Sonya Heleno, a recent graduate and major scholarship winner at Shelburne high school, visited Togo, Africa, in June to distribute Kits For Kids, a collection of clothing, health and school supplies to less fortunate youth.(Joel Jacobson)
By Joel Jacobson,
... from The Chronical Herald Halifax, NS. August 15, 2007
She holds a black belt in karate, earned in a club in her hometown of Shelburne.
She admits she gets a "thrill from fighting, even though I do both the traditional and sport aspects of karate. I want to do (fighting) tournaments next year but I’m not sure if I’m good enough, even though my instructor says I am."
But Sonya is a fighter in other ways, too. Soon to enter Dalhousie University on a TD Canada Trust 2007 Community Leadership Scholarship, the 18-year-old has fought for human rights for a few years, creating a program called Kits for Kids.
"I read in the Chronicle Herald about Sleeping Children Around the World, a Canadian organization that provides the bed kits for children in third world countries," she says, eyes wide with excitement as she describes what the organization does with $30 per child that goes, totally, with no administration costs, to providing for these children.
Last June, Sonya travelled to Togo in West Africa, at her own expense and without the benefit of a tax receipt, to personally help deliver the bed kits to kids. Each kit consists of a mat or mattress, pillow, sheet, blanket, mosquito net (if applicable), clothes, towel and school supplies. Contents vary from country to country, depending on local needs.
Bedkits are made in the countries where they are distributed. Locally produced bedkits result in elimination of transportation costs, provision of materials and labour at minimal cost, employment for families and assistance to the local economy and the country.
"There were six of us on our team in Togo," says Sonya. "There are hardly ever any youth. The next youngest to me on this mission was about 45."
Overseas volunteers led the team to local villages where they saw great poverty. "It was very sad to see," she says. "On television, it doesn’t seem real, but when you’re there and it’s in your face, it doesn’t seem right that it happens."
The reality of poor children is why Sleeping Children Around the World was started by Murray and Margaret Dryden, parents of hockey goalies Ken and Dave, in 1970 after travelling through India and seeing children sleeping on the street.
During the depression in the 1930’s, Murray traveled east from Manitoba looking for work and endured many nights without food or a bed. He later said the comfort of a bed is a basic right of every child and that there is nothing more peaceful than a sleeping child.
His hobby of photographing sleeping children (his own and those of friends) gave rise to the idea of a retirement project. He and Margaret decided to provide bedkits to 50 children in India in 1970. The concept grew and eventually became the focus of their lives. Almost 700,000 kits have been distributed.
Sonya is glad she found the idea. "Now that I’m home and into my old routines, I still stop and think how comfortable we are."
She thought about that before the Togo trip and spent her own dollars at used clothing dealers to leave outfits with children in Togo.
"The bed kits are for children ages six to 12 who are living with their families, not to be given to street kids, for they’ll probably be sold, certainly not the purpose. The clothes I took were for teenagers who had little of their own."
She raised funds for the $30 kits by canvassing schools and running dance coat checks at Shelburne Regional High School.
In 2006-07, Sonya co-chaired the school’s Stop Poverty committee which ran a 30-hour Famine, generating $2,300 for World Vision.
She had earlier organized one in Grade 8.
"We have so much," she states. "We all spend money on things we don’t need. It only costs $5 a year to send a child to school in Togo and, do you know, two-thirds of the population can’t afford to send their kids?"
Now that high school is over, Sonya says this won’t be the end of her charitable work. "I want to organize something in university to raise money to help kids. I’m very excited to meet more people who want to do that sort of thing."
This young woman is not singularly focused. She played soccer on Shelburne High’s division III provincial championship team, "the most incredible thing ever, the best moment of my senior high years when we won."
She was an air cadet for four years and, as a flight commander in her last year (summer between Grades 10 and 11), was named top cadet at camp in Greenwood.
But it’s Togo that’s leaving a lasting impression as she looks at a career in either medicine, psychiatry or international development — or maybe a combination of all three.
"I realized, as did the Drydens, that if a child is hungry, sore and tired, a good night’s sleep can prepare him or her for the next day. They need that to fight the hunger and the pain. I hope was able to help by providing the Kits for Kids."
It’s time for a brief vacation. Great Kids will return August 26. Contact Joel Jacobson via e-mail at jjacobson@herald.ca or fax at 426-1158, or phone 902-426-2811 ext. 2222.
