downtown spa treatment for your ride

Krenus Kares for my Kar ! 

Amidst a city known for drug related crime, youth homelessness, and whining from the generally entitled, it is easy to turn away from reading our newspapers and just enjoy the real beauty of Vancouver and its melting pot of good people.  And everyday, it is possible to meet everyday people who are working hard, contributing well and quietly earning an honest buck.   

So that's how I would describe Joshua Krenus, a good everyday guy, hardworking, an entrepreneur and all of 26 years of age.   On the street, he may look very much like the former Surrey kid, dressed in black with a baseball cap turned back.  But make no mistake.  He is a full on business guy, understanding customer service, with great communication ... and a convenient location for his car detailing business.  

And unlike most old-school businesses (and all medical offices), he takes appointments by email.  I already liked him before I knew I could engage by smartphone.   So, at 6 am last Friday, I found myself at his underground Easy-Park P3 location well before his opening.  I had a 630 am breakfast meeting at the Convention Centre.  Not to worry ... I tossed the key for my beloved SL55 through his gates ... and emailed him a note.

Joshua got back to me while I was on my first coffee ... along with a note that my car would be ready by 10 am.

It is no surprise that I'm not the only guy who entrusts the young Krenus with his car.   I found mine among a lineup of Porsches and other late model cars.  

Love the service - detailed care and detailed communication.  

Jack

Perfect Storm - Perfect Giving - Perfect Timing

Brian McConaghy of Ratanak.org explained why he wanted to build an irrigation dam near Siem Reap, Cambodia to support 20,000 villagers.   Extremes in weather possibly caused by changes in global climate has made subsistence as farmers challenging.  The challenges of life in this region are an explanation of why young girls go missing, some taken or sold to child slavery.

"The need is real and we want to help these good people who are keen to get this built", says Brian.  With support from local donors of material, equipment and labour, the cash requirement is surprisingly low.  For what I suspect would cost over $ 1 million in Canada, the cash need here was less than 6 figures, an amount the Jack Gin Family Foundation could support.  And given this perfect storm of desire, cooperation, low cost and extreme need, we were happy to provide this cash to Ratanak.org to get this project done asap.

And ASAP must have been their modus operandi as work commenced in Spring 2013 and was completed by the end of September, just before the expected monsoons.

What was not expected was the severity of the storm that followed. An unrelenting rain in October brought floods to much of the country and caused the banks of the Mekong River to overflow.  At least 70 people have died and thousands of hectares of rice fields have been ruined.

So ... with what is now called the Faith Irrigation Dam, flood water has been controlled, and our village has been spared of death and destruction.  As it turned out, Faith Irrigation Dam was built to be a saving grace.

I am in awe of how we are utilized with such timeliness.   On October 12th, we begin our journey to Cambodia to make our planned visit.   My expectations have shifted.  No longer will I be inspecting a new dam and spillway, but rather a point of pride for the villagers who built a flood control system that has already protected them and their livelihood from destruction.

Before we begin, we are thankful.

Jack
9 Oct 2013

Jack
9 Oct 2013

No Shark Fins for this Chinese Canadian

"I'm as Canadian as a hockey puck but a bit smarter" is what I would say on my earlier trips to Asia when confronted with the question, "what nationality are you?".   My Asian complexion has always done a great job of masking my Canuck constitution and its family history of more than 100 years in Vancouver BC.  I know no other homeland than the true north strong and free.  I am maple leaf Canadian to the core, descended from the same workers of the 1800s who built the rail-roads of the Rocky Mountains, the sugar mills in Hawaii and the gold mines of Australia.   As a worker, I reap what I sow.  As a Canadian, I respect the beauty of our natural environment. 

But my Cantonese Chinese heritage has enriched in me with a broader sense of culture and history.  The Cantonese love to eat.  Dining is their art-form, their past-time, their daily pursuit.  A Guangzhou resident once said to me, "we Cantonese will eat anything with four legs except the table."   I say the Cantonese can turn any edible oddity into a delicacy.  Five thousand years of culture with probably countless periods of famine have generated dishes that my fair skinned Canadian friends would laugh over.  

In Canada, we cut off the heads of salmon and give them to the crows.  In Asia, the delicacy dish would be salmon cheek.  And then there are pig's feet which make a great stew, and chicken feet for dim sum  ... etc etc.   One has to respect this ability to eat all of what is available.

