Zimbabwe – Part 2: Mining, Safaris and Corruption (1994 to 1995)

Our last post described our integration into a comfortable life in Zimbabwe, followed by my tumultuous tenure and eventual demise with CARE Canada. With my usual self-confidence, as unfounded as it may be, I bounced back reasonably quickly and my work took on a wholly different focus. The above is representative of one of the … Continue reading Zimbabwe – Part 2: Mining, Safaris and Corruption (1994 to 1995)

Zimbabwe – Part 1: Stability then Upheaval (1993 to 1994)

Zimbabwe was one of those critical junctures in our lives.  We had just fled our precarious life in Southern Angola as the civil war restarted.  Zimbabwe represented a safe haven,  good health care for our daughter,  work opportunities for Claire, career advancements for myself and wonderful travel opportunities.  As was so often the case with … Continue reading Zimbabwe – Part 1: Stability then Upheaval (1993 to 1994)

Angola: What were we thinking! (1992-93)

(Apologies for the old, degraded photos) CARE Canada’s offer of a posting as Regional Coordinator for the Southern Angola Relief Programme sounded good.  We would be in the small provincial town of Lubango, away from the problems of head office. We spoke adequate Portuguese, or more accurately ‘Portuñol’: a mix of Español and Portuguese. After … Continue reading Angola: What were we thinking! (1992-93)

Tales from Africa: Paddling the Zambezi and climbing Kilimanjaro

(Note:  Once again, my apologies for the blurry, old photographs.) In our last post I touched on our misadventures in the Okavango Delta of Botswana and finished with our hitchhiking north to Zimbabwe.  Our plan was to check out the world famous Victoria Falls then continue downriver (overland) to Kariba Dam where we would join … Continue reading Tales from Africa: Paddling the Zambezi and climbing Kilimanjaro

Tales from Africa: Dirt roads across Lesotho and the Okavango Delta by dugout

(Note: Apologies for the poor image quality. All our old photos seemed to have deteriorated with age. Blame it on the tropics!) Our abrupt departure from Mozambique (Nov/1986) was tough emotionally but, in the end, a huge release.  Both Claire and I had been working with the International Red Cross assisting in the development of … Continue reading Tales from Africa: Dirt roads across Lesotho and the Okavango Delta by dugout