "non, c'est impossible monsieur" line:).
Peacefulness. This was both good and bad. The good: JK admired the number of people who were genuinely upset when a nearby Ottawa driver honked his horn a few times in anger. In Brussels we are truly disturbed when we don't hear someone unload on his/her horn at least every hour -- including in the middle of the night! The bad: even the Byward Market seemed a bit too peaceful compared to the action on Euro-streets (I won't even bother mentioning Sparks Street).
Service culture. When JK realised on the way to rent a car that his license had recently expired -- and having become habituated to the Kafkaesque ways of Europe -- he panicked. "Good god, I don't have 10 pieces of identification, a letter from my deceased great-grandmother, a certificate from my childhood dentist, and 15 weeks to spare", he said. Fortunately, he was in Canada and, after a quick visit to the license bureau, we were on our way to Toronto in a rented car with JK at the helm, renewed license in tow!
Coffee to go. This is both good and bad. The good: convenience. It is nice to know that, if you are in a rush, a coffee "to go" can be prepared for you without risking the wrath of the server. While this is catching on in Europe, it is still considered a peculiar habit. Walking down the street with take-out coffee is practically sacrilegious. The bad: it is actually nice to sit down and enjoy your coffee, particularly the high quality - straight from the espresso machine - stuff they ply us with over in Brussels. Also, and perhaps this is a bureaucratic Ottawa thing, but it is a tad disturbing seeing every second person walking around town with a 1 litre "cup" of watery filtered coffee in hand. Coffee has almost become the new Linus and his security blanket.

On 15 and 16 October: Stand Up and Help Fight Poverty

2006-10-16T17:27:00.000+02:00

On 15 and 16 October, the world came together to stand up and remind their governments that promises to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and help the billions living in extreme poverty must be kept.

The purpose of the action is to raise awareness of the MDGs and to publicly demonstrate to policy makers the growing global support for the eradication of poverty.

STAND UP is an initiative designed to coincide with Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) month of global mobilizations around the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. We need everyone to take part to ensure governments listen and take action. The Department of Economic and Social Affairs is organizing an International Forum on the Eradication of Poverty on 15 and 16 November at United Nations Headquarters New York to mark the end of the First UN Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006).

Although they ask for you to take notice for only two days, why don't you go further and stand up against poverty a little bit every month, or every week, or even every day. Click on the Stand Up logo to find out how you can help. And buy a white band.

To see photos from the "Stand Up Against Poverty" campaign around the world, click here.

Congratulations Miss Sutton and Mrs Airey-Castillero!!

2006-10-07T18:09:00.000+02:00

M&J would like extend a warm congratulations to both Miss Sutton and Mrs Airey-Castillero for entering into the world of management consular officers (MCOs). We couldn't think of two finer people to provide service to Canadians abroad.

Hide and Seek

2006-09-28T10:57:00.000+02:00

All the noise and chatter have stopped. You cannot hear a sound. Melanie and John have gone into hiding. They are busy preparing for their next adventures and changes to their lives. Please come back soon and you will learn where they have gone, what they have been up to, what and whom they have seen, and where they are going.

Answers to Madonna Quiz

2006-09-06T12:13:00.000+02:00

MK: Well, it looks like our readers are not up on their pop culture! So for those curious minds, here are the answers:

1. Lucky Star (Madonna)
2. Dress You Up (Like a Virgin)
3. True Blue (True Blue)
4. Who's that Girl (Who's that Girl)
5. Keep it Together (Like a Prayer)
6. Something to Remember (I'm Breathless)
7. Erotica (Erotica)
8. Secret (bedtime Stories)
9. This Used to be my Playground (Something to Remember)
10. Don't Cry for me Argentina (Evita)
11. Frozen (Ray of Light)
12. Music (Music)
13. Die Another Day (American Life)
14. Isaac (Confessions on A Dance Floor)

Seeing the Material Girl Live.... At Long Last

2006-09-06T11:20:00.000+02:00

MK: Thanks to Janet (one of NART's original members), my life long dream and passion (well, one of them at least!) came true on Monday night. I ventured to Amsterdam and saw Madonna's Confessions Tour.

Instead of going into how artistic, creative, flexible, amazing, and wonderful Madonna and her concerts are, I have decided to do something interactive with you.

Guess what songs and album these lyrics are from:

1. "And when I'm lost you'll be my guide. I just turn around and you're by my side."
2. "Let me cover you with velvet kisses. I'll create a look that's made for you."
3. "You're the one I'm dreaming of. Your heart fits me like a glove."
4. "Her heart is on the street, tu corazon es suyo. Now you're falling at her feet."
5. "When I get lonely and I need to be. Loved for who I am, not what they want to see."
6. "But you gave me something to remember. No other man said love yourself."
7. "Once you put your hand in the flame. You can never be the same."
8. "Since you came into my life. You found a way to touch my soul."
9. "This used to be the place I ran to. Whenever I was in need."
10. "Couldn't stay all my life down at heel. Looking out of the window, staying out of the sun."
11. "Love is a bird, she needs to fly. Let all the hurt inside of you die."
12. "It's like ridin' on the wind and it never goes away. But she's everything I'm in got to have it everyday."
13. "I think I'll find another way. There's so much more to know."
14. "Wrestle with your darkness. Angels call your name."

