John an inspiration to anyone!

Well I'm leaving for Kenya on Sept 12 today and I need to thank John. He's a cool guy from Kenya living in Vancouver working towards his Phd at UBC. He has done so much to help set things up for us in Kenya where his family still live. H works night shift at a lab and his wife works days. They have 2 small children which he looks after the kids during the day and then his wife does it at night. So it's amazing that he finds time to work, be a father, work towards his Phd and still help setup our volunteering trip to Kenya.

He told me a little about how he got to Canada and it is inspiring even if he said he had a lot of help. Most kids in his village don't make it out of the village and here he is getting his Phd. in Canada. I asked how he managed to get to university. He said his brother was a great soccer player but he was more of an academic. In Kenya young kids can write a national exam and if they pass they can get accepted to university. He studied and passed the test and was so excited to tell his parents. So here he was accepted to university and his family didn't have any food for the evening meal. He didn't tell me but I think he got a scholarship or bursary. When he got his undergraduate degree someone suggested he should go to Canada for his postgraduate studies. So he applied and was accepted to UBC. He's been in Vancouver for 6 years and got his Masters. So now he is working towards his Phd in Analytical Chemistry. It makes me think of what my brother Kim went through to get his Phd at U of Cal - Berkeley as we were also poor as kids. I guess if a person is motivated and works hard they can do almost anything. I mention this to John as many people ask how he got from a small village in Kenya, with no electricity, to work towards his Phd. I told him he's an inspiration to all the poor kids pf the village. He still can't figure out himself how he made it to university and then to Canada. John and his wile Lydia's 2 small children Grace and Emanuel were born in Canada. We were in a bookstore the other day and he bought a book by Barack Obama. I asked him wasn’t Obama’s father from Kenya? John told me Obama’s father and Lydia come from the same village. In case you may not know Barack Obama is a senator from Illinois of African American and Caucasian parents. John is proud that Obama’s heritage is Kenya but feels that Hillary Clinton may win the presidency in 2008.

John mentioned a number ot times that he had a lot of help along the way so he wants to give something back to the community. So he helps by making arrangement for people wanting to volunteer in Kenya. He doesn’t get anything for doing this except fulfil his intention of giving something back to the village.