Another year comes to an end, but what a year!

Indeed, this has been quite a year, with good and bad, for the world, for the USA, for mondofragilis group and for our public interest clients and partners. During 2008, a milestone was reached in the United States. Indeed, a non-white President has been elected. In addition, I believe most of us would agree, that he seems to be one of the brightest Presidents the US has seen in decades.

For the world, this has not been a great year. The economic crisis is now becoming obvious to all but the most disconnected and even they, I think, will soon know. This is an unprecedented socio-economic event. Our only hope is, evidently, that we manage to get out of it before it become truly cataclysmic. The world has also seen some climate change milestones, pandemics are being re-examined and refugees are unfortunately still in the headlines. Indeed, our world has not had a great 2008.

For mondofragilis group, it's been, we admit, a great year. We have grown, consolidated, made new friends, brought in new clients, offered more services and otherwise made good on our promise to improve our service and quality. This said, much remains to be done. We did make some mistakes this year. Most were minor, a couple were not and we need to change this if we want to remain at the top of the media and communications ladder. One of our major changes will come early in 2009 when we hire our new flow control manager. This person will be responsible for controlling all that comes into the system, how we manage it while it's there and how we follow up once it's out. We have not yet found this pearl but we are definitely looking.

For our clients, it's been an okay year. Most are doing well on the operations side though we do know that some funding issues are becoming evident. One of our clients, for instance, is having a very difficult time being paid by one of its donors. And now, with the Madoff scandal, I'm guessing that others will also be affected. I do know that one of our own donor / partners was affected.

2008 was also the year when we produced Cancer is... This has been quite an adventure and we thank all our partners and friends for their efforts. I hope that during 2009, millions will see the films worldwide.

That's all for now. As you can see from the date, today is Christmas day and I have a family that is looking forward to opening their gifts. With these words I leave you all and wish you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday season and, if I don't blog before the 31st, a wonderful new year. Don't drink and drive, by the way, and don't forget to use a condom! There, I said it.

I believe that humanity, despite our countless attempts at exterminating humankind and all that surrounds us, has managed to stick together using some kind of invisible glue. There is a glue that bonds us, whether poor or rich, Asian or African, able or not. Unfortunately, it shows itself most when we are at our worst. it brings us together in times of grief, sorrow or pain. But ultimately, it does not stick very well. It comes undone as we prosper again. The ugly face of greed, individual success and exclusion all come back as we become strong again. We suddenly have no more time for our fellow citizens, staff or friends. Often, we even exclude our own families. We simply become wrapped up in what progress has afforded us. We worry about the nice vacation, the new clothes, the better car and the bigger home, or homes for many who believe they can live in many of them at once.

I think we need a new type of glue. Without it, the current economic crisis will take longer to resolve itself and then it will likely be senselessly forgotten again. We will go back to a formula of excess and waste. Do I have an idea? Actually I do. I won't write about it quite yet, but I do have an idea on how we can grow beyond this current vicious cycle of greed and collapse. I do think there is a way for all of us to be more supportive of one another and to prosper intelligently without taking from others to the point of leaving them with nothing or harming the environment to a point of no return.

My challenge to you is to think through your own solution before I share mine. How do we accelerate the recovery and ensure its sustainability once there? For those of you who may have read the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, you may see where I am going with this. This multiple book, science fiction series was brilliant. It basically told the story of a gallactic empire in decline and of the efforts of one man, Hari Seldon, to shorten the anticipated 1000-year darkness. Maybe we too can find a new social order or a new economic model that keeps us in modern times — no reason to go back to cold showers — but allows us to aim for equilibrium rather than growth all the time. More to come...

By now we all know that the global economy is in a stalled tailspin. That's what happens when you fly at 30,000 feet without looking at the fuel gauge. Millions worldwide are losing their savings, homes, retirement funds and jobs. As we sit here and point fingers, others are about to suffer too. The sad thing is that they are not the ones with the multi million dollar homes, fast cars and yachts. They are the disposessed of lower resource countries. The dwellers of Rio's favelas and Nairobi's Kibera are soon going to get hit as international aid dries up and their own governments are unable to provide the meager assistance they may have been providing to date.

Indeed, there is every chance that the international public interest community will be hard hit by this crisis. I cannot imagine governments and companies not scaling back their financial support of global institutions such as the United Nations or large civil society organizations. In weeks to come I'll be keeping my eyes and ears open to see if there is any sign of such a mutiny but it sure smells bad for now.

