CFLSA

For a typical armchair tourist, flipping through a travel magazine or watching a documentary is as close as they'll get to experience some of the most exotic places on our planet. Having abandoned his armchair long ago, Dennis Shigematsu isn't satisfied to just read about those places; he's compelled to experience every corner of the globe, and travels every year to a new locale no matter the distance or danger involved. What he brings back is a perspective of society one can only find from the bottom of a hollowed out canoe on the Niger River, or along an abandoned jungle road.

Featured as the after dinner speaker for the 45th Annual Dinner on September 21, Dennis will share the sto-ries of his travels as an adventurer, photographer and citizen of the world. Recounting the relationships he's made, the communities he's visited and the adventures he's had, Dennis hopes to impart his understandings of the world to the friends of the Community Foundation.

"My father and I would look at National Geographic magazines when I was young and it was his dream to visit some of the places we read about. After he passed away in 1995, I began to understand my own mortality and was inspired to travel and explore some of the places which, to the both of us, had seemed so far away," recounts Dennis.

His first trip was to Machu Picchu in the mountains of Peru, and it was from that perspective, at the top of the ruins of an ancient civilization, from which Dennis never looked back. His expeditions have taken him from Chile to Nepal, from Zimbabwe to Cambodia; he's explored almost every corner of India and broken bread with tribesmen and villagers in Morocco, Botswana, and Ethiopia.

"I experience a real sense of community wherever I go, no matter how remote it may be," Dennis says. "I see families working together everyday in fields and in the markets, and they all go home together as a unit. The people have always been so kind and generous to me, despite that they often have nothing."

It's his perspectives, visiting with villagers and taking the roads less travelled, which has made Dennis an ex-traordinary tourist.

"I meet with the people and see the deprivation, the lack of opportunities or the absence of social services. Many communities are doing what they can to take care of each other with what little resources they have. I have a different point of view when I return home to my job as Manager of the County of Lethbridge: I have a renewed outlook on what we have at home and how it compares to the rest of the world."

A compelling and engaging presentation, Dennis' travelogue inspires deeper communication and debate.

"Society is defined by how it treats and takes care of the underprivileged," he adds. "I see the valuable work the Community Foundation does and how it's changed lives in Southwestern Alberta. I'm honoured to share and celebrate the work the Community Foundation has been providing at the Annual Dinner on September 21."

Please join us to celebrate the 45th anniversary with a special presentation by Dennis Shigematsu that will highlight the accomplishments of the Foundation in strengthening our communities.