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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-11-08, Page 6It’s the tale of a Canadian engineer in Ghana with a former Blyth area boy as the star. Dane Corneil is currently working with Ghana’s ministry of food and agriculture in the upper east region of Ghana through the program Engineers Without Borders. Corneil is 21 years old, an engineering student at the University of Waterloo and has been working in Ghana since mid-August. After being selected from hundreds of applicants, Corneil was trained and prepared for his trip and his pending job placement in May. Corneil’s title is Junior Fellow. Junior Fellows are university students from across Canada who spend four months on volunteer placements in developing countries through the Engineers Without Borders program. The program is known to help students in the workforce, providing worldly experience in their field. Through his on-line journal, or blog, Corneil has detailed the experiences he has had through work and life in a foreign country. Corneil is currently working on a crop profitability report in Ghana. Corneil landed in Accra, Ghana’s capital, in mid- August and in his blog, he said he was struck by the humidity and the activity of the area. Shortly after landing he took a 13-hour bus trip to Tamale where he met up with other people from the program. Shortly after his trip to Tamale, Corneil headed to Navrongo, to meet with the district director at his new office for the first time. After his meeting, Corneil settled in Bolgatanga for a few days, staying with a family that his director convinced to take him in. His director, Sarah Lewis, helped to settle him in. Lewis, who is a long-term volunteer with Engineers Without Borders in Ghana, has been there for seven months now and also works with the ministry of food and agriculture, and she also attended the University of Guelph. Lewis sent Corneil on a mission through the streets that would get him talking to Ghanaians. She sent him out to ask the ques- tion, “Why do you think there are more boys attending school in Ghana that there are girls?” Corneil got interesting answers and learned about the culture as he worked up the courage to talk to more and more people. While Corneil was there, the upper-east region of Ghana was experiencing its worst floods in 15 years, with many of the traditional clay houses buckling under the pressure of the heavy rains. Assessing the damage and loss was one of the tasks that the ministry had to work on. Corneil’s work took him to the Tono Dam, the largest in the district, which spans two kilometres. This is one of many dams in Ghana, something the region has to do to combat the long dry season that starts every October. More recently in his blog, Corneil lamented about the lack of anonymity he has in Ghana, as he tends to stick out in the villages. However, after a fact- finding trip brought him to Chuchuliga, he was accepted by several local women and jokingly associated with the local MP; something all the locals had a good laugh about. PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2007.New neighbours with goodintentions have made theirway into the area in the formof Marcus and Tara Rayner. Tara Rayner, owner of Pro- Tek Sandblasting and Painting, says that her move to Londesborough is a permanent one and that she has no intentions of moving, only expanding. “This is permanent, this is where we want to be,” she said. “We want to expand, we want to keep getting bigger. There’s going to be no one bigger in the area.” Marcus Rayner, Tara’s husband, does all the painting and has been in this line of work his whole life. The couple has followed the work from Oshawa, Ontario, to Alberta for a while, to Wingham and now finally into Londesborough. After a year in Wingham, they decided to move south to Londesborough. With a bigger facility now, Pro-Tek hopes to concentrate on truckpainting in their future plans.He says that one of theirbiggest clients, MernerContracting, played a big partin the move to the area,helping them along and was a big factor in them moving into their current space. In addition to their closer proximity to many of their major clients, their new building, which is just onto Anthony’s Line, greeting drivers as they enter Londes- borough coming south from Blyth, is a much bigger space than they were working with before, accommo-dating more work, with room to grow. He says that Pro-Tek currently sits with the biggest local space in the business and he hopes to add more shelters to the land to accommodate more and more as business allows it. “Right now we have all the right contracts. The contracts are all there, it’s just a matter of time,” he said. Over time, the Rayners hope to expand far enough that they can provide jobs tothe people of Londes-boroughand give back to thecommunity, and both thinkthe foundation is alreadybuilt.“We’re at least 20 per cent cheaper than the closest competition, and our quality is far above them, at least that’s what I’ve been told,” he says. While Tara and Marcus have no previous links to Huron County; Tara is from Cobourg, Ontario and Marcus is originally from Germany; they both say they have always been drawn to the area, and it’s no surprise that they’ve ended up here. They now live in Blyth with their two children 13-year-old Taylor and nine-year-old Jordan. As far as future plans, the couple plans to paint their car into “advertising on wheels” with a planned paint job that Tara says will be “over the top”. It will be seen riding around town shortly. New business opens in Londesborough Welcome Tara Rayner, proud owner of Pro-Tek Sandblasting and Painting in Londesborough, is pictured with a grader recently repainted there. Rayner and her husband Marcus just recently moved into the neighbourhood from Wingham and before that, Oshawa. The Rayners reside in Blyth with their two children Jordan and Taylor. (Shawn Loughlin photo) Local student overseas working in Ghana To find out more about offering high school students work experience contact the Foundation for Enriching Education Perth Huron at 519-527-0111 ext 231 or visit www.foundationforeducation.on.ca Training students today creates a pool of skilled workers for tomorrow Sponsored by the Ontario Learning Partnership Group and the Provincial Partnership Council Supported by The Ontario Ministry of Education and The Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities WANTED 5 HOMES THAT NEED ROOFING 5 homes in your area will be given the opportunity of having an INTERLOCK metal roofing system installed on their home at a reasonable cost. This lifetime product is capturing the interest of homeowners across the country who want to know this will be the last time they will have to re-roof their home. Our product is environmentally friendly and comes with a transferable Lifetime Limited Warranty with an excellent choice of colours to complement your home and is going to be introduced to your local market. Your home can be a show place in your neighbourhood and we will make it worth your while if we can use your home. Please call James: 1-877-632-1281 Toll-Free 24 hours 7 Days a week By Shawn LoughlinThe Citizen