World Accord Enters Haiti!
After years of absence, World Accord once again is able to begin a project in Haiti with the help of the World Hunger Fund of the Community of Christ church. Albert Cineus, a former Haitian now from Montreal, will help direct the project as he speaks the language, knows and understands the culture and is better equipped to bring success.
Haiti was the first country Executive Director Terry Fielder visited when he first accepted the position with World Accord nearly 25 years ago, so he is eager to return full circle and try once again to help the very poorest help themselves.
The Haiti project will start small, but if successful could grow significantly.
Thank you to all who have consistently asked "What about Haiti?" and who will support us in this endeavor!
Richness of Spirit
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in seeing with new eyes.-Marcel Proust, Writer (1871-1922)
Al Wigood spends a good part of each year in La Buena Fe and works in 28 communities where the level of poverty is high and many people make under a $1 day. Yet, he has living proof that being rich in spirit can affect your life more than being rich in capital.
There is one particular family, with no source of income, whom Al visits frequently. The family is a single mother and five children who are subsistence farmers and grow their own food. One son, aged 13 years, declined the opportunity to attend secondary school because of his responsibility to support his mother, grandmother and his siblings.
Yet, despite sacrifices like this, Al says when he visits the family they are “full of smiles, good spirit and will never let him leave without a gift of bananas, oranges or something to share”. The son does his farming without complaining and the rest of the family works to make ends meet as well.
Al attributes this special spirit as the motivation for Dianna, one of the eldest, to hold a dream of becoming a nurse when she graduates secondary school. Dianna has just recently finished her first year of school, with the help of funds from PRR Education program. Funds raised by Al himself, and by the generous contributions of 350 Canadian donors to the PRR Education program make it possible for students like Dianna to fulfill her dreams.
Diana says, "We're not poor, we just don’t have any money". May we all see the world with such a positive spirit as Dianna and her family!
Dania - a Honduran Success Story
Life in Honduras is never easy, and young Dania is no stranger to life’s challenges. The story of Dania and her connection to Programa Reconstruccion Rurale (PRR) began over 10 years ago, while a Canadian Construction Expedition team was building a school near La Buena Fe, Honduras. Al Wigood remembers thinking he and the construction volunteers from Canada were working quite hard carrying blocks one at a time to the site. He smiles as he recalls noticing a 6 year old girl carrying two blocks at a time! Even more impressive, this little girl only had one arm. But he quickly saw that a missing right arm did not slow her down. This determined girl carried one block in her full limb and strategically balanced the other in her shorter right arm. This image resonates with Al to this day; he knows it represents Dania’s tenacity continuously demonstrated over the past 10 years.
The bright, young Dania graduated from primary school with the highest marks in her class. With a little support of financial resources through PRR’s Education Fund, Dania was able to develop her talents and capabilities further. PRR’s Education program supports students who wish to continue secondary school, since secondary school is funded by governments in some communities, but not in all. The PRR program offers students who achieve an 80% average in primary school an opportunity to go to secondary school. This is the Education Scholarship Program.
Dania pursued higher education, sponsored by a Canadian family through World Accord. Recently, Al had the pleasure of attending Dania’s secondary school graduation where she achieved an 87% average.
What next for Dania? Dania initially wanted to pursue a career as a lawyer, but quickly learned that many of her peers had a similar goal. Seeing opportunity and demand, this pioneering spirit instead researched careers in environmental conservation and forestry. She told Al “I will never run out of work!”, as environmental issues such as reforestation, sewage treatment and conservation plague Honduras. Dania will commence studies in January 2007.
Up until now, education to Dania has been a gift. Now, for university, the PRR Education program becomes an interest free student loan. Paying back the program contributes to the sustainability to afford future student loans. Dania will be the program’s first university student! The program started 6 years ago and has grown to its current size of 66 secondary students. Dania is truly a pioneer and an inspiration!
