HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2001-04-18, Page 1Inside this week
Input gathered on Pg. 3 interim controls for
intensive livestock
Pages offer tips for
spring car care
-I Grey, Brussels fire
Pg. / departments get
funds
11,, Q A salute to
5. 1° volunteers
Fundraiser nets
Pg. 20 $20,000 for Sick
Kids
Pg. 8
Shafiul Alam
Tile Citizen
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
Volume 17 No. 16
Wednesday, April 18, 2001
75 Cents (70c + 5c GST)
Bangladesh man tells of charity's benefits
OPP
begin
annual
seat belt
campaign
The Ontario Provincial Police
will join with police services across
Ontario to kickoff a two-week
spring seatbelt campaign focusing
on enforcement and education.
This joint initiative which began
on April 14 and runs from until
April 28 will focus on the small
percentage of motorists who still
refuse to buckle-up.
Officers will also be checking to
ensure that all passengers are safely
buckled in, especially children.
In 2000, OPP officers checked
586,208 vehicles. More than 9,000
people were charged for not
wearing their seatbelts during the
two-week campaign. During last
year's campaign, officers found
almost 200 infant car seats
improperly installed.
The police community is urging
motorists to help save lives- by
ensuring all drivers and passengers
traveling in a vehicle are fastened
by seatbelts this spring.
The statistics from the OPP
2000 spring seatbelt campaign
reveal that 43 per cent of fatally
injured persons were not wearing
seatbelts. This percentage . is
slightly increased from the 1999
statistics:
The police community needs the
help of motorists to keep roadways
safe and save lives.
"Seatbelfs save lives. Take the
time to learn more about safe
traveling with children. A properly
installed child safety seat is the
greatest gift to give this spring,"
said Inspector Kathy Rippey, of
the OPP Traffic and Marine
Section.
By Janice Becker
Citizen staff
It was a chance to hear how those
in developing countries live and
learn the benefits of contributing to
charitable organizations.
Approximately 20 people gathered
at Blyth Christian Reformed Church
April 10 to listen to Shafiul Alam of
Bangladesh discuss his work with the
Mennonite Central Committee
(MCC) and Canadian Foodgrains
Bank.
An agronomist, Shafiul has
worked with food aid programs for
more than 20 years. He lives in a
"small city" of 11 million and
expected the population of Blyth to
be closer to 10,000 rather than just
1,000, when he first arrived here, the
audience was told.
He loves his country and likes
sharing his experiences with others
which he will be doing for two weeks
across Canada when he visits with
Foodgrains supporters.
"We are grateful to people
throughout the world who support
our activities," he said, speaking of
MCC programs and Foodgrains.
In explaining the situation in
Bangladesh, Shafiul said it is a poor
country, but the degree of poverty
may be different from
what Canadians think.
There is a population of
130 million (some suggest
150 million) living on just
143,000 square kilometres
of land (approximately
twice the size of New
Brunswick) which is
frequently flooded or
underwater during normal
rainfall.
"It is called the land of
rivers," he said. "From June to
September, one-third of the land is
water-logged, not flooded, but a
normal condition. It is only
considered a flood if the houses are
gone and people have to move."
Of the land which is available for
farming, 70 to 80 per cent is
controlled by 10 to 15 per cent of the
population.
People are considered landless if
they hold less than .5 acres including
where their house sits.
"The rural area has the most
devastating situation," he said,
"though the urban centres have many
poor as well."
Though the literacy rate is
stated at 60 per cent, to qualify
as literate one only needs to be
able to sign their name, Shafiul
added. Only 30 to 40 per cent
of the population has
completed primary education.
"Women are doubly
deprived," he said, "as they
have no access to anything.
They are for cooking, cleaning
and looking after the children.
Their mobility is limited to
moving from their parents home into
their husbands."
However, in recent years there has
been some improvement with special
programs set up to educate females.
Called Food for Education, the
young girls can go to school free to
Grade 10 and are given food as well.
The increased education is
teaching the people animal health,
and better agricultural techniques.
Even for rural people who work for
the landholders, work in minimal as
it isAlitd to the rice crop. There is
work du'ring planting and harvesting,
but the time in between can be very
difficult on the families. "People
starve during the growing season."
If they have a little of their own
crop and some rice in their home,
they feel secure, said Shafiul. "Food
is their security."
While the government of the day
says there is enough food to feed the
people of Bangladesh, Shafiul said
the quantity of food is not the
problem. "There may be plenty of
food in the market, but the poor
cannot afford it."
The most recent government
figures put the annual per/person
income at $360, but other estimates
are as low as $250.
As for the nutritional health of the
people, Shafiul said 47 per cent live
below the poverty line, consuming
just 1,800 kilocalories per day.
Twenty-three hundred is considered
the standard requirement. "Very few
have balanced diets.
Shafiul told a story of a little girl
who had- come to visit and he
encouraged her to eat more
vegetables instead of more meat, but
she started to cry. When her mother
was asked 'Why?', Shafiul was told
she _ was tired of eating just
vegetables, she wanted something
else.
Vegetables and rices are
commodities which can be grown on
small plots of delta land by rural
residents while the raising of meat
animals is very difficult.
As for health care, Shafiul said
services are very poor with private
clinics - very costly and few
government facilities where rural
people can access care.
"There are no hospitals are doctors
for rural people. We are all our own
doctors in a way."
With all these difficulties to
overcome, Shafiul said programs by
Foodgrains and MCC help the people
learn to cultivate vegetables and
protect the crops from insects.
Just a few of the crops grown
include bananas, papaya,corn,
pumpkins, onions, wheat and
tomatoes.
A major project undertaken after
the devastating floods in 1998 was to
build up areas above the floodplain
for 1,200 houses. In some areas,
where ponds were created, fishing
techniques could be learned and the
water used to grow vegetables.
"We teach them the technology to
grow their own food and in a way
that is sustainable and recoverable
after a flood."
The Food for Work program also
provides employment during lean
periods. Participants work on roads,
bridges, culverts or other
infrastructure projects,
With the very poor communication
and transportation links in the
country, Shafiul said it is very
important to get the people
connected to the markets.
These are are self-sufficiency
programs rather than just relief aid
which is given in times of crisis, he
said.
"We don't let them expect things
for free. The main goal of MCC is to
improve the quality (*We."
A day off school
Justin Peters of Blyth and several friends took advantage of a few hours of drier weather early
Monday for a game of basketball before the heavy wet snow and rain hit the area. The
unwelcome spring snowfall resulted in power outages in some areas, slowing business for a
couple of hours in the afternoon:
St