A Man of Character

I met Henning Mankell two years ago at an author's dinner. I had heard him speak the previous day in a talk entitled, A Man of Character.  I sat, enthralled, as he shared his experiences in Mozambique as the director of a community theatre and his involvement with various humanitarian causes. This is why I want to write, I thought. He spoke about greed which, he reflected, seemed to have become a virtue, about poverty - an unnatural state forced on people, and illiteracy - he thought we should be ashamed that we hadn't dealt with this problem yet.

Mankell spent half the year in Sweden and the other in Mozambique since the 1980s. He joked that he lived with one foot in the snow and the other in the sand. "Africa has taught me to be a better European," he said.

He was well-known for his crime fiction books which sold millions of copies and were translated into 40 languages. He explored the human condition through the protagonists in his novels; the mirror of crime tells of the contradictions in society. "Whatever I write, the reality is much worse," he said.

"We are a story-telling and a story-listening people," said Mankell at the dinner. "It is our capacity to talk and eventually to listen, that will save mankind." He told the story of two old African men sitting on a bench outside his theatre. They were talking about a mutual friend who died in the middle of telling a story. "That's not the way to die, without finishing your story," one of the men remarked.

Mankell died last week.  He has left many stories unfinished. 

Picture of author: Wikipedia Commons

For more on the author visit  http://henningmankell.com/

Getting back to Normal

Yesterday I was doing a quick grocery shop to replenish the shelves after our trip. It seemed a terribly mundane activity after the week I have just had. In fact I think that you do need to be slightly schizophrenic to travel. One moment you are being exposed to bright minds, the next getting the bread and milk; or freezing at -15 degrees and then being blasted by temperatures of 30 deg as you get off the plane.

The World Economic Forum exceeded any expectations I might have had before I left. I was not sure about the “spouses’ programme” but I discovered that all the sessions were open to everyone with the proviso that, if they were full, partners/spouses might have to make way for participants. But that certainly did not happen at any sessions I attended. So no fondue- or chocolate-making sessions for me...

The rest of the week pretty much fulfilled the promise of my last blog. I have been stimulated and moved by talks on a variety of topics:  music, art, creativity; the future of museums in the digital age; the plight of girls around the world; and the challenges of doing business in Africa.

It is hard to settle down and be normal again after all this stimulation. I had an Oprah-style “aha” moment there at 4000 metres above sea level.  Writers like Henning Mankell and Elif Shafak made me realise why I want to write. Bear with me over the next few blogs and I will tell you more... 

Davos 2013

This morning when I woke up it took a few moments for me to remember what day it was. Since leaving 30 degree weather at home on Monday, I have landed in below-freezing temperatures and it has been go, go, go. In the last two days  I have met the president of Rwanda, listened to the PM of Italy talk about how his country has turned around, heard what three young global leaders think the future of business is, attended a session on de-risking Africa, which was televised for CNBC, and fallen in love with Henning Mankell. I have also had to put on and take off so many layers of clothing several times a day which at this altitude has left me breathless. 

After one too many persons telling me that I was stupid to not take the opportunity of attending the World Economic Forum with my husband, I decided to join him. Usually I don't travel with him on business trips as he gets into  a different zone and is not much fun...

This time, however, the programme is packed full of interesting presentations which I think that he would secretly like to attend, rather than the many meetings he is sitting in. Here there are 2500 business and political leaders, as well as artists, musicians and religious leaders...all putting their heads together to "improve the state of the world".

I'm not sure how much progress they are making but when I hear what the young leaders have to say, I am full of hope that maybe the next generation will get it right. Other than wondering whose bright idea it is to have a conference in sub-zero temperatures, I am in awe of the vision to create a think tank such as this, and the implication that we need an inter-disciplinary approach to create a better world.