World Accord believes in fostering development and the resulting social transformation takes time. Dania exemplifies the benefit of long term relationships between overseas partners. Dania has been able to access opportunities through PRR that have affected her life choices. In return, World Accord is reminded that focusing on human abilities and not our disabilities allows individuals to see their true potential. Dania has met life’s challenges head on and reminds us of the power of personal spirit and believing in yourself. Best of Luck to Dania!
Al Wigoods Social Transformation Adventure
"I used to build floors and walls (as part of development process), but I’m now convinced if we educate (local communities) they can do development themselves." Al says he sees the results of access to education and creating social organization as changing the social landscape of the rural Honduran communities he lives and works amongst. People who were too timid to say 'Hi' to him when passing in the road are becoming confident community leaders.
He tells a story about how when he first started working in rural Honduras 18 years ago, women’s voices fell silent. Now at the program’s civil meetings, women not only attend but speak up to influence the future of their community. Al says things are “changing, and changing fast”. Programa Reconstruccion Rurale increases the participation and power of women within their communities by offering workshops on women’s rights, fostering women’s committees, and training for women on income generation and business administration for enterprise development. This complements the program strategy as addressing itself to men and women.
Al's Excellent Adventures - Library Dedication
Al Wigood sees first hand how educational opportunities positively impact the 28 rural Honduran communities where he and Programa Reconstruccion Rural (PRR) operate. Al manages an Education fund called “Families for Families”, where donations from Canadian families help run vocational education programs and small animal production for individuals and families that would not otherwise have such opportunities. The Honduran-based program collaborates with World Accord partners in other Central American countries to expand their reach.
Recently, Al was involved with the construction of a library in the small community of La Libertad, El Salvador. This community, like so many others in rural Central America, succumbs to the government law that children can attend school on the condition that they have a uniform and 2 pairs of shoes. Many families have difficulty affording these luxuries. Libraries can serve as a substitute for government education by allowing families free access to reading material and basic education classes for children.
Fulfilling a construction project with World Accord’s El Salvadorian partner, Asociacion de Desarrollo Communal Ambiental y Servicios Multiples de El Salvador (ADCASMUS), signifies the progressively developing interrelationships between World Accord’s Central American partners. It also illustrates the importance of education in World Accord programs.
Education is a principle component in World Accord’s programming, seen as an effective method of bringing long term change. Developing knowledge and skills for community participants enables people to better provide for themselves and for their families. It also affords new opportunities and choices for the future of their families. This is the way to social transformation.
The opening of La Libertad’s library follows the success of a previous built in Valle Dorado. ADCASMUS aspires to open branches in several other needy communities and to then rotate the book collection amongst them. With reading material donated by Al’s “Families for Families” program, and library construction fulfilled by community members, the program is sustainable and manageable. The future looks bright!
A World Class Volunteer
Al Wigood is literally a
world-class volunteer. He has a long-standing commitment at the World Accord office in Waterloo and plays a significant role with our Central American partners in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. He annually travels to Honduras to assist and supervise World Accord’s Construction Expeditions, and lives there for nearly half of every year. Al’s dedication to the Central American rural communities he lives and works with has grown into personally managing an education fund, innovating a circulating loan concept in community libraries and encouraging social organization and women’s empowerment.
This past September to December 2006, Al once again ventured down to La Buena Fe, Honduras to prepare, manage and evaluate a World Accord Construction Expedition. He helps select the construction site, confirms food and lodging for the volunteers, and orders the necessary building materials. Al greets the volunteers at the airport and guides them to the Honduran program area. In addition, he maintains his education fund called "Families for Families" by assisting in identifying student financial needs and then offering scholarships.
When he returned to Waterloo this December, he shared his stories from the field with the staff at World Accord. World Accord will be highlighting special stories from Al’s Latest Honduran Travels in several blog posts. Stay tuned for heart-warming stories of how Al and the Canadian Expeditions are working with local communities in Central America to make a world of difference!
World Accord