But in today's global economic reality, the Chinese have the ability to eat what they want, when they want, without realizing what is wasted or their collective effect to the world environment.   This brings me to my issue over their desire to eat the fins of sharks.  Any shark will do, as long as they are from real wild sharks.  This delicacy dish, served at weddings and other special occasions, has its cultural belief that it is a food fit for an emperor.  It is more status symbol than nutrition.  Only the fins make for the status.  The rest of the fish is not, and that means that 90% of the shark is wasted.  This fact itself is not very Chinese, and certainly not the practical, resourceful Chinese that I know and respect. 

Let's not pick on just the Cantonese.  The Taiwanese are a major consumer of Shark's Fin soup as are the nouveau rich in mainland China.   The western health food saying "you are what you eat" is very much in the mindset of all the Chinese.   And in this mindset is a long history of tradition and culture that cannot be overcome in one generation.  A law to ban the fishing of sharks will not stop demand.    Nor would it stop ordinary people from heading out to international (and lawless) waters to hunt down sharks and bringing home only fins that are easy to hide and sell.  

Ninety is the number.  90% of each shark is wasted.  About 90 million sharks are killed each year for fins.  It is estimated that 90% of some shark species are now gone.  What can be done to reverse this trend? 

The task at hand is to educate the Chinese young.  This is already working with famous Chinese like Jackie Chan and Yao Ming speaking out to protect sharks and therefore our oceans.  

The responsibility is mine too.  And it is yours as well.  Speak out against this dish.  If you are invited to a Chinese banquet, encourage (or demand) that an alternative to shark fin be provided.  The clever and resourceful Cantonese have already invented alternative dishes ... they need your help to get over the hurdles of tradition and culture and status symbols.   

It is not hip to eat fins.  It is not cool to eat fins.  I do not appear wealthier, stronger or more respectful to my guests by serving shark fin soup. 

There shall never be shark fins in my soup.  

The oceans are for all.  And all of us must respect its natural beauty and its health.  

     

Basketball arrives in Ndola Zambia - Sports Court for Seeds of Hope

Thank you Ben Jang, Peter Jackman, Henry Boschman, Val Grimes, David Chew, Adam Spear, Andrew Jackson, Kitty Yan and anonymous others. You helped build a sports court for "my" orphans in Ndola Zambia ... a gracious thank you for your kind heart and helping hand. It has taken many months of time, much volunteer effort and strategic sourcing of materials ... but the work is now done ... and you will be happy to know that the boys and girls of this orphanage school can exercise and play every day, even during the rainy season when mud would otherwise keep them inside.
The children of Seeds of Hope orphanage (and Grace Academy School) are primarily children of deceased HIV parents. A life in the shanties as outcast children has turned to safety and love within the walled compound of Seeds of Hope Children's Ministry. Here, it is understood that the way to break the cycle of extreme poverty is through love and education. The children are part of a family that extends out to sponsors and donors throughout the world. Educating and training them there means they will stay and contribute to their future economy.

Some supporters donate with money, while others donate with skill and labour. In this case, you have helped with the money to get this small project done for less than $ 20,000. Next time you see Canadian kids playing at a sporting event, know that you have helped build a sports court in Zambia for really nice young people on the other side of the world who don't have parents and are joyfully happy to play ... even without owning a pair of sport shoes.

What to do next?
Effective giving is habit forming. When it gets done right, you want to do something right again. I will continue to seek great projects to contribute to. And I hope you will help too ... and remember that by helping these orphans, they are now also "your" children.

From me, and on behalf of John Chalkias (Executive Director of Seeds of Hope), a sincere thank you. ... jg

PS. That's John and Jack at the site prior to a thick steel reinforced slab of concrete, a perimeter chain link fence and the regulation size basketball court which will also be used for soccer and other sports.

PPS. www.seedsofhopecm.com/our-projects/grace-academy.php ... check out Grace Academy School. The children of this school will soon be heading to college. Received as babies, many near death ... Grace Academy will be graduating these future leaders to local colleges and technical schools.

