Journeyman Stories

I know I had promised you to write regularly, and I broke my promise. Don’t sue me please. The truth is that, even though I had a lot of things I wanted to write about, I was not inspired to do it (until today). I have been on a journey of soul searching/God seeking moments that lead to a three day retreat in Niagara Falls away from everything (it felt weird not looking at my phone every 5 seconds as I used to). When you reach a certain age (thanks by the way for your birthday wishes), you start having different questions about life (at least, it is my case). Just the other day, I was with my good friend Elvis, and I told him that in a near future I am going to be so rich that it will be so ridiculous. I didn’t explain to him why I said that (my thinking was that there is no way I can face what I have faced and not be compensated one way or another). Elvis replied: I think you are so rich beyond measure, but you haven’t realized it yet”. I remained silent for a ...

Two weeks away from writing (among other things) are now enough. I am back to you… I am getting into the podcast listening world and I am really mad at myself. How in the world was I late to the party? There are powerful podcasts out there, and on various subjects. It is like an all-you- can- eat buffet (you know my well-established relationship with food).  Just last week, I was into productivity podcasts and what I learned was so valuable that I now feel I want to turn my life upside down and start everything from scratch (maybe it would be unproductive but it is worth the try). Anyways… I am here to talk about something different. I can now brag and say that I have a bestseller friend. You don’t believe me? Here is the proof: Bonjour Patrick, J'ai écrit le livre "Introverts: Leverage Your Strengths for an Effective Job Search". Il est devenu #1 sur Amazon pendant le premiers 10 heures et a reçu le statut de Bestseller le 1er Juillet That is a...

The last few weeks have been quite interesting.  First, there is this wedding I was hosting a few Saturdays ago. I met people I haven’t seen for a very long time. It was so great. Then I attended a funeral the following week, and boy was I surprised to see folks I grew up with that I haven’t seen for ages. Just a few hours ago, I was coming from a meeting and who do I see? At first I couldn’t believe my eyes. A former colleague of mine back 15 years ago at the Radio station in Burundi. I didn’t even know he was in Canada (we’ve been in the same city for 3 years and I didn’t even know it). He told me that he still has the tapes of our show! We shared great memories indeed. All these people I met brought me back in time Time really flies. You know that you’re getting old when you see kids you sow being born saying that they are about to go to college. I am exaggerating here, but it is shocking how kids grow so fast We just celebrated my daughter’s fifth birthday. Wa...

Some call him President, some others call him Gisage, and many know him as Capone. His real name is Alphonse Barikage. He is a great and brilliant guy.  When he comes to our Basketball court on Wednesdays evening, we all know that the fun is just about to begin. He has some old school basketball moves that remind me of Kareem Abdul Jabaar’s sky hook (I have the footage to prove it, but I won’t share it here…) What I didn’t know was that Capone is a great writer. He just published a piece in one of Toronto’s big newspapers, and it is a real work of art. As we are about to celebrate Fathers’ day, I thought that the timing of the article is just perfect Here it is. Ladies and Gentlemen, here comes Alphonse Barikage, a.k.a Capone Enjoy A walk down memory lane When I reach for my son's hand, I feel my father's palm in mine, Alphonse Barikage writes How would I be remembered? The question on how I will be remembered after I die has not been...

I know you were waiting for the rest of my friend Heather’s story. I wasn’t able to do anything last week as my daughter had a (successful) surgery. Everything else had to stop. She is doing fantastic now, so I am back. I am not going to ask if you missed me because I know the answer already. Don’t worry, I am here to stay. Aren’t you glad? Back to Heather. I knew she was returning to Toronto on May 19. I was really looking forward to meeting her again as I knew she had a lot to share… and wow was I blown away. I finally met her one afternoon and we went to one of my favourite places: Tim Hortons. For those of you who are reading this blog outside of Canada, Tim Hortons is a coffee place where you can find the second best coffee and second best tea in the world (in my opinion). Now, if you are curious to find out about the best coffee and tea in the world (I know you are), try Burundian coffee and tea, then we will talk. I am digressing. Back to Heather. As...

She was one of my first friends 15 years ago when I first came to Toronto. She was my mentor for over seven years and our friendship grew over the years. In 2009, we went our separate ways (life tends to do those things with friends…) Many years later (I think it was 2 and half years ago), she sent me an email asking if we could meet. I immediately said yes, and we met. “Something in me said, call Patrick” she told me when we met.  I was glad that the ‘something” had made us meet again. We were about to start a new journey together. During our meeting, she told me she had decided to leave her long-time corporate job so that she could follow her dream which was to mentor young women who had experienced abuse in their lives. I thought it was a noble cause Over the next months, we met several times and I got a chance to help her set up a Not for Profit Organization called “Mirror Mirror Mentoring”. She was pretty excited about the opportunity of being able to mak...

I wanted to do it Michael Jordan’s way when he sent a two-word fax to  the Chicago Tribune in 1995 and say “I am back”. Some of you are thinking “what is a fax?” Yes, I am back (for the pleasure of the one in Malaysia) I am out of retirement now. I can’t believe the last time I sent a blog was in November 2015!! Time really flies Many of you (yes, including you in Malaysia) have requested, sometimes insisting that I come back. The truth is that I have never left. I was still writing, but I haven’t published anything yet. The difference is that I have been writing about some serious stuff, with a strict tone. I missed writing “my way”, without being afraid of grammatical errors or misspelling words. I am back home. I can sit and relax So, what made me back to the Journeyman? (Please don’t ask me why I left in the first place). A couple of things. First, there is my friend Chris who asked me if I could help out conducting a series of workshops on Saturda...