Here is a hint: They are in chronological order from each album she has produced.... And NO cheating!!

A Belgian Beer Fest

2006-09-05T21:21:00.000+02:00

For those interested in beer, there are very few countries that can compete with Belgium for the production of quality brew.
M&JK: While the Belgians are normally very modest, they are quite proud of their brewing tradition. So what better festival to organise than a beery one in the heart of Brussels.

We made our way down for what we thought would be a simple afternoon beer sampling adventure. In the end, we (mostly John, "the beer drinker in the family") spent hour upon hour there, consuming incredible and wacky beer upon incredible and wacky beer. Many mates joined us over the duration of the event, making it a superb Saturday!

Has it Really Been One Year Already??

2006-09-04T12:04:00.000+02:00

M&JK: On Sunday the 3rd of September 2006, we passed the one-year hurdle (of marriage, that is). It doesn't seem so bad afterall! We still talk on occasion! ;)

Here is a (JK: rather cheesy but fun ;)) collage showing some of our best memories together:

To celebrate we convened some very fine folk a few days later for a drink at -- where else? -- the Grapevine in Place Lux (formerly known as "Place Petros", until the bugger picked up and moved to London). The sun was shining (we're having a bit of an Indian Summer -- and we deserve it after the August we had) which made everyone particularly giddy.

So, on we go for year two. Let's see what surprises await us!

A Bacchian experience

2006-09-03T15:34:00.000+02:00

JK: Dionysios Trigylidas, aka "Denis", "Trigger" or "The Dionetian", blessed us with his legendary presence last Thursday night.

The visit started on a peculiar note. After a 3.5 hour wait for us to finish work, Denis was forced to sit solo for another 30 minutes at a bar, beer in hand, unceremoniously abandoned by John, who ran off in a panic looking for his set of keys (which were inadvertently left in the front door of our apartment building).

Triumphantly, the night was redeemed by a beautiful dinner at "Le Cap" (Marche de Vieille Halle aux Bles -- a very neat and undisturbed square near the Grand Place).

But the greatest highlight -- and yet another chapter in Denis and JK's shared sport viewing history -- was the Greek victory over the NBA-based US national team at the World Cup of Baskeball. They watched the game in a jam-packed and cigarette smoke infested Greek resto-bar across the street from the EU Commission (Kafeneio). The game was rather early in the morning, as you can see by their sleepy eyes in the pic above.

One night by the North Sea...

2006-08-28T13:58:00.000+02:00

JK: In a desperate attempt to run away from the endless cloud and rain (yes, the weather is a recurring theme of conversation lately, but by god it has been hideous), we hopped on a train to the North Sea coastal town of Oostende. Miraculously, by the time we arrived the sky had opened up and we got to enjoy the Belgian coast with our friend the sun.

BUT, of course, there was a catch: so enthralled were we with being on the coast, that we missed the last train back to Brussels (well, that is my version; Mélanie "claims" I misread the train schedule... ;) ).

MK: I interject here to say he did indeed read the train schedule wrong but too manly to admit it.

JK: Stuck in Oostende for the night, and on a very tight budget (you get paid at the beginning of the month in Europe, hence end of month spending becomes rather tricky), we had the choice of either pulling an all-nighter and catching the first train back to Brussels, or else finding some sort of cheap room. With the youth hostel closed (it was already midnight), and every hotel either booked or far too expensive, we finally stumbled upon a "seniors' bar" -- i.e. a bar full of extremely old folk dancing to Flemish gigs -- that advertised cheap rooms for the night.

We got the room, and after sheepishly trudging through a group of partying octagenarians, settled in. The building lacked a shower for guests (presumably showers at the nearby beach could be used -- thanks for the convenience!), the tap in the bedroom spurted out a few drops of water and the walls could have been made from paper maché, but at least the sheets looked clean!

Fortunately, a superb beer bar was located directly across the street. It provided the perfect relief from our misfortune and an opportunity for me to go hog-wild tasting the variety of glory on offer (La Chouffe on tap! Bink Blonde, etc) while Mélanie daintily sipped chilled jenever. What a peculiar weekend adventure!

To see the photos, click here.

Boyo was here! Yes he was

2006-08-24T14:10:00.000+02:00

After an odyssey that included the 24hour postponement of his flight to Europe, a missed train in Paris, a missed second flight to Barcelona and a host of penalty charges, Ottawa's heroic Boyo (aka DJ Boyo, DJ Chicken Stardude, Pollo, Barnabitch) finally made it for a visit --albeit an abreviated one-- to Brussels. Boyo put on a brave and honourable face whilst here, belying the exhaustion and trouble he had endured. Clearly his years of weight training had made him strong.

Our powerful frisbee-obsessed friend from Ottawa spent five hours in our adopted home before we escorted him to the airport for his flight to Barcelona/Ibiza. But what an action-packed five hours they were! We attempted to give him a taste of both "the real" Brussels (e.g. Marolles, Jeux de balle, Midi marché, St. Boniface, etc) and the tourist version (Grand Place, which was fortunately still adorned with the Tapis de Fleurs - photo posted here).

The young Boyo entertained us with tales from Ottawa. The only sad note was that his short visit precluded the consumption of many of the Belgian beers of glory John had amassed with the intention of imbibing in his honour. Next time! Restez massif Boyo!