Author Beth Rowles Scott Photo By Michael Moster

Helena Kaufman The Afro News Vancouver

In the midst of a book detailing the life journey of a Canadian woman from girlhood to unexpected gratification, lies a formula for happiness. It is nestled in the chapters of “Pinch Me, A Long Walk From Home”, a first volume of stories by author Beth Rowles Scott. Extraordinarily readable and engaging, the segments detail her life path from being a self described fat little girl on the Saskatchewan prairie to her move to maturity in British Columbia. Finally, there is an unplanned adventure that would prove to reinvigorate and redesign her own life, and that of thousands of others, through her work in Kenya.

“Like beads in a bowl,” as Beth characterizes her chapters, she gathered up a life story that informs and inspires. “Pinch Me” contrasts how she felt as a child and how she feels now. For a long time she felt she was that young fat girl, despite external growth and achievement. It could have slowed her down that self image. She could perhaps have limited herself by her environment and her body. Today in her daily life and throughout her book, Beth looks at all the blessings in her life and opportunities and thinks, “Pinch me, is it real?”

Stages

Satisfaction surrounds Beth as she looks back on an amazing life, but to the reader she represents hope. Following the formula she discovered for herself at a very young age, the reader is given privy to possibility. Any aspirations it seems can come true and pay off in current and ongoing achievement – even for late bloomers. For Beth, happiness is comprised of the life guiding elements of ‘Someone to Love, Something to Do, Something to Look Forward To.”

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Gary Reed of Kamloops

Gary Reed of Kamloops won the silver medal at the World Athletics Final in Thessaloniki, Greece before a crowd of 27,500. David Lekuta Rudisha of Kenya took the gold in 1:44.85 after a tactical 53.0 second first lap of 400m. Rudisha leads the world in 2009 with his 1:42.01 clocking this season. Gary was lying in 7th spot with 200m to go but delivered a tremendous closing finish to pass world champion, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa and Olympic champion, Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia. Reed improved on his 4th place at the 2009 Beijing Olympics and equaled his 2007 silver medal at the World Championships with his 1:45.23.

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David Schroeder  The Afro International

Jacob Deng Building a School in Duk Padiet, South Sudan

As a seven-year-old boy Jacob Deng fled his village in southern Sudan, Duk Padiet, in the province of Jonglei, narrowly escaping the death and destruction brought by militias from the north. The trek was a harrowing journey first to Ethiopia, and then back through Sudan to a massive refugee camp in Kenya called Kakuma. As one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, he lived in Kakuma for over a decade. Realizing the need for an education, Jacob used his entrepreneurial skills to get to a boarding school in Kenya, and later made arrangements to come to Canada as a refugee. He has lived in Halifax since 2003 with his wife Jenty and their two young boys.

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