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| Photo: Gord Waldner, The StarPhoenix |
As published in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix: Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Byline: Ned Powers, The StarPhoenix
Marlee Ritchie is continuing to learn that international care-giving can be "eye-opening, emotional and enriching."
Ritchie twice saw the ravages of a war-torn Sierra Leone in 2004 and 2005 while representing Sewing Seeds International on projects designed to help widows regain their place in society. Then later in 2005, she delivered bed kits and supplies to Bangladesh on behalf of Sleeping Children Around The World.
Just recently, Ritchie completed a three-week swing as a Canadian delegate, and member of Saskatoon's Grandmothers4Grandmothers (G4G), on a trip to Uganda, South Africa and Swaziland, sponsored by the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
Marlee Ritchie keeps busy with international aid groups such as Grandmothers4GrandmothersView
Ritchie admits she was "searching for something" after retiring as a psychiatric nurse in 1994 and then caring for her husband, Peter, through an extended illness until he died in 2003.
"I was visiting in Alberta when I heard, quite accidentally, about Sewing Seeds International and I thought I could help," says Ritchie.
"A dozen of us went for six weeks to Freetown where the devastation of the war in the area was unbelievable and refugee camps were much in evidence. We worked with the widows, who lost their husbands in a civil war which lasted from 1992 to 2002. Many had no means of survival, no support systems, no money to access health care, medications or pay for their children to go to school. We'd go into a community and there'd be long lineups at the door, women looking for simple things like Tylenol, assistance for their children, everyday needs or in some cases, money to bury their dead.
"I went back a second time, trying to help women develop their own businesses. The people were settled down, calmer, and they were thankful that we from outside their country were so caring. I don't know if anyone ever fully recovers from the atrocities of war."
Then after working on the Bangladesh project, Ritchie found another source of inspiration right in Saskatoon.
"I heard about Grandmothers4Grandmothers, went to a garage sale where I met Sharon Maher, and I was hooked. It was like a window of opportunity that I knew ultimately would take me back to Africa. I can't think of a group of people who are so passionate or projects which are so satisfying. It was important to me that G4G contributes funds to the Lewis foundation which aims to ease the pain of HIV-AIDS in Africa.
"My first task was organizing the collection of supplies to assist Nutana Collegiate students in filling and packing a SaskTel container going to Tanzania. The response was overwhelming and we helped send clothes, eye glasses, medication, medical supplies, craft supplies, books, desks and bicycles."
Hearing the Lewis foundation was going to send a dozen grandmothers to Africa in 2008, she applied, along with 50 others, and was accepted. The grandmothers were required to raise funds or find aeroplan miles to cover the trip.
Ritchie's first stop was at Jinja, Uganda, where they met those involved with the Phoebe Education Fund for AIDS orphans and vulnerable children.
"The PEFO organization is led by two brothers, who lost their parents to AIDS, and they wanted to make a difference for others. We went into villages, met grandmothers, many of whom were struggling to raise up to 16 children on an old age allowance of about $14 a month. We toured a school where there were 153 students in one room and each had just one scribbler and just one pencil. The grandmothers struggle with the costs. The little children are alert, they really want to learn and they all know education is the key.
"The grandmothers put on displays of dancing, singing and drumming, shared their ceremonies, traditions and stories freely with us."
The next visit was to the Thembalethu, a home-based AIDS unit in the Nkomazi region of South Africa.
"The charge person is a dynamic nurse who has 18 orphans living with her and has lost track of how many she nurtured over the years. The grandmothers were so grateful for our presence and couldn't believe we would come from so far away just to give them a hug. "
On March 8, all the Canadians joined in an International Women's Day celebration in Manbzini, Swaziland.
She says each stop emphasized the need to get "more resources to the women, the children and the AIDS orphans, and try to bring them hope. There's a saying within the Lewis foundation that we aren't going to rest until the grandmothers in Africa can rest. We want them to have the food, water, the mattresses and the comfort they deserve."
Ritchie will now undertake a series of speaking engagements, first with the dozen G4G groups in the province and with any other organizations willing to listen.
