Wakefield in Quebec

Our friend Ian was one of my very early "recruits" for MSF when I started the work to set up the Canadian branch of MSF (Doctors without Borders) in 1990. He worked as logistician, administrator and country coordinator in MSF projects in Kurdistan, Cambodia, Russia and Uzbekistan. Afterwards he worked for OXFAM in Thailand, Indonesia and region as disaster relief manager. Ian lives now with Michelle and their son Nelson in the lovely small town of Wakefield in the Gatineau region of Quebec half an hour outside of Ottawa and he works for GAC (Global Affairs Canada) on the portfolio of "climate change & international security". Today I was able to catch up with Ian in between meetings at the annual conference of the WFCP (World Federation of Colleges & Polytechnics and CICan (College and Institutes Canada) this year hosted in Ottawa.

It was a beautiful spring day and many people here went straight from winter jackets into shorts and slippers. Funny folks these Canadians!

Where did the time go?

This was a photo taken 20 years ago when Mary and I had just moved to Niagara. My parents Nel and Jo Nolle came for a visit and attended a meeting of the Welland Rotary Club which I presided that year. Hilary was 5 and Mark 3; now they are 25 (and in Australia) and 22 (and starting a job at LaFarge on May 15). Time does fly!

This is James Orbinski, a friend with whom I worked to set up MSF Canada. Must have been around the same time. In 1999 it was James Orbinski who as President of the International Council of the MSF organizations accpted the Nobel Peace Prize for MSF and gave the acceptance speech in Oslo. Amazing human being and here with our two young kids in our kitchen....

A lot of other older photos, but I'll spare you from those. Just wanted to say...where did the time go?

Snow again in April

The view of our drive-way this morning. There is always this little "tail of winter" in early April here in Ontario, Canada. Oh well.......

Capstone projects

In applied higher education programs a "capstone project" takes place during the last year of the program. Teams of students have to take on a "real life" project and work on solutions and prototypes during the full 8 months of an academic year. At the end they present and are judged by industry representatives. Our son Mark today presented with his team a heart monitor + app on cell-phone with as target customers older people still living on their own. In the photo above they are testing the equipment on a friend of Mark (Mike who studies to become a physiotherapist). The photo below (with apologies for the fuzziness; I am a terrible impatient photographer) show Mark with one of his fellow students showing off the explanation of their prototype product.

Mark has two more exams remaining and then he will graduate from Electrical Engineering at McMaster University in Hamilton. It has been hard work for him those five years and we are proud of his achievements so far. He is busy with job interviews. We'll see where he ends up next...

Growth in travel & hospitality

Having "been on the road" a lot again the past few months around the world, it is clear that the world population only travels more all the time (not less). Maybe the hospitality, tourism and travel sector does not always offer the highest salaries (certainly not for entry level work), but the careers in this sector become more and more interesting with (big) data analytic and product diversification. At Seneca you can find some solid diploma programs such as in-flight services for the airline industry.

The program instills the professionalism required in this service industry. More and more airports are being built around the world. The passenger aircraft become more and more sophisticated. The airport in Toronto is one of the largest employers in the Greater Toronto Area. Lots of reasons for young people to look at such options in the hospitality industry.

Seneca also offers a wide variety of specialization post graduate certificate programs from event management to advanced marketing programs. Have a look at www.senecacollege.ca

Leadership presentations in India

One of the institutions we visited in India, based in the city of Mumbai, just sent me a few photos. There was quite the crowd for the presentation that day.

I got some good cheers and laughs when I told them that Mary and I met each other for the first time in 1982 at the train station in Mumbai (then called Bombay). Afterwards we had a good session with the professors from this institution with whom we recently signed an agreement and from where we hope to welcome a first group of students in June.

Another Mr. Nolle engineer

In Canada professional engineers get to wear a ring on their pinkie. Our son Mark got his ring yesterday. He still needs to finish two courses, but the finish line is in sight in a few weeks. He is very busy in the job search and interviewing process. Very curious to see how his career will start.

His old man made it to the national newspapers in India (quoted as an "expert"). Wow. We signed an MOU with a national academy offering leadership training to managers in government agencies and NGOs. We are developing this as a niche product/service for Seneca around the world.

Back home in Niagara and looking at a very busy month of April in the office of Seneca International in Toronto.