Dear friends, thank you for visiting. I have not been posting blogs but I have been having happy times!  Move For Melanoma is coming up again, on September 27-29, and I am once again trying to raise funds to get ocular melanoma patients across Canada to treatment. 

Please join in if you can. The work is important and your kindness will be appreciated.  With love, Nigel

https://saveyourskin.akaraisin.com/ui/MoveforMelanoma2025/p/ff3abd5eda554c40a0abf5ed97bfe070

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2024. The pohutukawa is in bloom for Christmas 🙏❤️

As the turn of the year festival fast approaches, it is good to look back and think forward. What a splendid year it has been. I hope it has been kind to you too.

Highlights for me included a warm start to the year in New Zealand, with a week of international tennis in Auckland and another brilliant week of exploration in Queenstown, NZ’s adventure capital, followed by a visit to Tahiti. Summer brought memorable family time with my oldest sibling visiting Canada and spending time with my family. In late summer I enjoyed a week in Montreal, a week in Northern Ontario with my youngest sibling, a few days in Ottawa, our elegant capital, and an exploration of Algonquin Park with fall foliage at its most brilliant. In October, my hiking friends and I enjoyed Sedona and the Grand Canyon. As the year draws to a close, I have spent a week in Hawaii, celebrating a milestone birthday with my oldest sibling and as I write, I am enjoying warm summer days in New Zealand again. I am very grateful to be feeling well and able to enjoy so many amazing adventures.

This year has brought change too. I retired from strata council in June and no longer concern myself with day to day running of the corporation. I have also withdrawn from day to day involvement with Ocumel Canada although I continue to care deeply about Canadian OM patients. New people are stepping up and contributing so the invaluable work continues. It was time for me to have more time as it takes longer to do things! I now devote myself to recreation and wellness. Life is good🙏 and I am very grateful for it. 

Hoping you and yours are prospering in this ever more challenging world we have created. Peace and love, Nigel

That time of year!

 Dear friends, each year, when Move For Melanoma comes around (September 27 to 29 this year) I participate in fundraising to help Canadian OM patients get to treatment. The picture is much brighter now than it has ever been as there is an approved and widely available treatment for metastatic disease and several promising clinical trials. Right now, we are helping ten OM patients to participate in clinical trails in Canada.

I have stepped back from my leadership role in Ocumel Canada but I still feel strongly about supporting fellow patients. When you are dealing with a frightening cancer diagnosis, you need friends to lean on. If you are able to help this year, please check out my page:

https://saveyourskin.akaraisin.com/ui/2024moveformelanoma/p/6c815032df3240c1844670d4d9df8574

Thank you for the financial and moral support.  Peace and love, Nigel

Move For Melanoma 2023

 Dear friend, while I have stepped back from day to day involvement with Ocumel Canada, I still care deeply that ocular melanoma patients are able to access treatment. And so I find myself once again asking people to help raise funds so that patients can get to the four treatment centres in Canada, wherever they live.  

 

Ocumel Canada and Save Your Skin Foundation are the only organization in Canada that helps ocular melanoma patients financially. We have spent $40 000 in the first six months of 2023 doing just that. Please have a look at my fundraising page and help if you can. Thank you. I deeply appreciate your generosity.  Peace and love, Nigel

https://saveyourskin.akaraisin.com/ui/2023moveformelanoma/p/04b046c23a1446448e769b437f87cd5b

Move For Melanoma

For several years now, when Move For Melanoma weekend comes around (Sept 23-25), I have asked friends and family to help me raise funds for Ocumel Canada so that we can help ocular melanoma patients access treatment. In this special year, when there is finally a Health Canada approved treatment for metastatic ocular melanoma, please consider joining my team or making a donation. Your generosity will be deeply appreciated by patients.

Please take a moment to visit my page:

https://saveyourskin.akaraisin.com/ui/moveformelanoma2022/p/5770a0562fdf437a87c3c90861a50b9a

Moving for Melanoma 2021

 

Dear friends,

 

https://youtu.be/QZ67t8vDOHA

A year ago I asked for support in raising funds so that Ocumel Canada can support Canadian patients. Thank you to the many people, all over the world, for your generosity and kindness. I couldn't believe it!

