Markw
Mark Whittall Joined: May 8th 2007
Logged in: August 28th 2011
Logged in: August 28th 2011
On May 14 I'll be heading to the Seychelles Islands. My trip has been arranged by the Theological Student International Internship Program of the Anglican Church of Canada, and I'll spend three months working with the Anglican Church in the Seychelles. So read on, and share my trip with me . . .
Travel Blog Posts
Birds and Blue Sky
It's always good to get back home again, especially after being on the road for three and half months. Sleeping in my own bed, fast Internet, bumping into friends on the street - there are so many things about Ottawa that I love. But I also love traveling, meeting new friends and enjoying (or sometimes enduring) new experiences. The three months I spent in Seychelles were a great experience, as were the past two weeks staying with friends in Rome. Let me fill you in on a number of the highlights of the past few weeks before signing off. You'll recall that after spending my first two months on the main island of Mahe, we all went to Praslin. There, I was covering for Rev. Bryan who was away on a training course. On my second ... read more
Anse Intendance
It’s hard to believe that I’m in the final month of my three month placement here in the Seychelles. Time has passed quickly especially since my family, Guylaine, Jonathan and Michelle joined me here one month ago. My time off is time on for them as we tour the beautiful beaches, forests and waters of these wonderful islands together. We are now living on the island of Praslin, 40 km from the main island of Mahe, where I am replacing the rector of the parish, Rev. Bryan, who is in England on a training course for three weeks. For over a year, I have been assisting various incumbents in the course of internships in Canada and on Mahe. Now I’m on my own to lead worship on a rotating basis in four congregations, using English, French ... read more
RECOVERED
Today's Blog is from Michelle Summer 2007: A Journal of My Trip Mon June 27, 2007 One thing I don’t like about traveling is the transportation to get to the place. First we had to take a 2 hour bus to Montreal, then we took a 6 hour plane to France. I barely slept on the plane, it’s too uncomfy. We got a day room at a hotel and we slept for four hours, then we took a plane from Paris to the Seychelles that was ten hours long. It felt like it was never going to end. When we finally got there I felt so wired going through two time changes in two days! And I barely had any sleep. But tomorrow will definitely be more fun!! Tues June 26, 2007 Yesterday before going ... read more
How things have changed over the last ten days! The big event of course was the arrival of Guylaine, Jonathan and Michelle on June 25. They showed up at the airport early on Monday morning. As soon as Jonathan and Michelle saw me on the other side of customs, they ran out to see me, not realizing that they had left Guylaine to clear all their bags through customs for them. Peter had graciously offered to drive us, and so we bundled everything into his car and went home to the Bishop’s house where we would stay for the next week. It was a busy week for me as I tried to juggle my work with making sure my family was fed and entertained in a town that had no beach. Luckily there’s also been ... read more
The beach at Anse Royale
It’s been two weeks since I wrote an entry for this blog, and tomorrow will be six weeks since I left Canada. I have an excuse for the absence of blogs - too much non-blog writing over the past two weeks. Four sermons, two lectures, and a letter for the Anglican Church people back home - it’s almost like being back at school. I’ve moved from the mountains in La Misere back to the town of Victoria. I’m happy to be back. The mountains were cooler, but where I was living was very isolated, and I was getting tired of taking the bus back and forth to town, often standing because the buses are packed during peak hours. The old college at La Misere is great for a retreat because it’s so quiet, but after ... read more
View from La Misere
It’s moving week for me here. Last Sunday I preached at the main service at the Cathedral, and the service was also broadcast on the radio by the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). I happened to use a coconut as one of my illustrations during the homily. Throughout this week people who were there or who listened on the radio have been coming up to tell me that they liked the coconut. Note to self: people are much more likely to remember the image you use than the words you say! On Monday, Bishop Santosh got back from his travels. There were two immediate impacts on me. The first was that all planning that had been done became tentative and to be confirmed by the Bishop. The second was that I had to move! I’ve been ... read more
The view from the top of Morne Blanc
Finally, a full day off. I decided to take advantage of it by heading up into the mountains. Mahe Island is a granite formation, unlike most oceanic islands which are coral formations. As a result, there are mountains which rise up over 900 metres above sea level. Mostly they are covered by a thick mountain forest, but some places reveal steep granite cliff faces. I caught a bus up the Sans Soucis road which goes across the highest part of the island. The road consists of steep narrow switchbacks, and I tried to avoid thinking about what would happen if the brakes on the bus ever failed. First stop was a place called Mission. Mission or Venn’s Town as it used to be called is the ruins of a school which was established in the ... read more
The firefighters and their new rapid response vehicle
url='/Videos/3440.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3440.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;' Revival It’s been almost two weeks since I arrived in the Seychelles, and I’m sure some of you are wondering to yourselves, “is Mark actually doing anything while he’s there?” So to reassure you that I’m keeping busy, here are few days in my life in the Seychelles. On Friday, which normally is supposed to be my day off, Christine and I went to the airport to celebrate a service with the firefighters to kick off their celebration of International Firefighters Day. Christine had prepared a wonderful liturgy with prayers and blessings specially selected for firefighters. There were about 60 people who attended, both firefighters and others from the airport supporting them. You could tell that the blessing was well appreciated by those attending, and many commented after... read more
Natural Hazards
One of the remarkable things about the Seychelles is the diversity and uniqueness of the flora and fauna. There are a huge number of plant and animal species that are found only in these islands. It is in this way a lot like the Galapagos Islands, those remote islands in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru which were the inspiration for Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. It could easily have been the Seychelles that served as the catalyst for Darwin’s theories. On these 100 plus islands are found flightless birds, bug eating plants, the mythical Coco de Mer palm tree and giant Aldabra land tortoises which can weigh up to 150 kg and live for up to 200 years. Before the arrival of humans, the Seychelles was an archipelago dominated by reptiles, birds ... read more
Jonathan, today's guest blogger
Jonathan, my 13 year old son, chose the Seychelles for his recent school project. Here's his introduction to this amazing country: The Indian Ocean dominates the Seychelles whether we are talking about the immense drops in depth off the coast of the islands or merely the size of what seem to be little specks of islands compared to the big blue bed of water extending for thousands of miles. Very few people know about the Seychelles islands. I was among those people who had no particular idea where or even what was the Seychelles until a couple months ago when my dad announced that there would be a possibility of us going to live there for the summer to come. It was part of a student internship in Theology, as he hoped to later on ... read more
