Afghanistan's Fawzia Koofi to visit Vancouver

Every once in a while, a rare opportunity comes along to meet someone who is making history; defining the course of people's lives now and for many generations into the future.


One of those people is Fawzia Koofi. While not a household name here in Canada, her actions and leadership are changing the lives of many in Afghanistan. If you believe in the ripple effect, she's changing lives here too. A well-known activist for democracy and human rights, she's one of the growing number of Afghan women who are standing up to fight for their future, in a society often warped by tradition and war. 

Condoleeza Rice with Fawzia Koofi

She's Afghanistan's most popular female politician, and the first female Deputy Speaker of the Parliament in her country. She was chosen as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and will run for President of Afghanistan in 2014. That is, if she can survive the extremists that dominate politics in this region. She's challenged Hamid Karzai to take a stronger position on human rights before conceding to Taliban insurgents - resulting in the murder of one of her aides just months ago and numerous attempts on her own life. 


She's coming to Vancouver on June 6th to talk about Afghanistan, politics, religion, and her own, very personal experiences. I'm thrilled to be hosting her for two events that day: 


Lunch at the Vancouver Club - REGISTER HERE
11:45 am - 1:45 pm
For the business crowd at lunch, her presentation will focus on the political dynamics at play inside Afghanistan; where the country is headed as involvement from the international community evolves. 


What forces are shaping the political leadership - how influential are the religious extremists? What is the relationship between Afghanistan and its neighbours? How do these dynamics influence us in the West, in terms of energy, security, and economics? 


If you're downtown, this is a great opportunity to host your colleagues and clients for a stimulating presentation. More information and registration details for the lunch event are here.


An Evening at the Kay Meek Centre - REGISTER HERE
7:30 - 9:00 pm
In the evening, I will be hosting her for a larger public event at the Kay Meek Centre in West Vancouver. We'll have a little more time, so she'll be broadening her talk to include more of her personal experiences as detailed in her recently published memoir Letters to My Daughters.


"In it, Ms. Koofi describes unflinchingly the wreckage she witnessed at the hands of Afghans of all ideologies and clans: the domestic violence that was a mundane part of family life, gang rape, the burning of a Kabul mosque where dozens of women had sought shelter during the civil war, and the public humiliation and beatings meted out casually by the Taliban."  - An excerpt from a recent Globe & Mail article.


More information and details about how to register for the evening event are here, but read on for a small preview of her story:

On the day Fawzia Koofi was born, her mother set her under the blazing Afghanistan sun to die. The 19th child of 23 in a family with seven wives, her mother did not want another daughter. Despite severe burns that lasted into her teenage years, Koofi survived and became the favourite child.

In Letters to My Daughters, Koofi tells her remarkable life story, one marked by a fierce passion to better the world around her. Koofi''s father was an incorruptible politician strongly attached to Afghan tradition. When he was murdered by the mujahadeen, her illiterate mother decided to send the ten year-old girl to school, and as the civil war raged, Koofi dodged bullets and snipers to attend class, determined to be the first person in her family to receive an education.

Koofi went on to marry a man she loved and they had two cherished daughters, Shohra and Shaharzad. Tragically, the arrival of the Taliban spelled an end to her freedom. Outraged and deeply saddened by the injustice she saw around her, and by the tainting of her Islamic faith, she discovered politics herself.

And thinking about her upcoming visit, this quote really struck me:

"Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls, and interesting people."
- Henry Miller


I hope to see you in June!

Sarah Palin coming to Vancouver

So it seems that everyone has come out of their summer slumber and noticed that the second speaker for the Bon Mot Book Club is going to be Sarah Palin. Malcolm Parry announced this in his column in early July, yet still the Vancouver Sun called a few days ago to "crack" the story!

Anyway, the media frenzy aside, I have enjoyed (most) of the comments and emails. Some on the Georgia Strait site are really quite witty and funny.

Some of the personal attacks against me that have arrived in my email box? Not as funny, but I guess that's how some people deal with a difference of opinion.

What's most interesting are the assumptions that are made about me and my motives for bringing her in. I like some of her policy ideas and disagree with others. Regardless of that, she is an interesting person with an interesting background and story, and someone who, regardless of whether you agree with her or not, is certainly a force in US politics. So why wouldn't I and others want to meet her and have a stimulating discussion? And what would be the point of only having discussions with people who you agree with on all issues?


If you're interested, please join us on October 13th - just a few weeks out from the US midterm elections!

Had dinner with John & Janette Howard on Sunday night ...

One of the most interesting parts of my job is the people that I get to meet. I recently invited John Howard, former Prime Minister of Australia, to Canada to speak at a series of events for the Fraser Institute.

On Sunday, as I was about to leave on my run through the Capilano trails, a call came through on my cell phone from a number that I didn't recognize. It was John Howard's assistant calling from Australia, asking me to call him at his Vancouver hotel to discuss his speech the next evening.

We had a fabulous conversation about provincial, federal, and world politics - on everything from Obama to the environment to the war in Iraq. At the end of the conversation, it crossed my mind to invite he and his wife out for dinner as it seemed that there was so much more to talk about - so many more of the world's problems to solve! But practicality took over, and having just prepped some spaghetti sauce, I thought I'd better keep to our original plans.

I called David to tell him that I was now going to be late for dinner, what with having spent so much time on the phone with "John". I mentioned my fleeting thought about inviting the Howards for dinner and my reticence given my previous pasta preparations. David groaned and said well, we could invite them OUT for dinner...

So I ran for a bit and then thought - why not!?! I called John back and asked him if he and his wife had any plans for dinner - that David and I were planning on heading out to our favourite local seafood spot and would they like to join us? A few minutes later he phoned back and said... sure, could we pick them up at 7:30?

Yikes! What favourite seafood spot? A quick round of calls informed us that Vancouver has very few seafood restaurants open on a Sunday night. Luckily the Italian Kitchen on Alberni was accommodating, and we had a delightful dinner out. A nearby table of Aussies recognized our dinner guest and sent over a lovely bottle of Australian Shiraz from Barossa, which nicely complimented the 5 (mostly) seafood inspired courses from chef Eric. And, which nicely complimented an evening of anecdotes and storytelling with the Howards.

The moral of the story? Always ask for what you want. If you're lucky, you just might get it : )

Former Austrialian Prime Minister John Howard coming to Vancouver

I'm pretty excited to be hosting former Australian Prime Minister John Howard here on February 2 at the Four Seasons. http://www.fraserinstitute.org/newsandevents/events/6185.aspx

As always, hosting someone requires the right balance of protocol with enough humour to make things interesting. I'm thinking of using this opening line:

A friend of mine recently moved to Australia for work and had an interesting experience trying to enter the country. At the customs desk she was asked for all of the usual paperwork, including passport, visa, and travel documents. The clerk then asked her about her criminal record.

"Criminal record?" she asked. "I didn't think you still needed one to get in here!"

Hardy har har : )