User:Grant McKenna

Grant Michael McKenna was born on the 28th August, 1964; he claims that this statement is hearsay which is indicative of the nature of his humour.

He grew up and was schooled in a white English-speaking community - Westville, KwaZulu-Natal, in circumstances of comparative advantage during the apartheid era. His schooling at Westville Boys' High School was marked by his inability to play any organised sports and indifferent attempts at amateur dramatics; he was more successful in debating.

After a period reading theology at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg he went into the SADF as a conscript in 1986 and served through 1988, seeing combat in Namibia and Angola. In 1989 he refused further military service as did several hundred others; charges were dropped when President F.W. de Klerk came to power. Grant returned to military service as a volunteer in the new South Africa.

Grant then worked in the eThekwini's Municipal Libraries before being elected a full-time trade union representative of SAMWU, after which term he worked in eThekwini's museums. Subsequent to a financial inducement being created to rearrange the demographics of eThekwini's municipal employees Grant resigned and emigrated to New Zealand, his experiences in the African National Congress having led him to believe that the prospects for the Rule of Law were rapidly diminishing.

Grant works with people suffering pervasive developmental disorders and read history at the University of Otago.

Personal Interests
Grant is an avid player of wargames, most notably The Sword and The Flame and Warhammer 40,000. Grant has non-pathological delusions that he is an historian, and has a special interest in the history of colonialism and decolonisation, as well as contemporary Africa. Grant tends to be pedantic about spelling and grammar. Grant has a wife and two children, and is an active member of the Anglican church.