C. S. Lewis = TACT

I'm planning to relaunch the weekly

C. S. Lewis breakfast reading club
(also known as TACT)

in November as I move to Tehtaankatu. For more information, drop me a note. New members are welcomed too.

Facebook Killed Blogging

Lately I've been wondering why I have so little motivation for blogging anymore. I came to the conclusion that Facebook is to "blame". Why? Because it has been an efficient way of keeping in touch with people and being up-to-date with what's happening with who. I will have to do some soul-searching and decide which course to take. If I keep my 21st Century Pilgrim blog, I'm pretty sure I need to invest more time and effort: increase both the pace and the level of quality of posts. 

Gone Hunting

Gone hunting. Be back Sunday night. Friends, nature, game, and Internet detox.

Hyvejohtajuus: Alexandre Havard (Providentia/Otava 2009)

The book I translated is finally being published. The publishing event is on September 7th (Monday) at 2.00pm downtown Helsinki at Cafe Aalto, the cafeteria designed by Alvar Aalto.

For those of you who understand Finnish, below is the relevant information that I copy-pasted from the invite.

Among the panelists are Mr. Alexandre Havard himself (flying in from Moscow), the Finnish MEPs Mr. Timo Soini and Mrs. Sari Essayah (flying in from Brussels) and representing Providentia is the economist Mr. Oskari Juurikkala.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

KIRJANJULKISTAMISTILAISUUS

Alexandre Havardin Virtuous Leadership (New York: Scepter Publishers 2007) julkaistaan 9. käännöksenä suomeksi Hyvejohtajuus viikolla 37. Sitä ennen pidetään kirjan tiimoilta paneelikeskustelu.

Julkaisia: Providentia
Painotalo: Otava
Design ja taitto: Nordenswan & Siirilä
Suomentaja: Jason Lepojärvi
Myyntiin: viikolla 37

Tervetuloa aistillisen eleganttiin, Alvar Aallon sisustamaan Cafe Aaltoon kirjanjulkistamistilaisuuteen maanantaina 7. syyskuuta klo 14--15.30.

PANEELIKESKUSTELU

Mukana: johtajuuskirjoittaja Alexandre Havard, europarlamentaarikot Timo Soini (PS) ja Sari Essayah (KD) sekä taloustieteilijä Oskari Juurikkala (Providentia). Tilaisuuden juontaa toimittaja Jan Ahonen.

Teemana on johtajuus, hyveet ja niiden yhteispeli nykymaailmassa -- ts. "hyvejohtajuus". Aihe on äärimmäisen ajankohtainen myös Suomessa (vaalirahasotku, talouspetokset).

Yleisöllä ja lehdistöllä mahdollisuus esittää kysymyksiä. Tilaisuuden kieli on suomi.

ALEXANDRE HAVARD

Alexandre Havard (s. 1962, Pariisi) on johtajuuskouluttaja ja Havard Virtuous Leadership Instituten (HVLI) perustaja. Hänen kehittämänsä hyveisiin perustuva hyvejohtajuusmalli soveltaa klassista näkemystä ihmispersoonasta nykyajan organisaatioiden tarpeisiin.

Havard itse luennoi englanniksi, ranskaksi, espanjaksi, venäjäksi -- ja Suomessa asuneena jopa suomeksi.

KIRJASTA POIMITTUA

"Talousskandaaleja seuraa poikkeuksetta vaatimuksia valtiollisen sääntelyn vahvistamisesta, kaupan hallinnon reformista ja eettisten sääntöjen uudistamisesta. Näillä kaikilla on hyötynsä, mutta ne unohtavat jotain olennaista. Talouspetosten kyhäilijät ja muut lainrikkojat tietävät varsin hyvin, että se, mitä he tekevät, on väärin. Kyse on luonteenviasta." (JOHDANTO s. ix.)

TAKAKANNESTA

"Johtajuus on ensisijaisesti luonteen asia -- ei sen, mitä ihminen tietää tai osaa, vaan mitä hän on. Ihmisen luonnetta voidaan vahvistaa, sillä se on vapaan tahdon aluetta, toisin kuin temperamentti, joka on pitkälti jotakin synnynnäistä. Luonteen ytimessä ovat hyveet, toisin sanoen hyvät luonteenpiirteet, jotka näkyvät teoissa.

Hyvejohtajuus tarjoaa hyveissä kasvamisen metodologian jokaiselle. Johtajuus ei ole varattu vain jollekin eliitille, vaan se on monien kutsumus. Kirja sisältää esimerkkejä hyveiden ja johtajuuden yhteispelistä yhteiskunnan joka alalta: liike-elämästä, politiikasta, journalismista, koulutusalalta, uskonnosta, lääketieteestä ja myös vanhemmuudesta. Suomessakin asunut Havard mainitsee mm. saunan, Mannerheimin ja Helsingin Sinebrychoffin puiston."


