Tag: Notes from the Field
Helping Afghan women find their place in civil society
She was a small woman in an exquisitely embroidered Afghan jacket — but her message was powerful. When physician and activist Sima Samar came to Ottawa in 2010 to speak at the annual general meeting of the Canadian Federation of University Women, she made a lasting impression. The chairwoman of the Afghan Independent Humans Rights […]
Canadian lawyers go to court for human rights
Many Canadians cling to Canada’s past international reputation as a broker of peace, as an important middle power and as a protector of human rights. These sentiments stem from as far back as the 1950s, when then foreign minister Lester Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize for defusing the Suez Crisis. Yet we also have […]
Canadians confront a global issue
By Liz Ballantyne-Jackson It’s a little known problem in the west, but exposure to smoke from cooking fires kills approximately two million people worldwide every year. Globally, nearly three billion people use polluting, inefficient stoves or open flames to cook their food. This results in deforestation, carbon emissions and numerous health issues. Breathing in the […]
Creating perfect smiles
Words that describe Canadian volunteers overseas — modest, polite, friendly, empathetic, inclusive, thoughtful, but most of all good friends and partners. These were the words that inspired Kimit Rai to found Canadian-led surgical group Operation Rainbow Canada (ORC) in 1998. The mandate of ORC is to provide free cleft lip and palate surgery to impoverished […]
Changing lives in Lesotho
Lesotho persistently has the world’s third highest rate of AIDS, decimating the population’s social and economic structures. Imagine the loss of productivity. This tiny land-locked mountain kingdom, entirely surrounded by South Africa, illustrates the development challenges of the aftermath of such devastating death rates (23.6 percent of its people are infected) which include poverty, increasing […]
The world’s newest country needs help
The world’s newest nation, South Sudan, was born on July 9 to become the world’s 193rd country after its people nearly unanimously chose independence from the war-torn nation of Sudan. South Sudan’s population, mostly black, Christian and indigenous tribes people, has been at war — largely regarded as genocidal — with the mostly Muslim north […]
How a 50-cent donation has helped 10,000 children and built 26 classrooms in Nicaragua
It’s spring and the road to Monte Olivo in northwest Nicaragua is washed away with heavy rains. According to our director of operations, we cannot get through, even with 4X4s, to reach the construction site. Three members of the SchoolBOX construction team, stationed at the site, continue to advance with the four-classroom school building project. […]
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