Many years ago as part of an international project in Kenya we attended a briefing acquainting us with difficulties to be encountered living in a strange culture. Four years later on returning ‘home’ we realized the significance of such difficulties – in Canada. Society here was immersed in cars, kids, cottages, commercial status, etc. Few people wanted to talk with us about our experiences in other parts of the world. We had become strangers in our own land.

Doug Skeates We have adapted to what society deems ‘normal’. Though living in the ‘local’, the broader world is never forgotten. We are involved with a project to alleviate pain and suffering of people afflicted with HIV/Aids in Africa through one of the grandmother groups across Canada. Their focus is fund raising for the Steven Lewis Foundation emphasizing support for the many grandmothers overseas having to raise grandchildren orphaned when their parents have died of this disease.

Society faces many concerns also in our own back yard. One thinks of societal problems occurring in the big, bad world of Toronto. We attended a meeting focused on local concerns. It was an eye (ear?) opener listening to a police officer detailing some of their work pertaining to street people sleeping under bridges so close to home. It is even more difficult to accept the plight of women and children having to find a safe haven to escape spousal abuse. Most of us will never have to face the trauma of fleeing from what should be the safety and security of our homes.

We had a visit from an Orangeville couple who have dedicated their lives to combat poverty in a rural area of north-east Haiti. Kathleen and Michel Jobin have formed a local foundation, KAMI, titled after the first two letters of their names. I certainly relate to their goals of poverty alleviation and control of deforestation. Currently most cooking is done outside using charcoal converted from what remains of the national forest. The Jobins promote the use of locally manufactured kerosene stoves. Kerosene energy is generally available, cooks much more quickly and is used indoors. The foundation raises funds in Orangeville and surroundings to provide stoves for local homes at subsidized cost.

An interesting development in Haiti is the introduction of hedges of Jatropha curcas trees around vegetable gardens. The foliage is poisonous to animals which range freely through the countryside, deterring them from invading garden plots. Harvesting nuts is a family activity with renewable oil being an inexpensive home product. Jatropha burns with a fraction of emissions compared to charcoal or fossil fuels.

There has been massive media coverage for the severe earthquake which virtually wiped out the capital city, Port au Prince with much less coverage of the many years which Haiti endured as the poorest country in the western world. Poverty alleviation has been a focus for Kathleen and Michel for many years. Local people have cut most of their existing forests for conversion to charcoal, the only available cooking fuel. There is a drastic need to find alternative energy and to work toward replacing forest cover.

This small international aid program centered in rural Ontario is unique. Many large institutional organizations raise funds for international aid. The earthquake in Haiti resulted in a Canada wide appeal for humanitarian support by large structures such as the Red Cross, World Vision, Doctors Without Borders, all highly respectable organizations, based in cities far removed from us in Dufferin/South Simcoe Counties, NGOs having professional staff on site overseas. Personal connections here are difficult to establish with problems so far away. It is unusual having local people providing a direct conduit for donations.

Most fund raising for international aid is directed and distributed by impersonal organizations. Here close to home one can help by such means as the purchase of a simple, locally made, kerosene stove for a family. Provision of funds ensures that aid benefits folk in need directly and almost immediately. Poverty alleviation through home production of oil is the first benefit following enhanced protection for food plants. From a national perspective the project reduces cost of importing energy and helps conserve badly depleted forests.