KIRJASTA SANOTTUA

"Pidin kirjaa äärimmäisen kiehtovana, sillä se meni suoraan asian ytimeen: meidän tulee perustaa päätöksemme todellisuudelle, ja se taas vaatii todellisen käsityksen ihmispersoonasta."
--Francois Michelin, CEO emeritus, Group Michelin

LINKIT

Johtamisblogi hyvejohtajuus.fi.
Hyvejohtajuus Facebookissa.

Office Space

Great news. I got some office space from the Department of Theology that is in the heart of downtown Helsinki, on Aleksanterinkatu 7. The Faculty of Systematic Theology, my faculty, is on the 6th floor. I'm very happy about this, for it gives me an opportunity to study in a very productive and supportive atmosphere. In addition to fulltime research I will be teaching philosophy and ethics for a small group of first-year students. This will keep me pedagogically active, so I don't totally neglect my teaching vocation.

On Holidays

There hasn't been a blog post for a couple days and neither will there be for the next couple of days. Over the next week I'll be on semi-holiday: Helsinki -- Nurmijärvi (2 days) -- Kerimäki (3 days) -- Tampere (3 days) -- Helsinki. On Friday the 24th of July my brother and his family are coming to Finland for 5 weeks.

Suomi kutsuu

(Photo: somewhere between Arusha, TANZ, and Nairobi, KEN.)

Time's up, Suomi kutsuu (Finland's calling). On Monday I fly back to Finland. Unfortunately I won't make pit-stops in Ethiopia and Sudan as promised by my original itinerary, because the flight operator just cancelled that route. So instead I'm flying via Switzerland and Germany. It actually works better for me, since the layovers are shorter and I'll have one long uninterrupted night flight.

There will be no more posts till Finland since my to-do list prior to my departure is crammed. In fact tomorrow morning I'm flying to the island of Zanzibar, thus far one of my favourite places in East Africa, for the weekend. It will be the last field trip before returning to Finland. I'm going with my brother and a Finnish-Canadian Fida-worker from Uganda, who is holding an HIV-Aids workshop in Dar es Salaam this week. We plan to visit some Zanzibarian spice factories and locate Freddy Mercury's childhood home.

In case anyone is wondering, VALMET is a Finnish company (VALtion=State's METalli=Iron). My late grandfather owned a Valmet tractor. When you start seeing Valmet signs in some bush in the middle of Africa, you know it's time to go home. (Although I doubt the reference is intentional, probably the shop owner just saw it somewhere.) That, and a phone call from Finland saying the beautiful Finnish summer has begun, settles it. See you soon.

Serengeti and Lake Victoria

Tomorrow morning my brother and I are leaving for a five-day roadtrip. Our final destination is Mwanza, a city on the coast of Lake Victoria, quite near the Ugandan and Kenyan borders. Fida has a large youth center there which I will be able to visit.

We have decided to drive through the Serengeti national park, which is on the way. I've been to the Mikumi national park but never to Serengeti. Apparently the wildebeests and zebras etc. are migrating. If we're lucky (or if we're told the real-time coordinates), we'll stuble upon them in herds of thousands. Ngorongoro, the crater famous for its black rhinos, will have to wait for another time, as it would double the entry fee and cost us an extra day.

We'll be back on Tuesday. The following weekend I'll fly to Zanzibar for a mini vacation, just before returning to Finland on the 1st of June. My time in Africa is soon over. Six months has gone past quickly.

Last Month in Africa

Five months has gone since I arrived in Tanzania on December 1st of last year. It's been a wonderful experience. Although I wouldn't vouch for my hosts, it feels like time has gone by quickly. My return flight, June 1st, is more exotic than usual: Dar es Salaam - Addis Ababa - Khartoum - Frankfurt - Helsinki. This will be my first time in Sudan... Hey, it could be worse, as in Darfur.

As you can see from the photo, I'm very happy. I'm also a bit tanned, so at least I won't immediately get a sun-burn in Finland (sic). (Photo by Jani Salokangas, whose daughter has placed her hand gently on my shoulder. I didn't cut her out, I swear, her dad did.)

Home Alone Again

As the internet has been down for several days now, there's no photos in this post unfortunately. (I am at an internet cafe without my USB memory card.) My parents arrived to Dar es Salaam last Friday, which was nice. On Sunday the whole family - my parents, Danny and Sirkku, Benjamin and Daniella - left to Tanga, which is up north near the Kenyan border. They're participating in a one-week Disability Forum.

