Category: Uncategorized Page 15 of 29

Remembering Alex McKinnon

On October 27, 2020

Duine uasal ioraiseal

(Scottish Gaelic – A noble and humble man)

Alex McKinnon was loved and respected by many. We are proud to have had his endorsement of Inverness County Cares, as an honorary board member. He will be greatly missed but his legacy of hospitality, friendship and pride of his heritage will live on.

On Friday, October 9, Alex McKinnon passed away peacefully at home at the age of 90, spending his last days as he lived his life – surrounded by family, friends, love and music. Alex’s life was guided by faith, integrity and generosity. He loved music, story-telling and was a voracious reader with a keen interest in military history, politics and the Bible. He had a lifelong passion for politics and he was the unofficial president of the Angus L. MacDonald fan club. Above all Alex loved his family, and throughout his life they were his number one priority. He adored his wife, Geraldine who was his best friend and the love of his life, and who patiently cared for him during his decline due to Alzheimer’s. Alex spent his early years on the shores of Melville Cove and enjoyed his summers with the extended McKinnon and Jamieson clans in Inverness. A gifted story-teller, Alex regaled family and friends with his youthful exploits during the Second World War working as a bellhop at the Carleton Hotel and his many adventures in war-time Halifax. Alex launched his career with Red Rose Tea, introducing the tea bag to Cape Breton. He later became Vice President of Sales and Marketing with MacCulloch Building Products. In 1978 he fulfilled his dream to open his own business and moved the family from Halifax to Port Hawkesbury, where he successfully built McKinnon Home Hardware with his wife Geraldine working by his side. Community service was a guiding force in Alex’s life. He dedicated countless hours to many boards and volunteer activities. An advocate for music education, Alex worked to ensure opportunities for his own children as well as the broader Nova Scotia community through his involvement with the Halifax School Board in the 1970s and the Board of the Gaelic College in Cape Breton in the 1980s. In retirement, Alex was an active and beloved member of two communities: Fleming Heights, Halifax and Broad Cove, Cape Breton. He and Geraldine enjoyed walking the trails of the Dingle and Frog Pond, the Inverness Boardwalk and the Broad Cove Road, often stopping to strike up conversations with friends and strangers alike. Summer evenings were spent side by side watching the spectacular sunset from their cottage deck in beautiful Broad Cove. Alex’s love for his family is his lasting legacy. He is survived by his best friend and wife of 60 years, Geraldine (Nellis); children, Margaret (John Gray), Ian (Catherine Craig), MaryAnne (Andre Levesque), Christine (Paul MacDonald), Catherine (Alex Rhinelander) as well as his adored grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Alex is also survived by his brother, Murray McKinnon. He was predeceased by his parents, MaryAnn (Jamieson) and Murdoch McKinnon; his brothers, Hugh, Rupert and Neil; his sister, Christina Martin and brother, Francis who died in infancy. Halifax visitation will take place Tuesday, October 20th, 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. in J.A. Snow Funeral Home. Inverness visitation will take place Friday, October 23rd, 2-6 p.m. in Inverness Funeral Home. Funeral and burial will take place Saturday, October 24th, at 11 a.m. in St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Broad Cove. Due to COVID-19 restrictions the funeral is for family and close friends only. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia or Chalice.

October 2020, Geshom Mwansa’s Story

By Inverness County Cares

On October 9, 2020

In Uncategorized

Inverness County Cares (ICC) works in partnership with Chalice Canada, an international aid organization based in Halifax, to support the two schools under the name of the Kawambwa Project. The schools St. Mary and St. Odilia are located in Zambia where they educate and care for albino, blind, visually impaired and other vulnerable students.

This is the life story of one of the students at the Kawambwa school.

