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Vol. X, No. 14 April 3, 2004 IN THIS ISSUE:
 Zvonko Springer writes about an ambitious project in Kenya: KWALE DISTRICT EYE CENTRE For many years we have spent our winter holidays in Kenya. We always stay in the same hotel, Leisure Lodge Beach and Golf Resort. It is located on the Diani Beach of the south coast of Mombasa. The city of Mombasa is on an island and one has to cross the wide Kilindini Creek on a ferryboat. The traffic is rather intensive to and from the large Kilindini Port of Mombasa and thus intersects the ferryboats route often. When the ferryboat has crossed over the creek, one lands on the mainland again and passes through the large settlement of Likoni and proceeds on a tarmac road leading a few kilometers on the south coast shoreline up to the border with Tanzania. The almost straight road leads between patches of forest and palms woods as well as a few scattered settlements. There were a few police blocks along the road and all vehicles have to slow down to slalom between boards with long spikes. About halfway there turns right of a road leading to a larger settlement of Kwale, located at the foot of Shimba Hills Reserve about 3 km away. Another narrow earthen road turns off to the left that leads towards the Kwale District Eye Centre. For several years Ljiljana has collected summer dresses, shirts, and underwear for adults and children, as well as school utensils and toys. As members of the LTU charter carrier, we are entitled to 30 kg luggage each and Ljiljana uses her part mostly for the collection. She has a long list with names of the resort's lower level staff members, including the number and age of their children. Once we have settled in our room, Ljiljana sorts the goodies into plastic bags with a slip of paper with the list of items that she would sign later and add the recipients' names. The signed list has to be produced at the checkpoints when leaving the resort with any parcel. Although the staff changes from year to year, there are still many who know Ljiljana well. They are waiting for her to open her "boutique" and she starts handing out the goodies. The staff members like to talk in Swahili (East Africa's lingua franca) to her in the language she learned in the years we lived in Kenya and has since improved during our many visits there. During our vacations at Leisure Lodge in January 2002, Ljiljana met a gardener, aka "shamba boy", named Nicolas. Unfortunately, Nicolas had lost the sight in his right eye after an infection at the age of four. He couldn't get a better job in spite of the fluent German and English he learned in a Mission school. He was a handsome young fellow but his misfortune made his face looking somehow distorted. Ljiljana, seeing his problem, wanted to help him to seek an eye clinic for a diagnosis at least. We've supported "Christoffel" (CBM), an Austrian Mission for Blind People for many years. So prior to our next visit to Kenya we contacted CBM head office in Vienna http://www.cbm.at/. We were informed by CBM that the Kwale District Eye Centre (clinic) exists not far away from our favorite holiday place. In January 2003 our holiday procedure went on the usual way on visiting Leisure Lodge again. Though Ljiljana's protegee Nicolas wasn't working as the hotel's gardener any more, through "bush drums" Nicolas appeared one day later. It was agreed that Nicolas would guide Ljiljana on a journey to the Kwale District Eye Centre (KDEC) by using the "matatu" transportation. Matatus are the minibuses that stop at any place along a road to pick up passengers but tour a certain road stretch only. The matatus' fares are inexpensive and the natives mostly use this way of transportation. mainly for short distances. On the agreed day Nicolas came to the hotel and accompanied Ljiljana on the trek to KDEC. This was the first time Ljiljana had travelled on this simple transportation but they had to change several matatus to reach the Centre. After a while, Nicolas was directed to the outpatient ambulance and Ljiljana went to the Centre's administration to obtain official prospectuses and the address. There she met an elderly German lady who had brought some 40 spectacles as her donation to the Centre. She was in the company of Salim Rahamtula, who turned out to be a nephew of our late friends in the Bamburi Portland Cement Works. Once Salim recognized Ljiljana's surname, he offered his help, being a board member of KDEC. He introduced both ladies to Dr. Helen Roberts, a British ophthalmologist, who was in charge of the KDEC and who actually began and directed it from its start in 1993. Dr. Helen was a good-looking and vigorous woman in her early 40s, and when she learned of Nicolas' problem, went to see him in the ambulance. Unfortunately for Nicolas, his one eye was lost for ever. Dr. Helen suggested placing over the eyeball an artificial eye white with a bogus lens incorporated. The artificial eye would make Nicolas' facial features look more pleasant but he wouldn't hear of it at first. Then a nurse suggested that Nicolas look in a mirror to see how a "new eye" would look, sneakily suggesting that he would catch more girls' attention looking into his face with two eyes. Ljiljana offered to pay for Nicolas' "new eye" and the nurse showed Nicolas how to place it. After instructing Nicolas about the necessary care and regular controls, she gave also him a liquid against eye's irritation. Nicolas was very happy with his new appearance and left the KDEC in the best of spirits to return home alone. Ljiljana made a contribution for a cataract surgery to help another child in need. After several obligatory "kwaheris" (good byes) Salim drove both visiting ladies in his car to their respective hotels on Diani Beach of Mombasa's South Coast. To be continued.
