One of the biggest complaints I had after I rescued seven dogs from the streets of Kabul in 2010 was “how about animals here? Why aren’t you helping animals in your own country?” Well as far as I’m concerned, humanity, compassion and caring have no borders and have no limits. Whether the animal is injured or in need, across the street, in another city, or another province, Kabul Afghanistan or here at home my compassion and love is the same. I walked in the white clean antiseptic room lit by fluorescent lights as well as the sun illuminating the gray skies through vertical blinds dangling from the large windows. With the usual friendly greeting from the receptionists from Greenbank Veterinary Clinic, on this day that I had my own dog Mac, a twelve-year-old Alaskan Malamute at the clinic. Mac had been suffering through renal failure that we found out many dogs can live years comfortably with this condition if it is managed properly. I had just come into the clinic with Mac and sat down in the waiting room as I noticed a lady probably in her late 40s or early 50s and what I could gather was her teen son, lanky with a flat rimmed baseball cap on discussing their dogs future with the receptionist as their brown lab very happily wagged her tail beside them. As I watched this scene unfold I sat there in astonishment and couldn’t believe what I was hearing. These people had brought their lab Tikka I guessed probably 10 years old into the clinic to be euthanized. Tikka certainly did not look in the best of shape; she had huge patches of pink skin showing through her sparse chocolate lab brown coat that she scratched at incessantly at intermediate times. Even with that ailment she seemed delighted to be there. As I often do I went over to greet and pet the animal. One of the greatest pleasures in life is to receive the unconditional love and joy of an animal that is just simply happy to be in the moment and get a pet or a scratch under the chin and that is what I did to Tikka. I ignored the lady arguing with the receptionist...
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Some of you may remember while I was in Afghanistan last summer, a street dog had puppies outside of my guest house in Kabul. I fed Mom & her puppies & eventually took them in to get their shots & flea medication and to tried to save them. The school that I was teaching at was kind enough to allow me to keep the pups there for a short time. An interesting side note & incredible Mother story, my guest house was some distance form the school. I took the puppies from the gutter to the vet then to the school without ever passing by the guesthouse. A short time later I heard crying from outside the walls of the compound & it was Mom! She had found us! I eventually found good homes for some of puppies, & the day before I came back to Canada a wonderful lady took the remaining dogs in so I would not have to put them back to the streets. Since then NOWZAD has taken over the care of the dogs and they are all doing really well. One of them even found himself a new family in the UK and is currently in quarantine with the best friend he also found! Now it is time to get the rest of the dogs back to Canada and into loving homes and I need your help. There are 7 dogs in total, they are all white, mom had her ears cut off, sister has some brown patches and Suzy Q has one eye bigger than the other but their quirky appearance just makes them more special! Please help me to raise the funding to get these lovely dogs home! Christie & I have committed to Climb Kilimanjaro for the NOWZAD 7! We are leaving Friday. Any one willing to sponsor this endeavour can assist these girls & make donations at http://www.nowzad.com/?s=chipin Thanks so much for your support everyone...
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Tuesday August 9, 2011 The sun shined a bit today outside Kinshasa 10:29 p.m. I’m in seat 1D aboard the flight from Kinsasha to Brussels via Yaounde, Cameroon. We sat on the tarmac awhile again. I sat in the business class lounge before boarding with Felix. Felix & I got separated as we came into the chaos of the airport for awhile through the incredibly slow & inefficient process of getting tickets. Having an electronic ticket in the developing world can be quite problematic. It took over an hour to drive through the crowded, dirty, garbage strewn streets of Kinshasa. We left probably about 4:00 p.m. I kissed Kasai the baby bonobo goodbye, I’ll miss that little thing. (little did I know that would be the last time I ever saw her, she died with a number of other bonobos as a flu swept through the sanctuary January 2012) http://lolayabonobo.wildlifedirect.org/category/nursery/ I had a lot of fun watching the young ones play, & rough house for the last time. I laughed as one played in the little pond, dunking its head and flipping it up through the air over and over again. I’ll miss Kepolo the blind bonobo but most of all I will miss Kasai. I will also miss Lukuru who would always hop on the cage, fence, or gate & wait in anticipation for me to tickle her, belly pushed out against the green metal. When I tickle attacked her with a flurry of goochy goo noises, she squealed with delight, & shrugged her neck to stop the tickling yet screamed with delight while looking over het shoulder for an upcoming bonobo attack. If another bonobo would run over & she’d drop kick them & take off only to come back moments later for another round of tickling. There was another young bonobo that would come over put her back against the bars for me to scratch. Kepolo broke my heart the most she’d come over reach through the bard and touch and caress my face. As all the other bonobos ran, chased, tumbled, bit, drop kicked & flew off of the ‘top rope’ with each other wrestling about in the most violent fashion, Kepolo would hug the keepers legs. Kepolo knocked over their...