My names are Geshom Mwansa. I was born on 11th of December 2004. I am the last born in a family of five. My mother was incapacitated immediately after my delivery due to the complications she went through. Also, when I was born, I had a sixth finger which was cut immediately. I was kept in the hospital for almost four months and thereafter my father’s first cousin took care of me. When I was one year old, I suffered from measles and became totally blind. Life now went from bad to worse since my father who was a fisherman, could not go fishing because of my blindness. Well-wishers came on board to help me with clothes, food and other basic needs. I started school when I was 10 years old at St Mary’s Special School. There the teachers started to teach me mobility, how to eat and especially toilet training. Writing at first was a big problem. I had to learn to use a stylus. It is pen used by the blind person to form embossed (raised) dots on a paper. A Braille slate consists of multiple cells of six dots each. The slate is positioned/secured to a piece of paper with the cells forming a template to punch in the dots uniformly. The dots in each cell are arranged in one of the 26 unique combinations to form a letter of the alphabet. Here in Zambia, these two tools are very cardinal in the teaching and education of a blind child. Braille writing equipment and other teaching and learning materials are always needed to assist me and other blind pupils at school.

Today, my father who previously ran away from me, together with his cousin have come back, because now I live an independent life. My speech has improved and I am skilled at reciting poems, beating drums and playing music on a piano. I also sing well and am very intelligent in class. This year I will be writing my grade seven examinations, and I will pass and continue with my education. I would like to thank my teachers, care-takers (house parents) and many others who are helping me by providing and promoting my education to the fullest. My education depends on those mentioned above.

May God bless you all. Geshom Mwansa.

ICC always welcomes new members. Individuals who wish to donate, can use the donate button on our website http://invernesscountycares.com or send a cheque to Inverness County Cares Box 99, Judique, NS, Canada, B0E1P0. Taxation receipts provided.

This is the Braille slate, it is the template for all Braille writing. Each rectangular cell has the configuration for one of the 26 letters of the alphabet. Letters are formed by punching the correct pattern of the 6

Braille stylus; This is the tool used to punch indentations in the paper.

Part 2: Inverness County Cares (ICC) provides Ugandan village with a water collection system.

By Inverness County Cares

On September 5, 2020

In Uncategorized

Ngeza village lies in Kakumiro District in Western Uganda near the volatile Democratic Republic of Congo. Until recently this area was uninhabited, but recently discovered oil in the area has led to evictions and these displaced people have settled in a remote area of Kakumiro, which has very few roads or social services. Since there were no latrines or sanitary ways of disposing of sewage, the ground water has become contaminated by feces and human activity.

Transform a Village; an organization with the goal of helping poor rural villages is working with Sr. Justine to improve living conditions by providing schools, health care and sanitation to the Ngeza community. Because of the contaminated water the people of the village were plagued by water borne diseases and parasites. In 2018 Sister Justine, a resident of the village and a graduate of the Coady International Institute, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada, heard of Wishing Wells Society (WWS) and sent an application to Mary van den Heuvel of WWS in St. Andrews, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. At that time Wishing Wells didn’t have the resources for a water collection system, but in June she applied again just at the time Inverness County Cares (ICC) became aware of the project and offered funding. This project would supply the village with four 10,000 litre cistern tanks for collecting rain water from the roofs of the village through a system of gutters.

The process began in June 2019 under the management of Transform a Village, Sr. Justine and Wishing Wells. This was not an easy process and was fraught with obstacles and anxiety.

The first obstacle was sending the money to Ngeza. In July 2019 the Canadian government initially refused to allow the money to go to Uganda because of ‘unstable government situation’. Finally after much negotiation the money was sent to Uganda, but because of incorrect bank information it was returned to WWS. With corrections made, the money was sent again, but with the delays causing the Ngeza people much anxiety, fearing the money was lost to fraudsters. Finally in late September 2019 the money arrived but by then the Canadian dollar had fallen and less than anticipated arrived.

Now it was time to go shopping for the equipment needed, but before this could begin torrential rains came and destroyed roads and swept away bridges. By the end of December the rains ceased and procurement of the four 10,000 litre tanks began. They were required to be custom made and the four needed to be transported by a very long vehicle. This made it necessary for the road to the village to be rebuilt and widened and bridges built to accommodate this large truck. The tanks were installed February 2020 and then Covid 19 hit the area and lockdown was imposed. Then the last disaster, a fierce windstorm blew one of the water collection tanks 275 meters into the valley below. It was irreparably damaged and could not be used for the water collection system. It will be used to hold water for crop irrigation.