We have had a wonderful and productive year, thanks to the incredible support you gave. We now have a detailed report on the issues that face ocular melanoma patients across the country.

 

https://saveyourskin.ca/wp-content/uploads/SYSF-Ocular-Melanoma-Survey-Report.pdf

 

The biggest difficulty they face, if they live far from the four treatment centres, is travel costs which are often not covered my medical or private health plans. On Wednesday we were asked if we would cover the hospital costs for three out of province patients who need to start a new treatment in Toronto which has just become available, the first of its kind and the first good news we have ever had for patients with metastasis. We immediately said yes and will now try to change the system so patients are not discouraged from seeking treatment. We help the patient first and then advocate for change.

We now have a private Facebook group with over 100 Canadian patients in it so we can hear their concerns and share information. This builds community where previously there was none. We are learning to support each other.

And so, I am asking again if you are able and willing to help fund our activities as we continue our work. Every dollar we raise goes to cover patient costs. None of it goes to admin or other expenses.

Have a look at my fundraising page this year and please consider helping out.

 

https://saveyourskin.akaraisin.com/ui/moveformelanoma2021/p/66ce5f2cba6b4f2a97e485637e0c7e56

 

 And here is another story of a young man in North Vancouver whom we have helped.

 

https://saveyourskin.ca/laurence-story/?fbclid=IwAR0XuCRdAf79ff8CTBphigDjtZmge2zcTHBxtKMvP4ymnRPAxk7a38hTsMM

 


With gratitude,   Nigel

                                     Christmas 2020  The strangest Christmas of all

 

Dear friends and family, 

 

This has been a year like no other, unless you survived 1918 and have lived to 102! If you are reading this, like me, you have almost made it  through a global pandemic. Hang in there! Two million have not made it through and those are only the ones who got counted. So, I am even more glad than ever before to be alive and to watch the first vaccines arrive at our airports just in time for Christmas.

 

Merry Christmas especially to all of the scientists who have scrambled to do 10 years’ work in 10 months. I hope they can all have a beautiful and celebratory Christmas with close family.

 

And families will spend a lot of time together this Christmas!  Where I live, we can only be with immediate family, so I will be on my own, a first. It will be perfect. More gregarious Christmases will return and be cause for great joy.

 

In many ways, it has been a year that has been a long time coming. We have been taking good luck for granted.  Peace and prosperity are not a given. We have to work hard for both. Widespread world peace for 75 years has been an extraordinary interlude. Imagine enjoying all of it! How lucky can one get!

 

And this is really what is uppermost in my mind. We are a fairly simple species. Together we have imagined an amazing world and then created it all around us. But the greatest work of all, nature itself, has been abuilding for a lot longer than homo sapiens. It will remain after us even though we seem hellbent on destroying the exquisite balance that has allowed so many organisms to coexist. 

 

Below, you will see what brings me the greatest joy this Christmas - a new life, hope for the future, just like Christmas 2000 years ago.  Welcome Rory Rhys Laurel Deacon!

 

Here’s wishing everyone I know, and those I don’t, a peaceful Christmastide and a promise of good health and happiness in the New Year.  With love, Nigel

 

 

Summer 2020

 It is a long time since I put pen to paper. I was having the time of my life and a global pandemic swept in!  Although I have been alive for a long time, I have not seen a global pandemic before. How extraordinary that a tiny virus can sweep all around the world like lightning, penetrate the remotest of places  and bring everyday life to a halt. As we watch it play out, we can see the shift as the virus, which emerged in prosperous societies, moves into disadvantaged groups who do not have the protection of sophisticated medical systems and adequate social protection. A virus has no consciousness and cannot be kind, but we can. I spend most of my time now figuring out what it means to be kind in this new world. It is not so easy. 

