Excerpt from Jack Allen Memorial
SHARING OUR ABUNDANCE OFFERINGS - Jack Allen
Sharing Our Abundance offerings for May honors a long time member of UCE, Jack Allen. Many of us remember Jack fondly as he made everyone feel so welcome at UCE. As well, when Jack died, he left a $10,000 life insurance gift to UCE. We really appreciate all the contributions Jack made to UCE and to Unitarianism and therefore, we will be honoring him by donating our charitable sharing of offerings for May to World Accord.
In 1961, Jack was led to the Unitarian church by his daughter, Judy. It was such a good fit with Jack's principles of justice and equity and interdependence. Judy brought him but Social Justice kept him here. He was part of the group in this church who supported with time and money, a hostel for the multitudes of hitchhikers criss-crossing the country. In the 60s the Native Friendship Centre became a focus for him and he encouraged other members of the church to offer hospitality and tutoring at the Centre. He and other Unitarians joined the protest against nuclear testing in Southern Alberta. He long supported the gay and lesbian community, marching in protest when Anita Bryant came to town in the 70s and most recently in the Gay Pride Parade last June in his friend's power wheelchair.
After 41 years he resigned his membership in this church but immediately joined the Westwood congregation where his partner, Elaine Roberts, was an active member. He became an active member of their Social Justice Committee and supported enthusiastically their projects in Nicaragua and Peru. Together, Jack and Elaine journeyed to Central America 5 times with World Accord, an organization whose development philosophy embraces the idea that "development is not a destination, but a journey". World Accord works with people, families and communities, helping create opportunities and choices that improve their well-being in ways consistent with their culture and value. Each time he went, he joyfully assisted a campesino family to build a home or the people of a village to build a school or community center. He was very sad in 2005 when he realized that his balance was so compromised that he was unsafe on the worksite and that it would be his last trip. He was 81.
A team of Jack's family and friends are going to Honduras in January 2009 to build a school in his honour. Contributions to World Accord, to the Jack Allen Memorial Fund are still being gratefully received. Further information about this is available from Elaine Roberts or from World Accord.
World Accord www.worldaccord.org
1C-185 Frobisher Dr. Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2V 2E6 1-800-525-3545
Hunger Awareness '08 in Ottawa
We just received a note from Erny Cowan of the Community of Christ in Ottawa regarding their Hunger Awareness event. Thanks Erny.
We had about 30 people attend, mostly families with young children. Our first activity was an hour of swimming at the local Dovercourt pool. Then there were some activities around building cooperatively, such as building a bridge out of straws and connectors and churches out of cardboard boxes and tubes. A short sing-a-long, let by Christine Pigeon, wrapped up the activities. Then we shared a meal of chili or rigatonni.
The event was organized by Barb Kernohan, with assistance from Steve Wozniac in the kitchen, and Dianne Galbraith and Connie Hicks keeping the kids busy.
AND they raised $290 in support of World Accord programs. This is a great example of having fun while learning and supporting a cause. Way to go everyone. Thank you all for putting on this wonderful event.
The staff of World Accord
Labels: awareness, event, fundraising, hunger
Dave Snell's Perspective
Terry thought it would be interesting to get Dave Snell's perspective particularly because he was one of the first to visit back in 1985. Here's what he has to say:
My first impression having arrived here at La Buena Fe is just how much all of the vegetation has grown up around all of the buildings because it was pretty open when I was here before. The houses weren’t there at the roadway. The village near La Buena Fe is much bigger and more prosperous. There are new schools and the hydro line had just gone up months before I was there. There is certainly a lot more traffic on the highway than what there was then.
Sunday, when we went out to Conception, the road was paved!! That was a real shock to go up there to a paved road. Henrique spoiled it all by bringing us back on the gravel road.
Certainly the level of poverty is not what it was on my first trip back in 1985. A lot more people are living in either Adobe or concrete houses. Most people were living in stick houses with thatched roofs. There was certainly no hydro up in the villages in the mountains. There’s a lot more roads in the hills than what I remember. There are a lot more schools as well.
Alfonzo has that concrete house up on the hill now. He wasn’t living in anything near that when we saw him the first time. I don’t think it was even an adobe house. To me, seeing him today, he is one of the more prosperous men in the town. Not having seen the rest of the men, but that would be my take. His land around his property has a lot more growth on it than what it had then.
As we were driving along the roads, the corn fields and the coffee growers, everything is just much more prosperous. Before there would be a stock of corn every two feet in the fields and they were considerably smaller than the fields we were looking at today.
The one thing that I haven’t noticed is the bees. The first time we were down here, quite a number of the homes had honey bees. They would have a hollowed limb by their house and that is where they got their honey from. We got to actually watch them process the honey.
Dave Snell
Honduras January 7th
Our focus today was on housing. We took the time to travel around and see some of the homes and schools that PRR has built.
Those of us who were feeling adventurous, hopped into the back of a truck and took the tour with the wind blowing through our hair. There was nothing blocking our view of the mountains and valleys.
One home that we stopped at was particularly tragic. This shack had been built out of mud and is dangerous in this area, because the walls provide a place for a disease carrying bug to dwell. This bug, called a chagas, is about an inch and a half long and bites you in your sleep and sucks blood. The family is actually a candidate for a new hom ethat will be funded in party by PRR. These homes are to be constructed by mud blocks that the family makes themselves. PRR will help with building the concrete floor, a tin roof, and put concrete over the mud walls in order to seal them. The family has already started to build their blocks, but is having difficulty getting them made because the father has two broken legs and cannot walk. The mother stays up all night killing the chagas that are already filled with the blood of her three children. She cannot take them to the medical clinic to even get them tested for this disease. Even while this family is struggling so hard to live their life, they are still trying to plan for their future. Some of the group members were suggesting that the community should step in and help them form their blocks because it was an extreme situation. If you could have seen the look on the woman's face though, when she said no, that this was something she had to do for herself. It was going to be her home. Amazing.
Cindy's Perspective
Cindy's Perspective on our experiences so far:
I found the amount of information that I heard today overwhelming at times. I was really fascinated by Pablo and his work and what they’re doing with the agricultural side. There is genius in using the farmer’s as their own scientist. To be able to teach farmer’s who in many cases are not literate to follow a scientific method of developing their own food source for their own micro climate is just genius. I’m not sure how else to describe it. The buy in that’s needed to get people on board to do that kind of thing. As he was explaining with the beans, it’s a very painstaking, detail oriented process. To have a group of people that dedicated to a long term project is really amazing.
What also struck me was the simplicity and the common sense ideas of the silos. The simple solution to a very big problem. The silos mean that the beans and the corn can be sold at a time when the price is better in order to maintain an income for the family throughout the year and they’re then not losing 30% of their crop or having rodents in their house that carries disease. There is no mold this way, it’s just a very simple, powerful solution.
When Marina and Claudia were talking this afternoon, I felt really helpless. Claudia was sitting there and she’s ill and her daughter is ill and thousands of people are ill through no fault of their own. To take on a corporation like that requires so much tenacity and so much courage and they have no resources. People in that situation never have resources. It’s one of the huge injustices in the world. The lead in the environment is going to persist forever unless it’s cleaned up. How will that clean up be forced onto the big business? They don’t want to do it. It’s going to be very costly for them. Caught in that squeeze between Claudia and her family.
Tonight we went to church. I was humbled by the dedication of the pastor from Tegucigalpa. He had to drive for hours to get here for just one family to worship. They were very gracious to us. I was struck again by the familiarity of the community of Christ, even in a language that I can’t understand.
January 6th
World Accord
