A journey to discover the people who change our world.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Flights and Landings




Quite a lot has happened in the last year. I am now in Dublin, writing up, and looking at ways to develop this project further. Exciting times ahead!

By following the archive links in this blog you can still read through my travels

April 2006: Ireland
May 2006: Ireland, Kenya
June 2006: Kenya, Uganda
July 2006: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique
August 2006: Mozambique, South Africa
September 2006: India
October 2006: India
November 2006: Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia
December 2006: Cambodia, Vietnam
January 2007: Australia, New Zealand
February 2007: New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa
March 2007: United States
April 2007: United States, Ireland
May 2007: Ireland.

I will be keeping this blog alive with periodic updates, and you can still contact me at

exceptional.lives (at) gmail.com

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Sunday, May 06, 2007

It is never just one..

A carrot cake is not just carrots, is it? It’s all the other great ingredients which go into the mixture which, when combined, can great a whopper of a treat. Same too with social ventures. I may have been interviewing just one of two of the people within a particular venture along the way, but really behind each one are teams and supporters without which success would never be in sight.

Same has never been so true than as with this journey. I may have stepped onto the plane alone but all along there were people supporting me, guiding me, pushing me, encouraging me. There were friends who lent helpful suggestions, colleagues who inspired me, strangers who went out of their way to show me the right way. Without them all, this journey would never have happened. To each and all I owe a huge and unending THANKS

There have been so many who have helped along the way, I am bound to forget a few in the list, but the following indeed deserve special mention for their contribution. To those who I may have left out, again, a special thanks..


When I was preparing and in Ireland..
Marion Berry, Meabh Boylan, Lissy Clarke, Sean Coughlan, Louis Crowe, Colman Farrell, Regina Fallon, Valerie Ringrose Fitzsimmons, Karen Furlong, Mary Rose Greville, Vanessa Liston, Tom Lyons, David Moffit, Eamonn O Dwyer, Paul O Hara, Cathal O Keefe, Philip Regan, Severine Reneaud, Lynda Stopford, Catherine Vaughan

Rotimi Adebari, Frank Buckley, Caroline Casey, Tara Cunningham, Mary Davis, Joan Hamilton, Salome Henry, Johnny K, Sr Stan Kennedy, David Mc Kernan, Tina Roche, Bob Seward

And all my family… thanks particularly to my Mum, Geraldine; brothers Brian and Paul, and cousins, Evie, Astrid, Irene and Viv.

A special group of people who found out about my work and were remarkably helpful along the way:
Greg Murray, Jean Russell, Nathan Cryder, Susan Megy, Anne Marie Bellevance and David Fick.

And…

In Kenya:

Joseph Nigigi, Betty Nyagoha, Dan Prior, Amy Prior, Micheala Hackner, Marcie Odell, Adam Tuller, Nick Moon, Fred Ouko, Denis Dennehy, Ben Ogunyo, George Ngesa, Stella Omunga

In Uganda:

Ita Harnett, Craig Esbeck, Christian Jordan, Trevor Dudley, Andy Snell, Rob Cornfield, Irene Oker Adokorach, Josephine Nazziwa, Joyce Mypanga, Anne Merriman, Peter Mugyeni, Ceppie Merry, Margarete Junker, Mwalimu Musheshe, Jackie Akhello, Ian Clarke, Abhay Shah, Rita Shah

In Tanzania:
John Riber, Louise Riber, Jordan Riber, Brigette Riber, Conor Mc Hugh

In Mozambique:
Allan Schwarz, Amy Gillespie

In South Africa:

Doulas Razionzer, Andie Razionzer, Barbara Jackson, Mathapelo Ngaka, Wiseman, Patrick Schofield, Micheala Howse, Kim Keiser, Taddy Blecher, Veronica Khosa, Kim Feinburg, Don Edkins, Nicky Newman, Sr. Margo Mulvey, Solomon Cidile, Lavinia Brown, Kjetil, Marita Oosthuizen, Bronwyn Feldwick Davis

In India:

Jyoti Mhapsekar, Rajiv Vartak, Jeroo Billimoria, Deval Sanghavi, Arron Kennedy, Sheela Patel, Sri K Vishwanthan, Jeff Biggers, Uma Prajapati, Min Ameen, Vipin Thekkekalathil, Nancy Thomas, Sujartha Balaji, Andal Damodaran, Sagun Saxena, Severine Saxena, Louis Crowe, Priankya, Bhuwan, Kailesh Satyarthi, Paul Basil, Lisa Heydlauff, Rathnaboli Roy, Sheela Sengupta, Purubi Roy, Manisha Gupta, Sohini Bhattacharya, Thangavel Velandi, Prof Vinay

In Singapore:

Chris de Souza, Melissa Kwee, Jack Sim, Jared Tham

In Thailand:

Michael Bauwens, Linda Nowakowski, Mechai Viravaidya, Titipol Phakdeewanich

In Cambodia:

Rebecca Cook, Ben Heath, John Weeks, KK, Sebastien Marot, Dana Langlois, Youk Chhang, Eva Mysliwiec, Sasha Constable, Srey Bandole, Delfine Kassam, Dear Sourm, Marco Marco

In Australia:

Harry Andrews, Sue Lennox, Colin Lennox, Kelly Betts, Don MacLurcan, Tom Dawkins, Robyn Keech, Tony Marx, Sam Keech-Marx, Cameron Neil

In New Zealand:

Gareth Morgan, Catherine Lambert, Kevin Rice, Eithne Wyndham Smith

In Tonga:

Don Blanks, Norie Blanks, Mona Blanks, Sohelya Boluri, Nick Flegg

In the US:

Susan Megy, Tony Deifell, Mardie Oakes, Jim Fuchterman, Victor D’Allant, Matt Flannery, Beverley Schwartz, Bill Drayton, Michela Hackner, Charles Best, Nick Cuttriss, Kyle Zimmer, Nina Smith, Mark Hanis, Derek Ellerman,
Rochelle Arms, Sarah Wagner McCoy, Richard Johnston, Cathal Kearney, Peter Haas, Maureen Bryan, Sarah Symons, John Berber, Anne Marie Belevance, Amy Banzeart, Amy Jaffe Barzach, Carlos Monteagudo, Eva Koncazal, Joost Bonsen,Lara Galinsky, Mark Mc Donnagh, Ned Augenblick, Chris MacCrae




Phew- that is some list of such great people.
So I’ll say it again. THANK YOU.