Chris Smith: Africa doesn’t seem so far away to these retired cops and to Austin

Sonoma County native Austin Meyers walked Zambia in search of a story. And found one.

Austin, a 2010 graduate of Santa Rosa's Maria Carrillo High, went to southern Africa to make videos through an explorer's grant from National Geographic.

During a lull, he took his camera for a stroll in the capital city of Lusaka and found David Miti, a carpenter and former taxi driver who lost both legs above the knees to gangrene.

Miti told Austin that after the amputations he wanted to die. Then he discovered disabled children immobilized for the lack of crutches or braces or other adaptive.

Today, Miti is back to working, back to living. He told Austin, “Life can change any time and you have to accept it the way it comes to you.”

Austin's 6½-minute video, “The Carpenter,” has been published online by The Atlantic.

It's also at: theatlantic.com/video/index/565103/the-carpenter/

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ALSO AFRICA-RELATED: They were Sonoma County police officers for a lot of years and now Pat Parks and Jerry Lites are pastors and leaders of a small, ambitious mission to feed and educate children in some of the poorest areas of Africa.

To raise dollars for their Hope Milele Project, they're hosting a donation-only pasta dinner Friday, July 27, at Petaluma Valley Baptist Church on east Petaluma's Sonoma Mountain Parkway.

Parks retired as the police chief of Petaluma and Lites was a lieutenant with the Sebastopol Police Department. They're eager to respond to questions or dinner RSVP's sent to hopemileleafrica@gmail.com.

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Elvin Bishop, who's immortalized in both the Rock and Roll and the Blues halls of fame and whose biggest hit was “Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” will serenade this year's Monte Rio Variety Show.

A sweet slice of lower Russian River tradition for 107 years, the show happens July 26 at the tree-lined, star-roofed amphitheater in the heart of Monte Rio.

Each year's talent line-up is mostly a surprise, but the show's benefactors and local organizers reveal that among Bishop's co-stars are Peter Sagal, host of NPR's weekly quiz show, “Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me,” and country singer Kix Brooks, formerly of the high-flying Brooks & Dunn.

Each year during the nearby Bohemian Grove Midsummer Encampment, nationally known musicians and comics and others visit Monte Rio for a show that raises dollars for the Monte Rio School Foundation, St. Catherine's Church and the Monte Rio Fire Services Foundation.

There's more at monterioshow.org.

Monte Rio firefighters grill chicken, Monte Rio school kids sell baked goods and a happy crowd sits in low-rise beach chairs and marvels at what radiates from the stage.

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Piner High School's Class of ‘68 is approaching its 50-year reunion.

It's set for the weekend of Oct. 12-14. The alums will watch the Prospectors' football team take on Montgomery under the new lights at Underhill Field, take a walking tour of the campus and party down at Legends at the Bennett Valley golf course.

If you were in that class and the reunion is news to you, shoot an email to 1968PinerReunion@gmail.com.

Chris Smith is at 707 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.