 

One way that I have been able to continue to be kind is to keep working at building support for people who, out of the blue, get diagnosed with ocular melanoma. I continue to be extraordinarily well and strong, but that is not the normal journey.  Ocumel Canada, from modest beginnings in January 2019, has gone from strength to strength. We now have a private Facebook group of more than 70  Canadian patients. My original dream was that I could find maybe 10 people! Every week we attract new members, mostly through word of mouth. We are about to publish the first report ever on ocular melanoma services across Canada. We are just starting to organize a global symposium on ocular melanoma that will bring experts and patients from all corners of the  world together. For me, that is what kindness looks like at the moment.

If you would like to lend a hand, I am starting an annual fundraising campaign so that we can continue and expand our advocacy. All contributions go the helping patients. There are no overheads. My time and creativity are free!

Sending peace and love to all,  Nigel

https://saveyourskin.akaraisin.com/ui/moveformelanoma2020/participant/5218425?Lang=en-CA

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Year That Was

Christmas is nigh and a new year will follow quickly on its heels. Time flies, ever faster. Goodness, I almost feel dizzy! At times, I feel I am the luckiest person on earth. Next year I will mark the tenth anniversary of a dire cancer diagnosis. How could I possibly be still here?

2019 has been a splendid year in my life. Almost everything seems to have gone right. I spent the early part of the year giving my NZ sister a hand as she got a new hip. She is now flying on all cylinders again!

Ocumel Canada launched in January. The idea had been hatching for some time. I have met some extraordinary people on my cancer journey. While cancer may have hurt them or their loved ones, they have found ways to change the conversation, advocate for change and build hope. I continue to come across Canadians who get an ocular melanoma diagnosis and need support and encouragement as they try to figure out the best way forward. The more we work together, the faster the storyline will take on a positive tone. This horrible disease will yield to science and hope. I feel the change happening.

In the Fall my son got married in Sorrento, on the Amalfi Coast, a dream wedding in a dream location. I also took the opportunity  to check in with all of my far flung siblings and some very good friends. I even got to spend time in Ethiopia with a new member of my family! We explored the Roof of Africa, a spectacular and extraordinary place, full of rain and cloud and exotic flora and fauna. Ethiopia is on the threshold of an extraordinary renaissance, constrained only by the old enemies, ignorance, poverty and ethnic nationalism. Will the dream come true? Will a new, prosperous democracy emerge on the last continent to prosper? I will hope for that.

And so, 2020 will soon be here. May you and your loved ones be happy to greet it and may you enjoy family and friends over the coming days. Life really is what we make it! 

Love and peace always,  Nigel

Relaunch!

My favourite photo of 2019

Father's Day on  Mystic Beach







Dear friends, I have been quiet for a long time and that is not at all like me! It is time to reach out and catch up.

Ocumel Canada, a dream for some time but now a reality, is up and running. Have a look at our website if you have time. The day to day work of advocacy for and support of Canadian ocular melanoma patients is now part of my day to day life. It is immensely rewarding. Although the cancer is very rare, I have made contact with many Canadians living with it. And sadly, some have left us during this year too. I  become more and more aware of our need for organization, advocacy and activism. Outcomes could be better. It is a group that would be very easy to ignore. We can do a lot more than we are doing.

With that in mind, I need to rustle up some money in order to build our advocacy efforts. On Saturday, September 14, 2019 a small team of brave people will walk along the Victoria Harbour with me in Victoria as part of Move for Melanoma, a cross Canada venture. If you would like to support us, please visit https://saveyourskin.akaraisin.com/ui/moveformelanoma2019/participant/5218425
Moral support is as important as financial support to me!

On September 20, I leave for a visit to all of my far flung siblings and to attend my son's wedding on the Amalfi Coast in Italy on October 16. Another highlight of the trip will be a visit to Ethiopia to hike the Roof of Africa, another long time  dream. I will of course blog as I go along! What joy and excitement lie ahead!

With love,  Nigel

https://youtu.be/j33EHBt_iGk

Christmas 2018

Dear friends and family, Christmas is here!

Santa Claus' arrival is imminent and the excitement is palpable and growing! Memories of happy childhood Christmases flood back. Presents, good food, family, spiritual observations ( probably in that order!)  - the essential ingredients. Peace and love, hopefully even forgiveness, permeate the atmosphere. 

