April Speakers Update

We have had a busy couple of weeks at the club. On April 14^th, Mr. Dirk Visbach representing the Kemptville Players was our guest speaker. Kemptville’s longest running theatre company, which has been in existence since 1937, was started by G Howard Ferguson. It briefly closed from 1948 to 1950 when it reopened. In 1967 they performed out of Leslie Hall and were called the St. James Players and in 1974 the name was changed to Kemptville Players Inc. A move to the FJ Parish Hall from 1980 to 1990 was followed by a trip back to Leslie Hall from 1991 to 2005. The N.G. Municipal Centre has been their current home since 2005.

Kemptville Players have won numerous awards for their productions and are always assisting the community in one way or another during various community events. They encourage new members and support existing members to develop their theatrical skills while providing opportunities for creativity and camaraderie. They accept all volunteers whether it is for acting onstage or backstage duties such as prop design, make-up and hair, costumes, etc. Their upcoming production is "The 39 Steps: A Live Radio Play" by written by Joe Landry and directed by Sandra Tobin. It will be staged May 8th, 9th, and 10th 2015 at the North Grenville Municipal Centre Theatre.

 

Our speaker on April 21^st was Dr. Gerasimos Kambites. Dr. Kambites is a 3^rd generation Canadian of Greek heritage who was born and raised in Montreal. He studied at what was the Sir George Williams University in Montreal and following graduation, had an interesting and varied career. He was a videographer for the Transworld Snowmobile Expedition in 1973. That experience led him to Holy Cross Seminary in Brookline, Massachusetts and Sinai’s St. Katherine’s Monastery where he spent 6 months. Earning a Master’s in Divinity, he went to medical school at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario before heading to Uganda. He was ordained to the priesthood by the late Metropolitan Vitaly, founded Annunciation Orthodox Church on Bukasa Island and St. Xenia’s of St. Petersburg in Ottawa, eventually leaving the priesthood. He then studied psychiatry and now works as an Orthodox psychotherapist.

In 2008, Dr. Kambites took part in National Geographic’s Genographic DNA tracking program. The greatest irony for him is that his genetic map marks him as having originated in East Africa, in the Northern part of Lake Victoria. By moving to Uganda, in a true sense, he was just coming home. His book, Tears on the Equator tells us of his life in Africa. Some advice he gave to those wanting to accomplish projects in Africa or elsewhere Internationally is that you should listen to the people on the ground at the because those are the folks who know what is really needed the most, a lesson he learned from experiencing this first hand.