The follow up question is: if the international community gets hit, will all get hit the same? Will WHO see its budget tightened? How about FAO or WMO? How about donations to your national Red Cross? Worse, will food banks and blood banks dry up? It may seem like a far stretch but such things could happen. Actually, on second thought, the blood banks will likely benefit as people who need money decide to barter blood for bucks. But will there by any bucks to pay them with?

It's been about three weeks since I last posted. Since then, quite a bit has happened. We made it back from our round the world trip safely. This said, our transit through Lagos was not the easiest. In fact, there is no 'transit' per se in Lagos. They make you go through the full arrival procedure and then check you back in. If your transit time is long... have fun. We had a fifteen hour layover. Ultimately, it all worked out and we flew on to Madrid and back to Geneva.

After a quick three day hugfest with our families, it was off to Barcelona and Atlanta. Here again, the surprises kept coming. Here's what happened. I decided to leave Gilles back in Annecy to get moving on other aspects of the project and to take Caroline with me. Her passport was not valid for the US. So she got an emergency passport made which was supposed to be acceptable. To cut a very long story shot, when we got to the airport in Barcelona, we were flying KLM from there to Atlanta, KLM told us she could not get on the flight. This happened literally as the check in counter was closing. So we had to make a crazy decision... I would fly on to Atlanta alone. Not great when I was flying there for an important interview with John Seffrin, CEO of the American Cancer Society.

Fortunately it did work out. The interview turned out to be one of the best of the trip. So was the Barcelona interview with Dr. Baselga. Both men were brilliant and warranted the extra trip.

Since then, for the past two weeks, I have been editing away. The rushes are great but there is so much footage. It's really a race against the clock now. Add to this crushing feeling an additional trip that I have decided to take to India. As most of you will recall, India had to be omitted from the previous round the world tour. I am not one to be defeated this easily and after meeting and filming Dr. Ketayun Dinshaw, Director of the Tata Memorial Center, I am convinced I must go. So June 23rd I will be in Mumbai.

Just so you don't think I'm sitting around doing nothing, tonight we drive up to Paris to interview a well-known French politician, P. Douste-Blazy. We'll be asking him about cancer in France as well as the new Canceropole they are building in Toulouse; he is also the mayor of Toulouse.

Hope you are enjoying this blog and, please, if you are, take the time to register on the site and leave a quick comment. Thanks.

We are almost finished the round the world journey. We're currently in the Lagos airport waiting for an evening flight back to Europe. If all goes well, we will be with our loved ones tomorrow at noon. Then it's a three day break and I'm off again to Barcelona to film Dr. Baselga and then to Atlanta to film Dr. Seffrin. Almost finished. Another couple of weeks and then it's time to edit!

A whole week has gone by since our last travel blog and it feels like we've done one month's worth of travelling! Since our last blog we have traveled to Bangkok via Hong Kong, on to Johannesburg, then to Tanzania and today we move on to Nairobi.

Let's start with Bangkok. The heat was up to its reputation. I loved the impact on our crew. Being from the Alps and northern Europe, they were not used to that heavy, humid temperature. This said, they ultimately learned to enjoy it. Admittedly, in the incredibly beautiful hotel we stated at, it was not very difficult.

The Bangkok visit had one main purpose, to visit the National Cancer Center. The visit was very worthwhile. We got the full facility tour and were able to engage in a very complete interview with its Director. I was most impressed by the faith component of the center. Buddhism was ever present and seemed to be most appreciated. Faith was only out shined by the presence of the revered King of Thailand. He too was a calming presence for people who have to endure the stress and pain of this disease.

Before leaving Bangkok, a quick side trip to the famous floating market. But this was not a tourist jaunt for us. As you will see in the film, the market will be featured in some of the background sequences to illustrate the lifestyle argument.

Now getting out of Bangkok was no easy task. Because we could not go to India - filming permit problems courtesy of the Indian consulate in Paris - we had to reroute. But rerouting out of Bangkok on a Saturday when you have a round the world ticket issued by Iberia via American Express in Paris is about as easy as getting your kids out of the house for school in time and with a full breakfast. No kidding, it was a nightmare. I spent three full hours standing by the Cathay Pacific counter. Ultimately, and this is the killer, it turned out to be very easy but it just required getting the agent to 'understand' how to go about the switch. And, believe me, I am cutting the story short.

So off we were from Bangkok, via Hong Kong to Johannesburg. Did I mention that it was a 20 hour journey in two fully crowded aircraft? Unfortunately our Johannesburg stay was way too short. We had planned on three interviews and had to cancel two and only have one. It was a great interview, but I always regret having to cancel the others. I hope to make it up to them as well because, obviously, it's also a disappointment to the interviewee.

