Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

[RC] Vibes and prayers needed...endurance in the largest sense of the word - Maryanne Gabbani

One of the joys of living where I do is meeting some pretty amazing people from other parts of the world. Fridjov Thorkildsen is one of these people. He is a Norwegian diplomat who I first met when he was assigned to the embassy here in Cairo. Fridjov (pronounced Freedjhof) was deathly afraid of horses but decided that he really wanted to learn to ride anyway. He got in touch with one of my neighbours here in the countryside, Pal Thoreson, another Norwegian whose wife was the Norwegian ambassador to Egypt at the time though now she's the ambassador in Ethiopia. Pal and Mette plan to retire here in Egypt and he has a lovely small farm about the same size as mine just down the road from me. Pal taught Fridjov to ride with Pal's crazy horses and Fridjov became as much of a regular on our weekend rides in the desert as his schedule allowed between his work and commuting to Norway where his wife held an executive position in her work.

About the same time that Mette was reassigned to Ethiopia, Fridjov got a new assignment too. He found himself bouncing from Nairobi to Khartoum to Juba to Darfour to Europe as a senior member of the mission to try to negotiate a peace treaty in the Sudanese civil war that has lasted probably more than thirty years and caused misery for many thousands of Sudanese from both the north and the south. Whenever possible, he tried to work in a stopover in Cairo and would pop up at Pal's place to join us in our rides. On those days when we were blessed with Fridjov's wonderful smile and quiet humour for our rides, there would usually be an after ride breakfast at Pal's place and Fridjov would bring me up to date on the status of negotiations for peace in Sudan. Half of my late husband's family is Sudanese (to be honest, they are the half that I really like) and the welfare of Sudan has been something very dear to us always.

Very recently Fridjov was given a promotion within the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his work in Sudan and went home for a break and a checkup because he wasn't feeling so great. As he joked last night over dinner at our house, now he was an "Excellency" but sometimes he only felt like a "Moderate Adequacy". For good reason. They discovered that he has a rare malignancy in his colon, for which he has now had three surgeries over the past few months and he is undergoing an experimental chemotherapy. Despite all of this, he was happy to report that his sick leave would be up in two weeks when he would be heading back to Khartoum to resume his work with his wife Bjorg who decided that her job was not as important as being with Fridjov. And this morning he joined us for our morning ride and experienced his first fall from a horse when the thick sheepskin pad Pal had loaned him to cushion his much-abused backside slid off the saddle.

This man is a wonder. I have rarely met such a soul of humour, good will, kindness and love for others as Fridjov. I would ask everyone to send him all the strength and love and prayers that you can. The world really needs people like Fridjov. Riding with him this morning I was astonished when he took off at a gallop up a hill after Pal. He's determined to live every second of his life to the fullest. I was truly humbled, and very selfishly do not want to lose this marvelous friend.


Maryanne Cairo

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=