Monday, October 14, 2013

Bissap and Plantain Chips at TED Fellows Retreat

This past August (2013), I was invited to attend the first ever TED Fellows Retreat, held in breath-taking Whistler, Canada. The "retreat" was so action packed it would have been better named TED Fellows Advance. Amazing talks, amazing networking, amazing gifts, amazing resources, amazing energy . . .

It was also the first reunion of the original 2007 Fellows group from TEDGlobal: Africa: the next chapter We were disappointed that the Canadian government denied visas to some of the African Fellows, but it was still wonderfully encouraging to catch up on what's been happening the past 7 years all over the continent and beyond.

One activity during break times was an "international tea party," featuring teas the Fellows brought from around the world. I carried along some S. African rooibos teabags my Ghana-based architect son DK (2010 TED Global Fellow) brought me from Cape Town and gave me when I was in Ghana in July (Incidentally, I think we're the only parent-child Fellows in TED!) Plus, I cooked up some fried plantain chips to carry along. The first evening at the retreat I brewed some bissap (hibiscus iced tea) to chill and serve with the chips to my fabulously talented and amazing fellow Fellows. Very grateful to Emeka Okafor of Timbuktu Chronicles, Tom Rielly, and all the other members of the TED Fellows team who made this renewing experience possible. My next post will share the progress on my dream and the mountains I'm planning on moving (the theme of the retreat), with your help.