Frans Duminy

My career has been based on being a doctor, a surgeon and a Plastic, Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgeon.

This website has NOTHING to do with my career, it has much more bearing on all the other parts of my life.

I am a husband, a father and a grandfather, a photographer, a scientist, a nature lover, an artist, a sculptor, a teacher, a ceramicist,  a filmmaker, a carpenter, a cook, a drone pilot, a clay-target shooter, a handyman, a traveller, a keen camper and a lifelong student.

When one gets to 70, one has accumulated quite a lot of life-data. There are many things to look back on and such a collection of facts, experiences, skills, joys and pains gives one a basis for much to look forward to. It is only by learning many things, that one can begin to understand how much fascinating knowledge there still is, waiting out there.

My family started in South Africa when François Renier Duminy, a Captain in the French East India fleet and later in the Dutch East India Company (VOIC) settled in Cape Town in 1773. We have been here ever since. My immediate ancestors were all teachers. My Father was a brilliant Mathematics and Physics teacher, two of my grandparents, my aunt and two of my siblings are all teachers.

Today I derive great joy from teaching little skills to my grandchildren and I can honestly say that to me, seeing someone assimilate and own a piece of knowledge or a skill to which I have introduced them, is highly fulfilling.

Solving a practical problem is my lifeblood.

Since my boyhood, I was always going to be an Engineer. Having busied myself with Electronics in my school years I started my University career at the University of Cape Town in 1970 as a first year Electronic Engineering student. At the end of my second year and after some vacation jobs, I realised that I needed to use my hands more than engineering would give me the opportunities to do. Having explored much and having done much soul searching (today you would call it meditation or mindfulness), I changed direction to Medicine. I have no regrets. I could not think of a better career. I have enjoyed, and I still do enjoy going to work every day.  

I am interested in everything around me. From the biggest issues to the smallest insects.

My mission is to learn at least one new thing every day, but that would be of no use if one could not pass it on to someone else.

I feel that I have much to write, but this is not an autobiography, nor is it a Curriculum Vitae, It is simply an introduction to who I am and to what makes me tick.