Manya Kellou

Except for the stream from which they got their drinking water, the first body of water Manya ever saw was the Mediterranean Sea, as her family left war-torn Algeria to join her father in France. It was the first time out of her country of birth, and the first time she’d ever seen anything as large as the ship they travelled on.

Since then, she’s visited much of the world, from the awe-inspiring Grand Canyon to the splendor of the Serengeti. Along the way she’s witnessed snow in Phoenix, a massive thunderstorm in New Orleans (the likes of which she’d never seen before or since), and floods in Venice in the late 80’s. Once, while walking in the pouring rain in Grenada Spain, she bumped into her nextdoor neighbour – and she had no idea they were travelling in the same country!

Manya loves reading, mostly novels from French or Canadian authors, and it’s her favourite way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The list of people she would have most loved to meet include Dr. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Josephine Baker. Her childhood dream career was to be a flight attendant, and now her retirement goal is to spend three months a year on the French Riviera!