As I write, we are now in Tanzania. Got here the day before yesterday. After a tough customs passage - Tanzania does not adhere to the Carnet ATA convention, so it makes it a little more complicated. You basically have to 'talk' your way into the country with all the gear. Fortunately, we found our driver Sham and off we went into the city.

Here we interviewed Dr. Twalib Ngoma. Great interview at the Ocean Roads Cancer Institute. Our Tanzanian footage will definitely add several important elements to the film.

Now it's on to Nairobi for a wind down of the round the world leg. I still have a couple of trips to finish (back to Atlanta, new visit to Barcelona, Bellinzona and final filming in Geneva and Lyon). So I look forward to this little layover in Nairobi where we will, again, have the privilege of staying in a very nice place. That's it for now, off I go to breakfast...

We are leaving Singapore but not without thanking the very efficient team at the Singapore National Cancer Center. First thanks go to Carol and Adeline for organising our stay. A special thanks to Adeline for taking such good care of us all day. I hope that your karaoke evening went well! As for Professor Soo, thanks for a great interview; yours and your team's. We feel we leave Singapore with as much material as we collected in Peru. We feel that, added to our USA and European footage, along with Australia and other countries visited, we are starting to get a balanced view of cancer worldwide.

We now look forward to our days in Bangkok. We have yet to confirm our interviews but, in all cases, it will be a valuable stopover inasmuch as we will use the time to get some stunning background footage. Actually, I'm getting to the point of wanting to get the filming done and to hit the editing. There's so much footage to sift through and put together! But, alas, that time is not yet here. Another 30 days to go before we wrap up our filming.

A big hug to all our fans! I know that quite a few of you have been following our exploits and I thank you for your interest. But don't be shy. Feel free to post comments directly on the site under each blog or gallery image. You need only register to post.

That's it for Tokyo. We leave for Singapore tomorrow. It was quick but useful. Our interview with Dr. Hirohashi went better than expected. As for the National Cancer Center; quite an impressive facility. It is modern, equipped, staffed and apparently funded.

Tokyo was also useful for many lifestyle shots including smoking, eating and stress.

On a personal note, it was very frustrating finding restaurant where I could explain that I was a vegan. I really should have learned how to say "vegan" in Japanese! I did, ultimately, find joy. I found a great stand up sushi bar that served delicious vegetable maki.

As for transportation. It is the most efficient and cleanest public transport systems I have ever seen. This said, the train and subway map is daunting and yet I found five people who know all the stops by heart!

We leave Sydney with a desire to come back soon. What a city. Clean, dynamic, beautiful, diverse, monumental and the words could keep coming. I must say, Sydney surprised me. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it was that and more.

Professionally, it was a successful trip. Our interviews went very well. The first one with Dr. Penman, CEO of the Cancer Council of New South Wales was a great picture exchange. He was able to give us both a New South Wales and Australian perspective. I think, admittedly, that the highlight was Dr. Heinrich's role playing operation. Basically, as you will see in the film, he and his team put together role playing to improve medical practioners' communications skills. Talking with Dr. Stretch was also very informative. He told us all about melanoma, the most common type of cancer in adult Australian males.

We were also pleased with our mid-point stand up which we filmed in front of the Sydney Opera House.

Now it's on to Tokyo to interview Prof. Hirohashi the President of the National Cancer Center.

Our Atlanta trip was very focussed: an interview with Dr. Otis Brawley. That's enough. His vision of cancer was so sweeping and, frankly, he shed light on an aspect of cancer which, until now, was too far below my radar screen: disparity. I discovered how disparity has a direct impact on cancer. He gave me a great story of a poor woman who was unwilling to continue her treatment. Among the reasons she gave was that her treatment was at the same time each day and that she was afraid that if she left the house every day at the same time, burglars would seize the opportunity and burglarize her home. How sad.

A major thank you to Rennie Sloan for her passionate work on this project. Thanks to you and the entire ACS international and communications teams for your enthusiasm.

A quick thank you to the ACS studio staff, especially Peter Carlin and his boss Becky. Thanks to all for the use of the studio.

We will be back in Atlanta in late May to film Dr. Seffrin. I also want to visit the Carter Center and the Aquarium. Both look like very worthwhile and educational side trips.

From Atlanta, it's now on to Sydney via Dallas and Los Angeles; a mere 24-hour journey with three nice opportunities to have our luggage lost or dropped off the airplane by oh so gentle luggage handlers.