This has been a wonderful year. I found myself in Canada in January, not my favourite month to be home. In February I had two romantic weeks in Puerto Vallarta with my friend. The weather was glorious and there is lots to see and do there. I had one nice trip out of town, with relatives of my friend,  to a beautiful beach north of Puerto Vallarta and I did think how nice it might be to have a holiday there as Puerto Vallarta has become very urban and busy.  

In April I attended an ocular melanoma conference in Denver, Colorado to reconnect with my many new friends and keep up with the science of, and research into, the disease. I spent a few days afterwards with very special friends who live just north of Denver. 

We had a perfect summer in Victoria, starting in April. The weather was so dry that we had very serious problems with forest fires throughout the province. Climate change is trying so hard to get our attention. Will we listen? Do people care?

I spent lots of time on the mainland as my friend lives over there and this gave me many opportunities to spend time with Geoff and his partner Aileen. They are just home from a very exciting trip to Nepal and Bhutan where they did some serious trekking in the Himalayas. 

In August I returned to Africa, always a very meaningful event for me. I travelled through many countries, several of which I had never visited before. Highlights were a visit with some of our closest relatives, the mountain gorillas, a visit deep into the Okavango Delta, climbing up the sand dunes on the Namibian coast, seeing the remains of our illustrious earliest forbears in both South Africa and Ethiopia, and spending lots of time with the animals and birds that make Africa by far the most beautiful continent. 

I have close family in South Africa and it is always a special pleasure to spend time with them. I also rediscovered a first cousin in Uganda whom I had not seen for perhaps thirty years. 

The most exciting project of the year though for me has been the formation of a national advocacy body for ocular melanoma, to support patients and caregivers and encourage progress in the care of those who find themselves living with this rare and dangerous disease. I was diagnosed with it in 2010 and developed metastasis in 2012 so I consider myself very lucky indeed to be alive. The official launch of Ocumel Canada will take place at the beginning of January. Now the hard work begins in earnest.

And so I find myself yet again eager to embrace the mystery and excitement of another year of living with passion. What a privilege to be alive and well!   Best wishes for a happy festive season.  Peace and love, Nigel

Ethiopia

Ethiopia has a very distinct history within Africa. It has never been colonized. The Italian fascists occupied the country for five years during WW2 but left quickly and the emperor of the time, Haile Selassie, resumed his reign. Ethiopia also has a long history of repelling invaders. 

Ethiopians are not one distinct ethnic group. Over 80 languages are spoken and there is enormous geographic and cultural diversity. Christianity came early to Ethiopia,  in the 4th century CE, and two thirds of the population belong to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The church has a powerful influence and still gives the country very conservative mores. It is surprising to see the devotion of even its young people, praying fervently in and around the churches, kissing gates and windows, bowing before icons and asking passing priests for a blessing. The priest offers the cross and the penitent kisses it and is touched by it. 

The population is high, over 100 000 000, and Addis Ababa is a sprawling, mostly uninteresting megalopolis. Land cannot be privately owned but is leased. The highlands are intensely cultivated, almost everywhere the eye can see and 70% of the population still lives in rural areas. 

The emperor was overthrown in 1974 and replaced by a communist regime, now mostly known for a campaign of terror and mass murder. It was replaced by a democratic government but one party has dominated until today. It is extraordinary that slaves, which numbered in the millions, were not freed until 1942. With such a different social history, a visit is well worthwhile. 

There is an evident gentleness about the people, and manners are very important. Greetings are elaborate with much shoulder touching while handshaking! The man hug must have come from here! Women seem to be surprisingly equal for Africa and are everywhere involved in commerce and industry. The young seem to have little to do in the towns and cities though and given how numerous they are, this must create a lot of social stress.

It is very challenging to be an independent tourist here as information does not abound and most people just hire someone to take them around everywhere. Everyone seems to be a 'guide'! When I have chatted with potential guides I have quickly concluded they have neither the linguistic skills nor the background knowledge to be helpful and would better be described as drivers. I have chosen to proceed on my own and have had a wonderful time. Those offering help have not been a persistent nuisance. I feel no danger, day or night.

