Category: Uncategorized Page 19 of 29

Inverness County Cares (ICC), a local charitable society was formed in 2012 with the goal of providing for underprivileged children in the Third World. In their most recent project, ICC will continue to work with Chalice, an aid organization based in Bedford, Nova Scotia. (www.chalice.ca) This current project will provide support to the Kawambwa group of two schools, which are located in the Northern part of Zambia. The first school Saint Mary’s, located in Kawambwa, was opened in 1961 by Dutch sisters and partnered with Chalice in 1997. The second school Saint Odilia, located in Mporokoso, is 200 km away from the Saint Mary’s school. This school opened in 1962 and partnered with Chalice in 2012. These schools cater to a large number of children who are born with Albinism. In addition to this, many of the children have physical handicaps, HIV positive status, hearing disabilities, epilepsy, hydrocephalus and high rates of visual impairment.

The schools are home to a large number of children, often with parents living in distant communities of rural Zambia, Southern Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo. These children who have found refuge in the Kawambwa schools, are sent to the schools for protection from the dangers faced by persons with Albinism. They are in grave danger of kidnaping, mutilation and death from individuals who use the body parts of persons with Albinism for witchcraft rituals and other sorcery practices. This is common in parts of Zambia, Tanzania and some parts of the Congo and is one of the reasons many children escape their villages to find safety at the Kawambwa schools.  They cross dangerous rivers and walk through dense tropical forests to access the school’s protection. Sadly, many are lost on the journey, but those who succeed are finally in a place where they are protected and valued. The numbers grow every year because the persecution doesn’t end and is not likely to stop soon. The schools now have 420 children who are sponsored by Chalice.

For more information please contact ICC members at 902-782-3441, 902-787-2251 or 902-787-2475

Inverness County Cares  (ICC) was founded in 2012 to address the wants of a disadvantaged school in Nairobi, Kenya. Throughout our journey with this school ICC has worked to help them acquire 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. Through the combined efforts of our two associations ICC was able to provide the school with a foundation on which the school is now able to continue to grow and move ahead independently. With the wrap up of this project in 2018, ICC has been researching to find a new project on which to focus our energies.

In July 2019 Inverness County Cares members met to choose a new Chalice partnership project. A consensus was reached to support the St. Odilia and St Mary Schools for Albino, blind and visually impaired children in Zambia.

Albinism is a genetic condition that results in the absence of melanin, a pigment that is responsible for giving color to the eyes, skin and hair. This lack of melanin means that people living with albinism are more susceptible to specific health conditions.

According to the Albino Foundation of Zambia, a great challenge facing more than 25,000 Zambians with albinism is over-exposure to sunlight, which has led to an increase in skin-cancer cases, especially in rural areas. Sunscreen, hats, corrective and dark glasses, long sleeved cotton shirts/dresses and umbrellas are desperately needed to protect them from the sun.

Persons with albinism also have personal safety concerns, stemming from social prejudice driven by harmful traditional beliefs, and connected to the trafficking of human body parts near the shared border with the Republic of Tanzania. Deprose Muchena, a spokesman for Amnesty International, said deep-seated cultural traditions persist, including a belief in mythical powers of people with albinism and a conviction that their body parts could change lives, bringing fabulous wealth, power or good fortune. Some believe that albinos are not human, and their only value is monetary and that they have gold in their bones.

These two schools are situated in Northern Zambia, an area bordering on Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania where these unsubstantiated cultural beliefs threaten the safety and well being of albinos.

The sisters of the Child Jesus, a local Zambian congregation, who are dedicated to protecting and educating these children, run the schools.

ICC looks forward to learning more abut the school and providing support to these needy children.

In 2012 Inverness County Cares (ICC) came together with the purpose of providing for the daily needs and delivering education opportunities for children in the developing world. The St Charles Lwanga School in Nairobi, Kenya was the first beneficiary and a relationship was created, which helped the school get a good start and laid the foundation for sustainability. This happened in cooperation with other partners in Vermont, Puerto Rico and the Netherlands. 

Three years ago ICC and Chalice Canada developed a partnership working on a Community Partnership Project (CPP) with the St Charles Lwanga School. The three-year CPP with the St Charles Lwanga School is now complete. This project saw ICC provide the school with approximately $250,000 toward operating expenses and supplying the children with the necessities of life. Chalice in turn contributed more than $60,000 annually to this project, for each of the last three years. It was an honor, to be chosen to work with Chalice, and we want to express our sincere thanks. We are deeply grateful for their guidance, accounting expertise and presence on the ground in Kenya. 

 ICC has approximately 15 core members with many others who are always willing to provide assistance during fundraising projects.  ICC is forever grateful for the selfless people who have given so many hours of their time to ensure that the daily, weekly and yearly responsibilities of the organization were taken care of. 

ICC also wishes to thank those who supported our fundraising projects, donated to our fundraising, and to the corporate donations we received. A special thanks goes out to the students at Dalbrae, Bayview, Inverness and NSCC. We want to thank the Reporter for their continued support in sharing information concerning events at the school and keeping readers up to date on the activities of ICC.

We also wish to thank our Honorary Board members who lent their good name to our cause.

Although the project is over, individual relationships continue, as many of our ICC members had frequent contact with the school and actually spent time on location at the school in Kenya.  

ICC is presently contemplating our next steps and looking toward a similar project in the future…and will continue to collect recyclables in the truck trailers in Mabou and Port Hood.  Many thanks to the very generous people of Inverness County, and surrounding areas. You have made this project a resounding success. 

Betty Jane Cameron, West Mabou, NS has just returned from her third consecutive trip to the St Charles Lwanga School (SCLS) in Nairobi, Kenya. This year she was there for three months and visited the SCLS as well as many other areas all over Kenya.

Betty Jane reports:

It is good to be back, but hard to leave the school, students and teaching staff. I also met many wonderful people in other parts of Kenya who welcomed me into their lives, their homes and their work.  Those I lived with are so caring for each other’s needs and supportive of all efforts to help their communities grow, their parishes flourish and support their children’s education opportunities. The students in turn strive their best and plan to help their families and communities to grow beyond poverty and live with peace, dignity and security.

There are often enormous obstacles to overcome. We try to help drug addicted students at St Charles Lwanga, but we have no medications and limited counselling. They tell us that most have been addicted since age 8 or 9 years old. I spent a little time in the large Mukuru slum visiting drug addicted primary students, mostly ages mostly ages 6-10. These children are in a program at school where they are housed and taught separately for one year with their own teachers, counsellors and social workers, with their families getting support and help. Talking with these children gave me new insight into the reality our students face in their struggle. With the dream of a new school getting closer we at St Charles Lwanga will be able to provide similar programs and perhaps use the current school as a rehab centre. It is so important that the new school will be in a small rural community away from the city, closer to the homes of many of our students in HomaBay County. It will be in the beautiful highlands of Western Kenya near Lake Victoria, with fertile land for agriculture, recreation/sports field and in every way a much healthier environment.

There are so many stories and memories that crowd my mind. Everywhere we visited there was laughter, tears, hugs and promises to return to try help and always remember. It is the friendships formed that keeps me returning to this special place – and I feel blessed, privileged and grateful to be a part of their lives.

I am lucky to have a young girl Tracey planning on coming to live with me and study engineering at STFX. She volunteered at our school after graduation in December. It is a good opportunity for all of us to meet and welcome her to our homes and share our culture as she and her family have welcomed me.