I had just visited Tanga, so I had decided to stay at home. We just moved into a new lovely house, so it was a good idea for someone to 'keep watch'. I have enjoyed my time alone. During the daytime I get a lot of work done. In the evenings I will have a beer and perhaps enjoy a Cuban cigar on the roof terrace, and just look at the stars and listen to the Indian Ocean greeting the star-lit beach with endless waves. But come weekend, it will be wonderful to see everyone again.

Kawe-beach, Here We Come...

Due to several reasons my brother and his wife have decided to move. This means that I, the PhD-Nanny, will be moving also. Starting from today the next few days will be spent driving between the old house and the new house, packing, unpacking, cleaning, and so on. Thankfully we have a lot of formidable help.


The old house and its location have a lot of perks (like the swimming area in the picture above). But the new house ... well, let's just say that it's quite incredible too. Once the move is over and we've all settled in, I will post some photos. The view from the roof-size terrace, for example, is impeccable. From the edge of the backyard begins the beach, a white sand buffer separating the house from the blue, awe-inspiring Indian Ocean with a few tropical islands in the horizon.

An Update With Photos...

...can be found, not here, but here. Since my brother and his family already updated their blog, I see no point in dublicating the stories told there. Whew, saves me a lot of trouble.

Some highlights from our trip from Dar es Salaam through Tanga and Moshi up to Nairobi, Kenya, and back:

1. Sirkku ran the Kilimanjaro half-marathon during our pit stop at Moshi, near Arusha just a few hours away from the Kenian border (photos provided).
2. You can, indeed, fit a Cessna plane into the back trunk of your car (photo provided).
3. "Overseeing" a problematic two-hour tire change under the scorching sun without any sun tan lotion is possible, but not advicable (photo provided).

Dar es Salaam -- Tanga -- Nairobi

(click photo to enlarge)

We're off to a one-week roadtrip tomorrow morning. The plan is to visit a few Youth Centers both in Tanzania and Kenya, so this is a worktrip. I'm a hired Nanny.

We leave Dar es Salaam at the break of dawn and drive north to the city of Tanga, just at the Kenyan border. There we'll spend to days and meet with some friends. On Saturday we'll continue north-west and make a pit-stop in the city of Moshi near Arusha, and continue across the border up to Nairobi on Sunday. Two days in Nairobi and then a two-day drive back to Dar with one pit-stop in Moshi.

No posting until next week, that is. But then my brother's in-laws arrive from Finland for a two-week holiday, so it'll be a happy reunion and I'll post some cool photos.

Linda and Henrik: Engaged!

My lovely friends Linda and Henrik ("Henkka") have got engaged. Our circle of friends rejoice! I've known Henkka for a millenium, Linda for a decade or so, and Henkka and Linda have dated for a century. Apparently the idea is to have "a small wedding on a beach somewhere". I wonder if they're trip to Australia and the Far East a few years ago influenced this decision. The photo above is from Finland and the photo below (I think) is from Australia.

Home Alone

My host family left to Uganda today. They will return on Sunday. That means that "baba mkubwa" (big daddy) has the house to himself and can party all he wants! Instead of getting up at seven and studying till five in the evening, I can get up at seven and study for as long as I want - even to nine in the evening if I want to. Later, I might treat myself with a glass of whisky and a game of darts with my friend Jani (on the left).

A New Year in Africa

This is a short obligatory update. The year 2009 began, for me, in Tanzania. I have been here for one month now. It feels like it just fly by. Five more months of efficient work and play to look forward to. I function and work so much better in a country where the sun rises and sets early. It's been 4 years since I went to bed and got up as early as I do now, willingly.

Some time ago I found out, to my relief, that I was indeed accepted into the University of Helsinki. My dissertation plan (comparative study on two Christian giants' conception of love) was ratified at the same time.

The next four years will be spent in love. Reading about love, writing about it, talking about it, thinking about it, and - to the best of my abilities - living it.

Triple Party 2009

Yesterday was a great day. We had three reasons to celebrate: Benjy turned 3 years, Daniella 1 year, and history (since Christ's birth) 2009 years. (It's incredible how well Danny and Sirkku timed their kisses.)

Oskar (on the left), is going on his first ever safari this weekend, to Mikumi National Park.

Safari, in Swahili, means simply "a trip". But Oskar's safari will include some amazing animals, too.

Lapland Calls

I'm leaving to Lapland tomorrow morning. My Grandpa's funeral is on Saturday. I'm sure there will be plenty of tears, but it is a happy occasion: he died a hero. Next post, Monday.