Jack Peaker of Guelph, Ontario, has anticipated the time when people will change jobs frequently during their working years: THREE CAREERS PLUS The day I left Ottawa in 1944 to begin my first real job was a memorable one. More forgettable were my five years at Nepean High School, where I graduated with what was called a Senior Matriculation.The two-mile walk in freezing cold winters did not add to good memories. My temperary jobs in government positions such as "next of kin records" were rather morbid as I sometimes filed blood-stained documents. Most men were in the services and there were two hundred women to every man in the capital city. The evening I left Ottawa on the train with Grandfather Peaker indeed followed a day I will always recall. It followed the funeral of cousin Donald Breadner, four months older than I. He died, along with his navigater, when the RCAF Mosquito aircraft crashed into a mountain top at Debert, Nova Scotia, during the final exercise before overseas posting. His father, Air Chief Marshall Lloyd Breadner, because of wartime pressures, could not return from London to attend the funeral and asked Air Marshall Billy Bishop to take his place. Canada's leading flying ace was on my mind as I caught the train for Toronto. My grandfather came to Toronto with me to make arrangements with a friend and his wife to have me as a boarder. Mr. Woodruff was a railway conducter and would tell me of fascinating episodes as they took His Highness the Prince Of Wales to his Alberta ranch. The next morning I began work at Acme Carbon and Ribbon Company and a career that would last for 26 years. Acme was owned by my father's closest wartime friend, Alex Campbell, a dynamic man who seemed dedicated to teaching me the ways of the business world in as short a time as possible. After a short time I was put in charge of the order desk. Taking orders to different departments in the factory was a favourite duty. Factory workers were fun-loving people and the fact that those in carbon paper department were covered in black carbon dust, ink department workers purple from hectograph dye, and the ribbon winders, pushed for faster production, they became friends. They even had a bowling league I enjoyed. The order desk girls were Gibbie (Gibson), Mary, Rosalie, and after a few months, an import from England called Iris Burgin, who became Iris Peaker on May 19, 1951. Acme played an important role in the wedding party. Along with sister Nora, brother Jim, Iris' friend Gertie, and flowergirl (neighbour) Tootsie, was Ed Gieron, (C territory), Rosalie from the order desk, and husband Tom. My switch to retail sales department was another milestone. My territory in downtown Toronto designated E (east of Yonge and south of Queen) led to a new group of fellow sales types and friends. My territory included Toronto's tallest office building, at that time the Royal Bank Building. I saved it for rainy days when I would begin cavassing at the top 22nd floor and work down, attempting to sell coupon books for carbon paper and typewriter ribbons. Rejections were numerous and we needed the support of noon-hour gatherings when five or six of us would enjoy a 60-cent lunch at a Yonge street cocktail establishment. After about two years the pace quickened. Alex Campbell sold Acme to Burroughes Business Machines of Detroit, who also purchased a similer company in New Jersey. He and sales manager Walter Harmer spent most of their working hours at Mittag at Park Ridge, N.J., and Bill Glendenning came from retail territory A to become general manager of Burroughs, Supplies Division. Bill decided expansion was in order and I was appointed the first superviser of sales, Western Division. The territory covered from Victoria, B.C., back to what was then Port Arthur and Fort William (Lakehead). In 1951 we moved to an apartment in Vancouver, overlooking English Bay, at $75 monthly. Rent included a garage for a 1950 Ford convertible that was the first of 14 convertibles we owned (all Ford products except the 1959 Impala). My first car was a 1935 Packard Roadster (with a rumble seat) that was too wide for the driveway where I lived at Kew Beach in Toronto's east end with a salesman for territory B. The Packard went to Manotick and brother Jim, who treated it as a race car. Its straight 8 engine was powerful. Western division duties involved about 50% of time away from home. Business was booming, especially in Alberta. Business in oil at Leduc resulted in orders for many thousands of boxes of carbon purchased by Willson & Miller, stationers, and other customers. While in Edmonton I would visit Jack (RCAF) and Doris Reid. Jack took me duck hunting. The ducks piled up, and we had to stop because the shotguns got too hot. Another time, we drove to see Leduc oil fields with Aunt Elva and three Reid daughters. At 60 miles per hour, Penny opened the door, blew out on the pavement, resulting in 100 miles per hour to an Edmonton hospital. It took about seven weeks to cover the territory between Toronto and Vancouver, since all cities and most towns involved had clients to be called upon. A lasting memory happened during one trip between Prince Albert and Edmonton when a flat tire required changing on that dusty road and all luggage had to be removed from the trunk. Upon arrival at the Macdonald Hotel in Edmonton it was found that a hat box containing a prized collection of seven ladies' hats had been left behind on that dusty road. Great friends in Vancouver were Bob Carfrae and his girlfriend Paula, who worked with Iris in CA s office, who had a yacht at the Vancouver Yacht Club. Other good friends included the Heptons, Peter and Alice Moulden, and the Morines. Peter and Peggy Morine became friends after Peter, who was manager of IBM's Vancouver branch contacted me. His good customer, McMillan Bloedel, required 16 carbon copies on their IBM typewriter. When Peter later became vice president of office products for IBM he was responsible for marketing Sensimatic typewriters and originated "word processing". The keyboards on today's computers are modelled after these. I became superviser of sales for the Eastern Division and we moved, along with daughter Alison, to Montreal's Town of Mount Royal, covering the territory from Ottawa to Newfoundland. My first trip to St. John's was memorable. The only hotel at that time, Newfoundland Hotel, was booked up, so they put a bed for me in main ballroom. All night long big crystal chandoliers would light up as more guests would arrive. At 4 a.m. the ballroom filled with smoke from a nearby Chinese restaurant burning down. French lessons were required for working in Quebec City, etc, where business was done in a rather unique manner. To be continued.