The weather is lovely in October as the rainy season is now over, it is green everywhere and temperatures are moderate on the high plateau. There is much history to be explored, starting with the Kingdom of Axum near the northern border with Eritrea.

Heritage Day

September 24 is Heritage Day in South Africa and South Africans have an annual opportunity to think about diverse cultures and their heritage. My clever cousin chose a special way to celebrate. 

We drove to a new museum, named Cradle of Humankind, where the story of human evolution is retold in an impressive collection of exhibits which benefits from modern technology and innovation in a way that old museums cannot. The context is perfect. Close by, the Rising Star Cave was the location of exciting and rich fossil discoveries in 2013 which led to the detailed description of 'homo naledi', a branch of the family that evolved in the area millions of years ago.

The most amazing discovery in this cave is that 15 different individuals ended up in the same cave and it is surmised that it is a burial chamber. Long before 'homo sapiens' appeared, this branch of the family seems to have had rituals surrounding death. It is likely that these remote indirect ancestors, while still good tree climbers, had a consciousness about life and death that resembles our own.

The limestone caves all over Southern Africa have revealed many long hidden treasures and have been a main player in leading paleontology to the current robust theory that 'homo sapiens', our direct ancestor, first stood and walked in this part of the globe and gave rise to all modern peoples. There were many other branches of the family that were born but died out. 'Homo erectus' for example, developed outside of Africa and spread far and wide, including back to Africa. However, 'homo sapiens' won the war of survival and came to dominate the planet, for better and worse. So, we are truly all African and it always feels like home to me. 

We also descended deep into the Sterkfontein Cave close by, where Dr. Broom, in 1948, discovered the remains of 'Mrs. Ples', first thought to be the skull of a woman. Advances since then in science and knowledge have led to the likelihood that it is the skull of a 14 year old boy! The humanlike remains in this cave all ended up there by misfortune, either falling in or being dragged in by predators that had killed them. It was not an ancient dwelling place.

The new museum has one exhibit where the visitor walks the timeline from the present day back to the beginning of the earth and marks the five mass extinctions that we now know about. The most cataclysmic mass extinction, a mere 251 million years ago, destroyed over 90% of all life on the planet. Will the sixth mass extinction, currently underway,  created by climate change and our profligate abuse of the earth's resources, be of that dimension? 

Victoria Falls

In the last leg of the trip I crossed the border into Zimbabwe, my home from 1984 to 1987 and I spent two days at Victoria Falls. While the economy is still in disarray, destroyed by the avarice and cunning of the now deposed Robert Gabriel Mugabe, tourism prospers. A currency crisis continues and the country has no currency of its own. Most trade is done in American dollars but often there is no change and credit cards often don't work because of the patchy infrastructure. 

Despite these considerable obstacles, the majestic splendour of the Victoria Falls draws visitors from all over the world. On the Zimbabwe side one can walk all along the edge of the gorge facing the Falls. Where the water is most plentiful, the long drop, over 100 metres in places, creates an ever present mist which falls immediately again as tropical rain, creating a lush rainforest in the immediate area. The noise really does sound like thunder, giving the name Musi-Oa-Tunya, the smoke that thunders. It is a beautiful experience to walk through this mist and watch the spectacular view disappear and reappear. There are many viewing points along the way where  you stand right on the edge of the gorge and watch the water tumble over the cliff. In September, viewing is at its best as the water in the mighty Zambezi is at its lowest. Early in the year, when the river is filled with rains, one sees much less but the spectacle is even more unlikely. I have seen it in many moods and it is always spectacular.

Livingstone wrote in his diary, " No one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight."  The scene seems so unlikely, almost impossible. Why does this mighty river, carrying water from all over the centre of Africa to the Indian Ocean, along a 2 kilometre almost straight line cliff, suddenly drop 100 metres straight down? No similar drop is visible in the surrounding landscape. It seems as if the river should flow almost flat along the ground. Instead, it engages in this miraculous athletic feat, creating rainbows everywhere, giving rise to a rainforest in the midst of endless dry savannah, filling the air with a mighty roar and blowing mist high into the bone dry surrounding air. It is a magical place indeed - a wonder of the world.