Byline: Ned Powers, The StarPhoenix
Marlee Ritchie is continuing to learn that international care-giving can be "eye-opening, emotional and enriching."
Ritchie twice saw the ravages of a war-torn Sierra Leone in 2004 and 2005 while representing Sewing Seeds International on projects designed to help widows regain their place in society. Then later in 2005, she delivered bed kits and supplies to Bangladesh on behalf of Sleeping Children Around The World.
Just recently, Ritchie completed a three-week swing as a Canadian delegate, and member of Saskatoon's Grandmothers4Grandmothers (G4G), on a trip to Uganda, South Africa and Swaziland, sponsored by the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
Marlee Ritchie keeps busy with international aid groups such as Grandmothers4GrandmothersView
Ritchie admits she was "searching for something" after retiring as a psychiatric nurse in 1994 and then caring for her husband, Peter, through an extended illness until he died in 2003.
"I was visiting in Alberta when I heard, quite accidentally, about Sewing Seeds International and I thought I could help," says Ritchie.
"A dozen of us went for six weeks to Freetown where the devastation of the war in the area was unbelievable and refugee camps were much in evidence. We worked with the widows, who lost their husbands in a civil war which lasted from 1992 to 2002. Many had no means of survival, no support systems, no money to access health care, medications or pay for their children to go to school. We'd go into a community and there'd be long lineups at the door, women looking for simple things like Tylenol, assistance for their children, everyday needs or in some cases, money to bury their dead.
"I went back a second time, trying to help women develop their own businesses. The people were settled down, calmer, and they were thankful that we from outside their country were so caring. I don't know if anyone ever fully recovers from the atrocities of war."
Then after working on the Bangladesh project, Ritchie found another source of inspiration right in Saskatoon.
"I heard about Grandmothers4Grandmothers, went to a garage sale where I met Sharon Maher, and I was hooked. It was like a window of opportunity that I knew ultimately would take me back to Africa. I can't think of a group of people who are so passionate or projects which are so satisfying. It was important to me that G4G contributes funds to the Lewis foundation which aims to ease the pain of HIV-AIDS in Africa.
"My first task was organizing the collection of supplies to assist Nutana Collegiate students in filling and packing a SaskTel container going to Tanzania. The response was overwhelming and we helped send clothes, eye glasses, medication, medical supplies, craft supplies, books, desks and bicycles."
Hearing the Lewis foundation was going to send a dozen grandmothers to Africa in 2008, she applied, along with 50 others, and was accepted. The grandmothers were required to raise funds or find aeroplan miles to cover the trip.
Ritchie's first stop was at Jinja, Uganda, where they met those involved with the Phoebe Education Fund for AIDS orphans and vulnerable children.
"The PEFO organization is led by two brothers, who lost their parents to AIDS, and they wanted to make a difference for others. We went into villages, met grandmothers, many of whom were struggling to raise up to 16 children on an old age allowance of about $14 a month. We toured a school where there were 153 students in one room and each had just one scribbler and just one pencil. The grandmothers struggle with the costs. The little children are alert, they really want to learn and they all know education is the key.
"The grandmothers put on displays of dancing, singing and drumming, shared their ceremonies, traditions and stories freely with us."
The next visit was to the Thembalethu, a home-based AIDS unit in the Nkomazi region of South Africa.
"The charge person is a dynamic nurse who has 18 orphans living with her and has lost track of how many she nurtured over the years. The grandmothers were so grateful for our presence and couldn't believe we would come from so far away just to give them a hug. "
On March 8, all the Canadians joined in an International Women's Day celebration in Manbzini, Swaziland.
She says each stop emphasized the need to get "more resources to the women, the children and the AIDS orphans, and try to bring them hope. There's a saying within the Lewis foundation that we aren't going to rest until the grandmothers in Africa can rest. We want them to have the food, water, the mattresses and the comfort they deserve."
Ritchie will now undertake a series of speaking engagements, first with the dozen G4G groups in the province and with any other organizations willing to listen.