Anita Henderson forwards these suggestions on HOW TO STAY YOUNG Remember, there is no way you can look as bad as that person on your driver's license. 1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them. 2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. 3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's. 4. Enjoy the simple things. 5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. 6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive. 7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge. 8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help. 9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is. 10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity. 11. Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things. If you don't send this to at least eight people ... who gives a flip??
Burke Dykes sends this story about SHARING A little old couple walked slowly into a McDonald's one cold winter evening. They looked out of place amid the young families and young couples eating there that night. Some of the customers looked admiringly at them. You could tell what the admirers were thinking. "Look, there is a couple who has been through a lot together, probably for 60 years or more!" The little old man walked up to the cash register, placed his order with no hesitation and then paid for their meal. The couple took a table near the back wall and started taking food off of the tray. There was one hamburger, one order of French fries, and one drink. The little old man unwrapped the plain hamburger and carefully cut it in half. He placed one half in front of his wife. Then he carefully counted out the French fries, divided them in two piles and neatly placed one pile in front of his wife. He took a sip of the drink, and then his wife took a sip as the man began to eat his few bites. Again, you could tell what people around the old couple were thinking. "That poor old couple." As the man began to eat his French fries, one young man stood and came over to the old couple's table. He politely offered to buy another meal. The old man replied that they were just fine. They were used to sharing everything. Then the crowd noticed that the little old lady hadn't eaten a thing. She just sat there watching her husband eat and occasionally sipped some of the drink. Again, the young man came over and begged them to let him buy them something to eat. This time, the lady explained that no, they were used to sharing. As the little old man finished eating and was wiping his face neatly with a napkin, the young man could stand it no longer and asked again. After being politely refused again, he finally asked the little old lady, "Ma'am, why aren't you eating? You said that you share everything. What is it that you are waiting for?" She answered, "The teeth."
THE HUSBAND STORE A store that sells husbands has just opened in Los Angeles where a woman may go to choose a husband from among many men. The store is comprised of six floors, and the men increase in positive attributes as the shopper ascends the flights. There is, however, a catch. As you open the door to any floor you may choose a man from that floor, but if you go up a floor, you cannot go back down except to exit the building. A woman goes to the shopping center to find a husband. On the first floor the sign on the door reads: "Floor 1 - These men have jobs." The woman reads the sign and says to herself, "Well, that's better than my last boyfriend, but I wonder what's further up?" So up she goes. The second floor sign reads: "Floor 2 - These men have jobs and love kids." The woman remarks to herself, "That's great, but I wonder what's further up?" And up she goes again. The third floor sign reads: "Floor 3 - "These men have jobs, love kids and are extremely good looking." "Hmmm, better," she says. "But I wonder what's upstairs?" The fourth floor sign reads: "Floor 4 - These men have jobs, love kids, are extremely good looking and help with the housework." "Wow!" exclaims the woman, "very tempting. BUT, there must be more further up!" And again she heads up another flight. The fifth floor sign reads: "Floor 5 - These men have jobs, love kids, are extremely good looking, help with the housework and have a strong romantic streak." "Oh, mercy me! But just think... what must be awaiting me further on?" So up to the sixth floor she goes. The sixth floor sign reads: "Floor 6 - You are visitor 3,456,789,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping HusbandMart and have a nice day."
If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut. - Albert Einstein |