Chobe National Park

Along the northern border between the Caprivi Strip (Namibia) and Botswana, lies Chobe National Park which boasts the largest elephant population in the world. In September the rains are still a month or more away so the game concentrates along the river to have access to water. If there are antelope and other smaller animals, there will be lions and leopards to feast on them. 

At this stage of the trip, day temperatures were moving close to 40 degrees and the nights were a very welcome relief. I had an early morning and a late evening game drive in addition to a sunset cruise on the river. Botswana requires that their parks use Botswana guides so our excellent guides had to stay at camp. The level of guiding was very amateurish by comparison and there was a wild drive along very sandy roads basically in search of large cats! I did have the thrill of seeing a leopard coming down out of a tree having stored his food up high. I also saw two prides of lions. Besides the cats, there was an amazing concentration of game along the river and also an impressive number of birds. The challenge was getting the guide to stop the jeep, even briefly!

Elephants were everywhere. It was thrilling to see such large herds with many very small babies. When the day gets hot, the herds move towards the river and spend a long time there

drinking, bathing and cooling themselves. They also spray mud all over themselves and then add a coat of dust for good measure. For the first time I was able to watch elephants swim through the deep river to an island. You can't see what is happening under water but they glide along surprisingly smoothly for such large animals! Crocodiles and hippos were also everywhere. In both the Okavango Delta and Chobe, hippos are often out of the water during the day grazing on soft grasses. Hippos usually lie around in the water during the day and graze at night so this was a wonderful surprise end it made photography easy. 

Watching this drama of nature playing out in front of my eyes brings great joy and I realize there is a naturalist in full view inside me. Perhaps I have misspent my life in schools. This is the school where I have always wanted to be!

The Okavango Delta in Botswana

A vast catchment area in the south of Angola feeds the Okavango River which pours into the Okavango Delta, a vast water area completely surrounded by desert. The Delta is relatively shallow and filled with islands of grasses, interspersed with channels of faster flowing water and paths created by elephants and hippos crashing through. It is very difficult to comprehend how there can be so much water in this hot dry part of Africa. The water level peaks in June, months after the rains recede and is at its lowest point as the rains begin. Four metres of water is considered low in the Delta, and how many rivers never reach the ocean?

A four hour fast boat ride took me far into the delta through a giant outdoor aviary. Lying in the reeds on both sides were all sizes of crocodiles, some as long as 4 metres. They would stay dead still until the boat was very close and then, in an explosion of action, jump into the water. The stunning colours of the carmine bee eaters and malachite kingfishers and vast numbers of fish eagles and little egrets delight. 

My destination was Pepere Island, a small island far into the Delta where a very sparse tenting camp has been set up with no electricity and no commerce. Hippos came through the camp later in the evening. The following day I took a long mokoro (traditional dugout canoe pushed by a person with a very long pole)  ride on the channels created by large animals and admired the endless flowers and grasses, including beautiful water lilies of various colours. There were tiny frogs everywhere, on the reeds and the water lily leaves. Those frogs create a deafening chorus as the sun sets and later larger frogs with deeper voices join them. At one stage I was very close to a huge hippo who quickly took shelter underwater. 

Then I had a long walk through the bush with a very knowledgable guide who could explain the bird, animal and plant life. We were in search of elephants but sadly came across none. 

However, the following day our patient guide headed out again and we came across a breeding herd of elephants, with four babies. This makes it much harder to approach the herd as the mothers will do what it takes to guard their babies. I have always found the walks in game parks especially exciting as one puts one's life at risk to get closer to the animals without the protection of a vehicle. 

Today I have made the long return journey up along the Okavango River and then driven the length of the Caprivi Strip and am poised to enter Chobe National Park, with its 50 000 elephants tomorrow. 

Garden of Eden

The Etosha Pan in northern Namibia has long held the reputation of being rich in animal life. The past few days have been a very joyful experience filled with exciting sightings of all kinds of animals, some for the first time ever for me.

