Journeyman Stories

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My Journey to the Book

It has been quite overwhelming the last few days I shared the link to my book to a few friends and the response has been a shock to me. The support has been unbelievable. All the comments are quite similar to this message that I received from a friend who has been more than a brother to me. Those of us who know him back in the day, we call him Kissa. He wrote: Hello bro I finally got a chance to watch the video. And I have 2 conflicting reactions: 1) what a powerful and incredible story man. It is amazing. I would love to rush put in on my facebook and twitter account for everybody to learn from you. How can I pay to order an autographed book? 2) I am also angry against you man. I was supposed to be your brother and friend. You could have asked me for a little help. Instead of living the fight alone. I hope one of the lessons learned in your journey would also be: Know your friends In any case, bravo and can't tell how much I respect you and I am proud of you

My Journey with Fidèle

It has been quite a few busy weeks that involved a round trip to Ottawa on Saturday and preaching during a Sunday church service (yes, I was surprised too when I was asked to do it). All this time I was thinking about what I would be writing about on this week’s blog. I had a vague idea, but I did not know how to formulate it. That was until I received a message on Facebook from a friend asking me to speak at an upcoming event in January. The topic of my presentation would be “The Moment that Defined Your Life”. The person who sent me the invitation did not know that I had been thinking about the same topic days prior to her message. It all started when I was at a Toronto Raptors game. I have been reporting on the games for almost two months now, but I am still in awe every time I am at the arena. I can’t believe this is happening to me. I have been in rooms with childhood idols, biggest stars of the game, coaches, reporters, you name it. And every time I am saying “wow”. Th

My Journey with Steve

Glad to be back We were working on the blog’s new look. I hope you like it. It is still a work in progress, but I like what I see so far. A few weeks ago, an entertainment industry icon passed away at the age of 95. I am talking about the American comic book writer, editor, and publisher Stan Lee. Stan Lee co-created numerous popular fictional characters, including superheroes Spider-man, the X-Men, Iron Man,Thor, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Daredevil, Doctor Strange and Ant-Man. He has surely impacted more than a generation. A co-worker of mine likes to quote “ Remember, with great power comes great responsibility” from Spider-man. I couldn’t help but remember the line time and time again as the passing of Stan Lee was all over the news. I was reminded of the quote these last few days. I have been struggling with lack of sleep lately. My daughter wakes me up at least 3 times a night, every single night. I can’t remember the time I had a strai

My Journey with Pablo

What a week! I did not even see the days go by. It has been very busy lately, but I am loving every bit of it. Every time I get a chance to report on a Raptors game, I go to bed almost at 3 am. I have to do the interview editing, write my article and send everything to the Radio station for them to air the report the next day at the latest. By the time I finish everything I am so exhausted but it doesn’t feel like work. It is a true blessing to be in a position to do what you dreamed for your entire life. It is a true privilege. I have to do the best I can to keep deserving the trust they have put in me to deliver on the work I was given Last week, I was at a big conference where the 300 of us where gathered at the Sheraton Hotel in Richmond Hill (North part of Toronto). The objective of the conference was for us to learn, network and meet experts in different fields including grant application, media relations, community empowerment, etc. I met so many people I haven’t seen in

My Journey as an NBA Reporter

I keep telling my friends, “Please don’t wake me up, I am dreaming.” It really hasn’t sunk in that I am doing this job: reporting, interviewing NBA players and coaches…. it is so surreal. My first game was last week on Wednesday. I had received all the paperwork I needed from the Toronto Raptors communication department (class people, by the way). I had to be there at least two hours before the game. Needless to say, I was anxious. I have been to the arena countless of times before but just as a fan wanting to watch the games. This was one of the reasons why I had chosen Toronto as the city I wanted to live in. It is the only Canadian town that has an NBA team. My dream was to attend at least a game (it has been over 33 years that I have watching the NBA). Never in my wildest dreams had I thought I would be going there as part of my job. Never! The Media room was packed. Reporters from different outlets were there. I pretended I belonged, but I couldn’t help being in shock

My Journey with a man of faith

Many years ago, I heard a businessman say that if you don’t have a dream, be around dreamers. Now, I am going to add to his statement and say that if you don’t have faith, be around people of faith. I met this gentleman over sixteen years ago when I first came to Canada. After a few months, we became roommates. It was very fun evenings among friends hearing and telling funny jokes. We didn’t know what we would become later, but I knew this guy was going somewhere. He was a devoted Christian man, playing music in two different churches. He had a picture in his room with a huge crowd on it and I knew he was meant to impact people’s lives. Little did I know I would be, many years later among the people who would be impacted by his life. We went our separate ways but kept in touch. He later became a Pastor (and I was not surprised at all by that), and I attended his church a few times. In 2013, I was going through one of the toughest moments of my life and I needed help. I d