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The Citizen, 2006-05-25, Page 6Special trip Drug and Alcohol Registry of Treatment your first contact for help Call for information about the drug and alcohol treatment services available in Ontario. Free. Confidential. Anonymous. 24/7. 1-800-565-8603 wwwdart.on.ca DART Is a service of ConnexOntario Health Services Information. 0 Ontario Mental Health Service Information Ontario your first contact for help Connecting you 24/7 to information about mental health services and supports in your community and across Ontario. Free. Confidential. Anonymous. 1-866-531-2600 www.mhsio.on.ca MHSIO is a service of ConnexOntario Health Services Information. 0 Ontario 1+1 Government Gouvernement of Canada du Canada Canada's New Government BUDGET 2006 Focusing on priorities Tax Relief. Focused Spending. Debt Paydown. • Tax relief for all Canadians including 1 percentage point off the GST and 28 other tax cuts. • Focused spending to help families including child care spaces and the $1,200 per year Universal Child Care Benefit. • Balanced budget and plan to reduce debt by $3 billion per year. Find out what Budget 2006 does for you, click www.fin.gc.ca or call 1 800 O-Canade. (1 800 622-6232) TTY 1 800 926-9105 (telecommunications device for the speech and hearing impaired/deaf) or visit a Service Canada centre near you. Canada PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2006. Couple visits daughter on mission in Zambia Dr. Maarten Bokhout, back left and Helena McShane, back right, travelled to Zambia to visit with their daughter Jessica, who is completing a placement in Zambia with CARE, as part of her International Development program at the University of Toronto. (Photo submitted) By Carol Burns Citizen staff Helena McShane, Blyth, returned May 18 from a two- week trip to Zambia. During her trip, McShane, visited the Kondwa Pre-school Centre for Orphans and Vulnerable Children which provides the children with two meals and some schooling, Her husband, Dr. Maartin Bokhout, had returned earlier in the week. McShane and Bokhout's elder daughter, Je§sica Bokhout is completing a placement in Zambia with Letter THE EDITOR, It is most unfortunate that the column. "Tory at Risk in Joining Harper" by Eric Dowd reflected some incorrect information. He wrote with regards to the federal party's far right extremist making outrageous gaffes. "the most recent being one MP who claimed Canada's chief justice said judges have 'godlike powers'." Saskatoon MP Maurice Vellacott, made the accurate remarks based upon the Chief Justice's remarks which appeared in a "December report in The Montreal Gazette and the transcript of her speech at a New Zealand law school reveal. . her New Zealand speech - which was a sophist defence of judges as the final arbiters of right and wrong - Canada's Chief Justice said, ".'unwritten constitutional principles' refer to unwritten norms that are essential to a nation's history, identity, CARE, part of her International Development program at the University of Toronto, and returns at the beginning of June. At Christmas, Bokhout began a campaign in Huron County to raise money to support the orphanage. Over $8,000 was raised, and McShane was able to see how that money is .being used. "Most people in Zambia do not have access to basic health care, Less than 25 per cent have adequate sanitation, and less than 50 per cent have access to safe water," stated McShane. values and legal system. . . She later said, 'If an ordinary law is clearly in conflict with a fundamental constitutional norm, the judge may have no option but to refuse to apply it'." This in fact makes judges the final lawmakers in our nation. They are neither McShane went on to explain that most of the tax base is gone because of the AIDS epidemic which has hit hardest at the working-age population. This has resulted in more and more children are being raised by grandparents. Where someone in the family does work, a huge extended family is dependent upon that one income. McShane noted that she found it difficult to see all the school-age children out of school during the day. Although . the government tries to educate the children, it is necessary for them to have someone pay their registration fees and buy their uniform. Without these, the children are unable to attend school. "We took a suitcase full of school supplies donated by Huron Centennial School in Brucefield to a school which had 750 students." relayed McShane,"The Grade 6s who are able to understand some English, cheered and clapped their hands when they heard that we had school supplies. They sit four to a desk, and often have no pencils or paper." Before McShane left for Zambia, she had encouraged people to knit toy bears. She had hoped to be able to take 90, but received 200. "The children were overjoyed to get to choose the bear they wanted. McShane said. "I went into a toy store and looked at prices. The simplest Barbie dolls were priced at $50, making new toys beyond the reach of most families." The folloWing is McShane's description of one day's visit to the orphanage: On Thursday, we spent seven hours at the Kondwa pre-school centre for orphans and vulnerable children. Our taxi carried us past the high fences and manicured lawns of the wealthy and onto the dusty, washed out tracks of the Ng"ombe compound view elected, nor do they enact legislation. It was in this respect that the MP made his remarks. How is it possible for a small group of unelected people to interpret, or do away with the laws of our land? Keith G. White (think of the worst cottage road you have ever been on). This compound was illegal until 1999 when the government realized that it was incapable of relocating 90,000 people! Concrete block huts with tin roofs pepper the land, connected by paths and dusty roads. Children are everywhere, playing in the dirt?. washing clothes in metal tubs, fetching water from the community taps. The fortunate few are in school uniforms walking to school. Bigger girls carry babies and toddlers on their backs in fabric sling chitenges. There are many child- headed households here and HIV/AIDS is very real and present. At • Kondwa we were greeted by 90 happy children, most wearing their new school shoes, funded by Jessica's campaign at Christmas. Smiles, hugs. giggles and much confusion followed until the teachers made them sit down on bamboo mats. A little concert then ensued with songs, dances and poetry. Small boys beat on drum-S and Zambian dances were performed with amazing skill and grace. We on the other hand, were not very good at it! The children were then served heaping bowls of high protein porridge, which was vacuumed up in record time, with a quick line for second helpings. At 9:30 a.m. this was the first meal of the day for these little ones, many of whom had walked up to four kilometers to get to school. We were given the grand tour by Angela Malik, director and founder of the centre. A clean, freshly painted toilet building is her latest pride and joy— squatty potties —no seat, just a hole in the floor, with a flushing mechanism is a vast improvement over the previous pit toilets. Cholera has been reduced and all the kids know to wash their hands with soap in the metal basins. A small garden with papaya, banana, corn and tomatoes flourishes away from the play area. This food supplements the noon meal. Tiny delicious bananas were served to us after a lunch of m'shima, a maize porridge with a chunk of beef and gravy. We had managed to buy 100 fuzzy blue blankets locally for the children, but Angela felt it would be better if the guardians came to collect them. Apparently a small child walking home with such a luxury would be the target of thieves! Then the excitement began. We opened up our enormous hockey bag of hand-knit teddy bears. We tried to hand them out to small groups in Angela's office, but when those children returned to class with their treasures, much squabblingand wailing occurred. All the kids were brought into the main hall, sat down and then brought up in small groups to choose their own bear. The girls were entranced by the teddies with skirts and the boys had no preconceived notions about colour or style. Continued on page 9 Writer opposes