HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2005-11-30, Page 6Page 6 November 30, 2005 • The Huron Expositor
CHSS commu
to send 90
Jennifer Hubbard
While the hustle and bustle of
another holiday season gets under-
way, a "quiet miracle" is taking
place on computer screens across
Huron County and beyond.
Area residents and Central Huron
Secondary School (CHSS) alumni
are joining together in a unique hol-
iday campaign — spearheaded by
CHSS graduate Jessica Bokhout —
to send 90 Zambian orphans to
school.
"Small town life can be isolated
from the happenings of the rest of
the world. International news
reaches our television stations, but
seldom do places 'down there in
Africa,' or over in Asia connect with
us on a personal level," Bokhout
said in a recent letter to the editor.
"The bloated bellies we see on the
World Vision commercials, the
headlines and pictures from the war
in Iraq, the stories we hear about a
disease called AIDS that is devas-
tating the Third World, are sad real-
ities for places and people far from
where we live but not really stories
and situations to which we can
relate.
"I promise you, even down here in
Africa, our worlds are really not so
far apart."
Currently working with CARE
Zambia as part of her fourth-year
University of Toronto co-op place-
ment in the International
Development Studies program,
Bokhout sent DVDs to friends in the
Clinton area asking for help in rais-
ing $6,300 to send 90 orphans from
the Kondwa Day Centre in Lusaka
to Grade 1.
The preschool students have lost
their parents to Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
While education is free in Zambia,
the students must provide books,
school supplies and a uniform, at a
cost of $70 per year.
"The same amount of money that
many of us spend monthly in our
local coffee shops, or use to pur-
chase `stocking stuffers' is a princely
sum to the orphans of this impover-
ished country," Bokhout's mother
Helena McShane explained.
"While their caregivers — mostly
grandparents — struggle to provide
the basics for survival, money for
the luxury of education remains a
dream."
Students, staff and community
members have responded to
Bokhout's plea with great enthusi-
asm, hitting the halfway point of
$3,650 just two weeks into the pro -
News
nity responding to grad's plea
Zambian orphans to school
Jessica Bokhout, a fourth-year student at University of Toronto who graduated from
Central Huron Secondary, is currently in Africa working with CARE Zambia. She is
spearheading a Christmas campaign to send 90 orphans, whose parents have died
from AIDS, to school.
ject.
"Many people are often reluctant
to give money to international caus-
es, like fighting AIDS in Africa,
because they fear their contribu-
tions will never actually get to those
who need it the most," said CHSS
teacher Stephen Oliver.
"This is precisely why I feel
Jessica's request for support from
the CHSS community should not be
dismissed. Jessica can put whatever
money we raise for her to the imme-
diate benefit of the children."
Oliver has worked to spread the
word of Bokhout's project through-
out the CHSS community using the
school's website.
Regular updates include articles
and photos from Bokhout, a running
tally of donations and an opportuni-
ty for donors to contribute online.
"Our financial support can have
an immediate, unfiltered impact on
the lives of almost 100 children," he
commented.
"Yes it's a drop in the bucket given
students and asked each student to
bring in a toonie for the cause.
Vice-principal Wendy Armstrong -
Gibson said student response has
been very positive and the next step
is to ask other schools in the area to
join in.
"(AIDS) is a global issue and this
project helps make children more
aware of what is going on around
the world," she commented, adding
the project fits in nicely with the
school's Virtue program.
"It exposes them to the hardships
and challenges that other children
face. It's all about helping others."
Ontario Street United Church —
Bokhout's home church — and
Wesley Willis United Church con-
gregations are making donations in
memory of a great teacher.
Queen's University student Alex
Russo held a student poker game
and raised $125.
"What's so interesting about this
is that a lot of the money is coming
from university students, kids who
don't normally have the money to
support anyone but themselves,"
McShane commented.
"My other daughter in Guelph
(Stephanie) showed the DVD to her
friends and she came home with her
pockets full — a $265 donation."
Donations will be accepted until
Dec. 16, prior to the start of
Zambia's new school year in
January.
Anyone wishing to make a contri-
bution can contact McShane at 523-
9734 or donate online at
http://www.oliver.typepad.com/chss/.
All of the money will go directly to
the African children through
Bokhout. Small bank fees will be
the only administration costs
"It's really a win-win situation,"
McShane said. "If we send these 90
kids to school, 90 more will get to
attend the day care and get fed
every day. The support for this pro-
ject has been just amazing and
we're hoping people will take an
interest in these children for more
than just a short term. We'd like to
make this an annual thing."
Bokhout left for Zambia last
August for the year-long internship,
which marks her fourth trip to
Africa. She will return to the
University of Toronto for her final
year of studies in the fall of 2006.
Two years ago Jessica and
Stephanie Bokhout organized a sim-
ilar project when they travelled to
the TLC Orphanage. near
Johannesburg, South Africa, with
six bulging suitcases and $8,000 for
abandoned babies.
the enormous scale of the African
AIDS pandemic, but it does provide
us with .a small opportunity to act
responsibly as individuals as com-
passionate human beings even
while our governments seem con-
tent to only mouth platitudes and
remain mired in partisan politics."
The school's World Issues class
and Global Village Club — of which
Bokhout was a founding member —
are holding a spaghetti dinner and
silent auction on Dec. 7 for the pro-
ject.
Starting with dinner in the school
cafeteria at 5:30 p.m., the auction,
which features a variety of local
business donations, begins at 7:30
p.m.
Anyone wishing to contribute an
item for the auction can contact the
school at 482-3471.
Elementary schools are also jump-
ing on the bandwagon. The student
council at Huron Centennial in
Brucefield has shared Bokhout's
DVD and photos with their fellow