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Tuesday August 2, 2011 Nairobi, Kenya I had a really nice salmon & Caesar salad meal on an outdoor patio at The Norfolk, it was a good meal in a nice place but the service was terrible & I missed my wife. I could have gotten into Kinshasa a day earlier but enjoying the luxury of The Norfolk was a pretty nice treat. I finally got in touch with Christie through FaceTime , I had a nice shower & shave, although the water was cold. I had a refreshing dip in the warm pool after I ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes. My run was a piece of cake compared to the torture of my Addis run which on account of the altitude (it is 2300 meters above sea level) of the Guassa Plateau where Addis is situated was quite a challenge. No wonder so many world class long distance runners are Ethiopian. I did a quick lift, heavy French press & closed grip press, with a plate a side. I supersetted light bench (my shoulders are still bugging me) on the Smith machine, with straight bar curls, upright rows, & shoulder press all with a plate a side . I did some light Smith machine squats. I was hungry but I was glad to get a workout in with a swim before the fitness facility & pool closed. I returned from the police station where a big man, Justice, gave me his Kenyan police badge for $5.00 & my San Diego Chargers t-shirt. I bribed a guy named Justice, ironic. I liked him regardless, a large burly man with a hardened look. Kenya is actually pretty nice relatively speaking & by African standards from what I saw. It was fairly clean not unlike a big U.S. city & they have these massive birds, huge Maribou storks everywhere in the city. It took 45 minutes to get out of the parking lot & the aggressive dog eat dog mentality of the African traffic road rules was in full effect. There were three lines of vehicles vying for one parking booth. Then we were stuck in Nairobi rush hour traffic. I initially thought this was going to be another African traffic nightmare but...
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Rwandan terms Thank you – Murakoze (moo-rrah-KO-zay) Yes – Yego (YAY-go) No – Oya (OY-yah) Good day – Muraho (moo-RRAH-ho) Good morning – Mwaramutse (mwa-rrah-MOOT-say) Good afternoon/good evening – Mwiriwe (MWIRR-ri-way Good-bye – Mwuramuke (mwoorr –ah-MOO-kay) My name is ___ – Nitwa ______ (NEET-wah ______) What is your name? – Witwande (wit-WAN-day) Thinking about the Catholic priests & murders who massacred 15 thousand people in two churches in 1994, & how the Rwandan justice system works. One wonders if ‘gaccaca’ the traditional tribal court in which the criminal admits his crime & asks for forgiveness is enough. Rwnadan seems to have prospered after the genocide and this place is so beautiful well organized & most of all neat & clean. Habyare Rumana leader of the RPF plane shot down at Kigali was the spark needed to ignite the country into genocide. He was brokering a peace deal. There were many cases of people saving many lives, for instance Paul Ressebegene had 1200 people hidden and saved Hotel Rwanda. There are also many cases where the church was complacent in the genocide St. ? Hostel Kigali for instance where …According to Canadian hero Romeo DAillaire 5000 troops could have saved 800 000 lives. Bill Clinton said that we did not call these crimes what they were we didn’t fail you I failed you…Catholic Church needs to also ask for this forgiveness. Dianne Fossey observed & researched the Susa group here. It is a Tragedy that such a beautiful country is synonymous with genocide.The Interrahamwe killed 800000 Tutsi’s & many are still in DRC (Zaire). Democratic Republic of the Congo has lost four million in the war. Rape is a way of life so many women have been raped how can they even keep track. Goma which lies on the border of Rwanda & DRC & was a refugee camp where the Interrahamwe hid after the genocide and also where cholera killed many people. Those with guns controlled the food, aid & money pouring into the camps, this is something all of those aid organizations aiding the Somali camps should perhaps examine.in addition to these issues the area around Goma has also been deforested because they used trees for fuel. Monday...
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Saturday July 30, 2011 I went back to the house, absolutely exhausted. I showed up at the Centre & they were just wrapping up supper & saying their goodbyes as Operation Groundswell are leaving the Centre tomorrow but are still in Kigali until Tuesday. We’re all going to see the genocide churches tomorrow. Then I leave Tuesday. Tarza dropped me at the Centre after driving back to Kigali from Virunga. I was tired, I spent the first part of our drive back purging bad pictures from my gorilla experience but doing that while driving made me feel not the greatest & I looked up & am so enamoured by the green patchwork of terraces that are layered up the Rwandan hills. We stopped off at the same hotel I stayed at & had some lunch. The road back was good, well paved although we did pass an overturned semi which may have had a fatality. The road down (& up) to the route where the Susa group is so rough it’s amazing the truck made it in one piece. I felt Ike a celebrity kids ran to the road yelling Kazoongoo!(white man). I tipped the guard, porter & guide. I got some amazing photos of the gorillas in fact the hardest thing was to pick a half dozen or so pictures out of 1600 to post. My toe nails hurt from the trek down which was tricky because it was pretty slick in areas. The bamboo Forrest was pretty cool as we went down the trail beside incredibly deep & beautiful gorges. I got so excited when I saw my first gorilla I didn’t even remember that I had the Hero on me charged up & ready to go! We got a lot of video the tracker & my guide Oliver took lots of footage but the microphone was cutting in & out making buzzing sounds. The gorillas, were magnificent. We sat & watched Kurira is the leader of the Susa Mountain gorilla family. The largest of all of the clans & it took the longest to get to them as we were trekking 4 hours, through bamboo forests then through the thickest nettle you can imagine. Kili prepared me for the hike but not the...
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