This week the Canadian team of the Protected Areas & Poverty Reduction: Canada-Africa Research & Learning Alliance met for their fall meetings. I was fortunate to be invited to sit in on the sessions and to my great delight a woman I had met in Ghana was at the meetings. Donna Sheppard is a staff member of the Calgary Zoo and is also a community conservation coordinator with NCRC in Ghana. I had met Donna in Ghana as part of my set-up tour for the 2011 study tour. This time I was given an opportunity to not only to set the itinerary for our visit to the Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary but was also given a chance to pick her very experienced brain about international rural community development!! I learned almost as much in our four hour dinner as I had in two trips to Ghana!
As a result of that amazing (and totally unexpected) meeting I have been totally rethinking my plans and approach to the research and study tour, and to my future plans in Ghana. For those who have lived through my ramblings that last couple of days - thanks! It has been an active process of figuring out what I really want to do, what that will mean for my career, and what it means to my family! Needless to say final decisions have not been made but the current path looks to take me to Ghana for at least 2 - 3 months a year for the foreseeable future! Of course I now just have to figure out how to fund that!! Stay tuned as I have a fundraising calendar with shots from Ghana almost ready to go to print... it would make an excellent Christmas gift!!
This week was also a great one for building memories. My mom bought a plastic canoe for my dad's birthday, so that we can take him out fishing on the local lakes. He has a single pontoon boat but the reality of his disease is that he has neither the strength nor the coordination to row it himself. So Saturday we took him out on Spider Lake for a quick paddle and a little fishing. Well it was definitely an experience! Mom and I loaded up the canoe, packed all the gear, and got ourselves ready... Dad? Well he made sure that he had the fishing gear that he needed!
Those who know my dad know that he has fished all his life but not everyone knows that he doesn't swim! So you can just imagine how nervous he was to be in a canoe with his wife and daughter - both of us swim like fish! You would think he didn't trust us! Mom and I ended up paddling us around the lake while dad lounged (we had him in a lounge lizard chair to provide some back support) in the middle with a death grip on his fly rod! His did pretty darn good but we discovered that he only has the strength to last about one hour before he simply cannot keep himself upright and in the middle of the boat... the leaning got a bit bad at the end but we managed to stay on the lake rather than in it!
Getting in and out of the boat proved to be dad's biggest challenge - it turns out that he has very little strength in one of his legs. That little fact (something mom and I hadn't noticed before) was mixed in with the fact that sitting in one position results in his muscles and joints stiffening up. When we got to the beach mom got out first and while dad was working his way out there were a couple of moments that I thought that I may end up swimming! :)
Our plan is to modify the boat so that dad will have a seat that faces backwards (better for fishing) and has both a full back support and arm rests - overall this was an amazing experience and I'm sure only the first of many! Dad's MSA is definitely progressing faster than I had thought it would and it is sometimes very hard to see the strong man my father used to be but at the end of the day, he's still hiding in there somewhere!
 |
| Cable Bay Trail - Nanaimo, BC |
My other adventure this week was a picturing taking hike with my friend Jon. We headed out to Cedar to hike the Cable Bay trail that leads out to Dodds Narrows. The sun was shinning - which is always a gift in November - and the light was filtering through the trees in ways that were magical! There are a lot of maples along the trail and more than one section looked like it was covered in yellow shag carpet! Days like this are truly a gift!
Once we reached the bay we were serenaded by sea lions as we oohed and awed are way along the beach. The views of Nanaimo were great - I was trying to figure out what bridge I was looking at and then realized that it was the Duke Point ferry (okay, my sense of direction wasn't all that great!)! After enjoying the view of the city we headed off to the narrows and I was very thankful that I wasn't in my kayak! It was almost slack tide when we arrived but the current quickly become a rushing torrent - it would be a great place for tidal power generation!
 |
| Sea Lion in Dodds Narrows |
On our way back we met up with some folks we both knew and while chatting we were entertained by a sea lion catching a salmon and a small flock of sea gulls attempting to gain a free lunch! Overall the day was simply amazing and it a clear reminder of the power of sunshine, friendship, and leisure! So my challenge - in the name of memories, adventures, and setting new directions - is to get out (even if it is raining) and play!
 |
| Sea Lion with Salmon |
 |
| Looking for a free lunch |
 |
| Where did he go? |