In order to ensure the system will be a long term solution, the village council will collect a small fee from villagers for repair and maintenance and Transform a Village will continue to carry out a supervisory role ensuring the objective of the project is maintained.

The clean water in the three tanks is available to the families and they are smiling and giving thanks, “God has remembered us”. They now have clean clear water as opposed to the yellow contaminated water which was all they previously had to drink. The people of Ngeza hold in great admiration the donors who cared for them, even though they have never met.

President of ICC, Ted Van Zutphen says “This is a story that warms our hearts. We are so privileged to have the opportunity to make such a huge improvement in the lives of the Ngeza villagers. We want to thank each and every one of our donors for being part of this beautiful venture.”

Part 1-Inverness County Cares provides Ugandan Village with Water Collection System

By Inverness County Cares

On September 5, 2020

In Uncategorized

Wishing Wells Society (WWS) is a registered Canadian charity founded in 2000 and based in St Andrews, Antigonish, NS, Canada. WWS is dedicated to building wells and irrigation ponds in small, rural villages. The projects began in India and have since spread to help communities in Haiti and Africa, providing clean drinking water and ensuring better health. The irrigation ponds enable the growing of crops and food which relieves extreme poverty found in these regions. Since 2000, a total of 108 village water or irrigation pond projects have been provided. These projects have a tremendous positive impact on the health of the people, the women and children who carry the water and their ability to grow a second crop in the dry season. This year WWS has reached the final year of their organization. The Ngeza water system, on which planning and work began in 2018, will be one of their last projects.

In the interim between their Kenyan and Zambian projects, ICC began a partnership in 2018 with Wishing Wells to provide the funds to install a rainwater collection and distribution system to benefit 350 families in Ngeza village, a very poor area, even by Ugandan standards. Mary van den Heuvel, chair of Wishing Wells Society states, “The project was applied for by Transform a Village in Africa (TVA), and although we liked the project very much and TVA had excellent references, we just didn’t have the funds for it. We are so pleased that ICC has agreed to provide the $10,000 funding which is so desperately needed, for this water project.”

The project will provide four 10,000 litre storage tanks which will connect to collection centers in the community through pipes and taps. The new water system will serve the refugees, immigrants and displaced persons who recently settled in the area of Ngeza, without any government support. The project will improve the health and livelihoods of the people by providing them with a source of clean water. According to ICC member John Gillies “ICC is honoured to be a contributor to the water project in Ngeza village, Uganda”.

Inverness County Cares was founded in 2012 to address the wants of a needy school in Nairobi, Kenya. Throughout the journey with this school, ICC worked to help them develop agricultural skills, with the aim of providing a means to develop sustainable garden practices and self-reliance. In 2015 ICC began a three-year partnership with Chalice, an aid organization based in Bedford Nova Scotia. With the combined efforts of the two associations ICC was able to provide the Kenyan school with a foundation upon which the school is now able to continue to move ahead independently. With the wrap up of the Kenyan project ICC researched to find a new mission on which to focus its energies. The Ugandan project fit the bill as a short term, one-time commitment as ICC transitioned from working with the school in Kenya to the Kawambwa project schools in Zambia.

“We were familiar with the work and story of Wishing Wells and know the stresses of water poverty, so the WWS project was a very good fit for the ICC mission statement,” said ICC member Ted van Zutphen. “ICC is especially pleased to be involved, for in 2014, ICC was the recipient of a similar gift, when Living Water Africa provided our sponsored school (St Charles Lwanga) with a water collection system. We are well aware of the positive impact a source of water can be to a community.”

Next month in Part 2, we will share with you what it took to install and complete the Ngeza, Uganda project…not an easy task!

Inverness County Cares (ICC) always welcomes new members. Individuals who wish to donate can use the donate button on our website http://invernesscountycares.com or send a cheque to Inverness County Cares, Box 99, Judique, NS, B0E1P0. Tax receipts provided.