Journeyman Stories

It has been a heck of a ride this summer and that is an understatement.  Last Saturday was my birthday, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your wishes. It was overwhelming to say the least. This is the first time that I spend my birthday away from home. In fact I was in Ottawa to host a wedding on Friday. After the wedding, I went back to my friend’s house who hosted me.   He was waiting for me even though it was at two o’clock in the morning. We had a lot of catching up to do. By the time we went to bed, it was almost five o’clock in the morning. As I entered the bedroom, I checked my phone, and the numerous messages reminded me that it was my birthday. I had completely forgotten about it. I went back to the living room and told my friend that it was my birthday. He got so excited that he went in the fridge and brought me an ice cream. My first and only birthday gift lol. I woke up   in the afternoon (the trip to Ott...

A few weeks ago, I was chatting with my wife and I told her that I saw on Facebook a picture of a fellow Burundian who had won the lottery in Ottawa. I told her that I know the guy and that it was cool to win the lottery at such a young age. She then asked me how old the guy was. I told her that I thought he might me one or two years older than me. She then said: “Is that what you call young?” I guess I cannot say I am young anymore. Last week, as I was doing some work at home, I thought it would be a great idea to listen to music while I am working. By the magic of Youtube, I found a Bob Marley concert, and I thought I would watch it while working at the same time (yes, sometimes it possible). As the music started to play, I was brought back to my youth. We used to listen to that music back in the days under the tree in Ngagara (where I grew up), without even understanding the lyrics. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. I started to remember all the great f...

I am back after a few weeks off.  I know you were eager to know what has been happening lately in my exciting and much traveled life. If I said that not much has been happening, I would be lying. Some of them were pleasant surprises while others were not (to say the least). One of the things that tends to happen a lot in summer are events. There are many weddings, festivals, and a number of other types of events (Toronto is right into the Pan Am games now).  In the last few weeks, I have attended sports tournaments, a graduation ceremony, an engagement party, and a wedding (to name a few). There are many more to come in the next month or two. It’s crazy. Last week I had to host a wedding in Montreal, and due to some logistical challenges, it had to be a round trip (please don’t try this at home). I had to leave Toronto at 8 in the morning on Saturday, arrive in Montreal in the afternoon, host the wedding until midnight, and get back right away to Toronto. The plan...

With a few friends, we just came from Montreal where we went to support a friend of ours celebrating his engagement. It was a great event, and of course the food was amazing. I thought I would never eat again lol I needed the trip for many reasons one of which being rest. A change of environment is always good for me. There was a lot on my mind that I needed to "escape". What's happening in Burundi is not good at all. While I was away, Paul, my business partner took care of a few things, including a three hour workshop. I missed that one. Anyways. I am starting to miss the NBA. What a treat these finals!! My friend Alix couldn't handle watching the end of Game 6. His love for Lebron James couldn't allow him to watch Cleveland's last game of the season. The Warriors were almost impossible to handle. What a great story! There were not supposed to be there, according to the "specialists". Let's see. This is a short list of what was said: ...

Kissa was his nickname because he was born in Kisangani Congo. He was, at first, my brother's friend before I got to know him. My brother always told me about this bright, table tennis champion guy who can finish reading an entire novel in a matter of hours. I was curious to meet him. I finally did, and in the following years we became great friends. I remember him joining our basketball team at the university. It was a tradition that new team members had to wait for a year before they got any playing time (at least that was in my case and many others). This was not the case for Kissa. In a matter of months, he became the starting point guard of the team. I was impressed. My initial reaction was to ask him how he did it. He laughed and simply said: "All I have to do is find my passion and do whatever I can to be the best". To this day, I still remember the sentence. Our friendship grew to a whole new level over the years. In 1994, we created a Sports Newspap...

Just the other day I was invited to take part to a ceremony celebrating the Asian Food Heritage (do you think I could have missed that?). The food was great, the speakers were amazing chefs, each one sharing his (or her) journey, and at the same time presenting a special dish they had prepared for us. It is was a great event. It was also an opportunity to launch a couple of promotional videos for the organization that had put together the event, and I happened to be in one of them. I was a star for one evening. Towards the end of the ceremony, one of the producers of the video came to me and just said: "what a coincidence that you talked about your country Burundi in the video, and now Burundi is all over the news!" He was right. About thirteen years ago, when I first came to Canada, I had hard time explaining to people where my country was located. Very few people had heard of Burundi. I had to tell them that Burundi is South of Rwanda in Africa. Fast forward, now I...

I have never seen her get angry. She is always calm and collected. Nothing seems to get on her nerves. If there is anyone who is close to being perfect that is her She has been my best friend, my mentor, my guide for a very long time. Her opinion means a lot to me. She is ready to defend me whenever something comes against me. She went through a lot in her life, but she is still standing. When everybody is thinking that the world is falling apart, she remains calm just because she knows that her prayers work. She is my hero, she brought me to life, she is my role model, above all, she is my mother. This is a tribute to her. Once again, happy mothers' day mom. Always a pleasure Patrick The Journeyman.