PPPS. Copy and Paste to Google-Maps, these GPS coords to see the school before the sports court was built ... 13.07424S, 28.70515E

Douglas Jung, the born-to-be-Canadian war veteran

On this Remembrance Day, 11/11/2010, Douglas Jung comes to mind. Back in 2001, I had lunch with him in Vancouver on the same block that now has a federal government building named in his honour. He talked of his youth as a Canadian-born Chinese kid who had no legal status since the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 had taken away rights from people of Chinese origin, even if their origin included being born in Canada. He was 15 years young in 1939 when Canada found herself at war with Japan and Germany. He rallied his neighbourhood friends, also of Chinese heritage, to enlist to "fight the Japanese Imperial Army". And even though none of his Asian-looking pals had ever been to Asia, they enlisted in large numbers for the opportunity to fight for Canada, and fight for freedom, and to possibly earn the right to be more than a disenfranchised non-status-Canadian. Yes he had another agenda, but putting your life on the line to fight for freedom, and then possibly earn freedom in the country of his birth was a far out agenda. He and his pals had everything to lose and something small yet personally important to gain. Yet they did not know that the BC and Canadian governments were intent on NOT allowing these boys any chance of getting the right to vote and become normal Canadians. A secret order by the government in Canada prevented these Chinese from active War duty. They could train, but they would not be activated. It was because of the British army responding to Winston Churchill's demand for resistance behind enemy lines, that Douglas Jung and hundreds of non-status Chinese were put to use as soldiers. They needed military-trained English-speaking Asians to hide amongst the enemy and execute destruction while training locals. How perfect for the British Army ... these trained willing young men that did not belong to any country. They could fight and they could die, and no one would know. And as Douglas Jung described to me, his mission was considered so secret, there would be no official record, which resulted in more irony upon the war's end for the young man who so dearly wanted recognition for serving the country that had not recognized him.

Douglas Jung and all the other veterans of Chinese heritage eventually did get their recognition. They were recognized as war heroes, and they were invited to become real citizens. As veterans, they were treated to university educations. And all Chinese Canadians were allowed the right to practise as professionals, a right that we now take for granted.

Douglas Jung became a lawyer, a member of parliament, and a judge.

Later in his career, he would take his seat at the United Nations when someone told him that the seat was reserved for the representative from Canada. With much earned pride, he stated, "I am the representative from Canada".

Douglas Jung wove an important thread in the fabric of Canada. He left us too early when he died two months after that lunch meeting on January 2002. His picture is very much lacking in the building that is named in his honour. He would have wanted people to know what this born-to-be-Canadian looked like.

Mazda 1985 RX7 GSL-SE with driver available

This collector's 1985 Mazda RX7 provided a lot of fun driving 25 years ago, but it now sits idle in a heated garage, retired from active duty. Vancouver-based vehicle is available with its owner-driver for film and photoshoots. The car is in great condition and shows well. Kept in a Burnaby garage, it is too much fun to give up, so its owner (also retired) is looking for gigs to keep it busy. Rates negotiable. Modifications for specific film purposes also negotiable. Reply to jackgin20@gmail.com

Torch Relay on Vancouver's Main Street

On February 11, 2010, I was awarded the privilege of carrying the Olympic Torch along 37th avenue to Main Street. It truly was an honour and a responsibility. I had already felt humbled that I was noticed for being the "good Canadian" that I had considered myself to be. But now I had to wear this glorious white outfit complete with red mittens (I never wore mittens as an east end kid as they made for lousy snowballs) with much of my family bearing witness and hundreds of kids, a police escort and six bodyguards in black . "careful what you ask for, you just might get it," is what I thought of my predicament that day. "Go slow, so the children can see the torch." "Look out for friends who have come from afar." "Look out for the kids from the Boys and Girls Club who are here too." "This is another blessing, what am I going to make of this one?" ... all thoughts that meshed into my mind as the approaching torchbearer came to light my torch number 183. And then it happened, all so instantly. My Bombardier device became THE Olympic Torch, burning and blowing and hissing and growling with energy that lifted my arm and moved my feet. "This flame from Greece has crossed Canada and WE are taking it home. And I am just the mannequin inside the uniform that is helping move this important symbol of peace, participation and Canadian pride. "

My job was done in a few minutes, but I left the ongoing relay (Bob Lee, Jan Arden, Trevor Linden were up next) and found the hundreds of kids back on 37th and Main Street to have pictures taken. There's nothing like seeing faces of joy and glee in kids holding the Olympic Torch.