Yesterday morning I came across a pride of 10 lions, including 3 little cubs. I learned later that the cubs had been left together in the open by the waterhole as the pride went hunting, making them extremely vulnerable to predators. This is how it is in the lion world. Pregnancy is very short, just 3.5 months and the mother gets the cubs through that most vulnerable phase. Submissive males in the pride are involved in caring for the cubs later. When the power structure changes, all cubs in the pride are killed. This vicious and fragile power structure seems to be partially responsible for a shocking decline in lion numbers in the world.

Bird life in the eastern side of the park is extraordinary. It would be worth a visit here just to do birding.

Today we head north into the Caprivi Strip and tomorrow another dream comes true, a visit to the Okavango Delta and a voyage by mokoro, the traditional dugout canoe. 

End of earth

Four wonderful days in Cape Town, one of the world's most beautiful cities, at end of winter when everything is green, is balm for the soul.  Highlights were a day in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and a trip to the top of Table Mountain, wrapped in mist. The city abounds with delicious food and, of course, excellent local wines. I also had a quick tour down to Cape Point Lighthouse, back past the large penguin colony at Boulders, and over Chapman's Peak, where two short years ago I ran with my friends and son in the Two Oceans Ultramarathon. 

There may be many serious problems in South Africa but there are also many more things that work well. The infrastructure is without parallel in Africa, the rainbow of people all seem to be able to work well enough together for institutions small and large to be friendly and efficient and life is good for those who can afford to avail of all the pleasures. 

Poverty is its Achilles' heel and solutions for that will not be easy, not when the huge majority is poor.

Rwanda

My visit to Rwanda has come to an end. It had been on my list for a long time and the visit has been very rewarding.

What is different about it? We all have heard about some of the differences.  It is indeed amazingly tidy. There seems to be an ethic abroad in society that work should be done with great care. I have seen people dig out tiny weeds from cobbled roads and others scraping dirt from brick surfaces. There are decorative plantings everywhere and people are forever pulling weeds out of the lawns. Sweepers swish the leaves off roads and pathways. There is no plastic strewn about, mostly because plastic bags are banned. During Umuganda, often groups just go out and pick up litter.

The country has also felt very safe. People seem extremely friendly and willing to chat. I have felt quite safe walking around after dark. There are low key random police checks out on the country roads but no heavy military presence is evident anywhere. 

The scenery is magnificent everywhere I have been. It is indeed the Country of a Thousand Hills. The countryside is green and lush even at the end of the dry season. Rivers look clean and water is plentiful. Everything that is stuck in the ground grows. The temperature has been surprisingly moderate and varies only between 25 and 30 degrees perhaps year round. It is cooler than neighbours because it is so high up, even though very near the equator.

The only cloud on the horizon seems to be the large population (12 million) in a very small area. Families still tend to be large although there is now new emphasis on family planning and often it is economic pressure and education for women that reduces the birth rate. Rwanda has the highest rate in the world of female political representation in parliament - 65%.

If life is kind, I will be back. There are many adventures still to be had here. 

Umuganda

In 1998, the concept of Umuganda was reintroduced in Rwanda. It had other names and other drivers previously. This time, the idea was to get the peoples of Rwanda to learn to work side by side, in peace, to rebuild a nation brought to its knees by the horrific genocide of 1994.

And so, every last Saturday of the month, starting at 8 am and continuing for 3 or 4 hours, the people are asked to come out and work together on a shared project. Building, repairing, tidying up, creating and landscaping - any kind of project is welcome. Committees throughout the country coordinate the work. This concept is one of the reasons that Rwanda is really different among African nations. 

Of course a national organization on this scale has issues. In some places no one knows how to get started. In others, there is no funding available for projects. Leadership may not work well. But by and large, it has been an extraordinarily successful initiative and it is estimated that up to 80% of the population is involved on any one project day.

The president, Paul Kagame, who has led Rwanda since the end of the genocide, leads by example and joins in in person with a hoe! No one is above physical labour. 

Public transit shuts down during Umuganda. It starts up again at 11 am.  How do you think such an idea, in one form or another, could work in our beautiful country Canada?! In this age of individualism perhaps it would not fly far!   Our pioneers worked together to survive. Why couldn't we?