Below are some recent photos from the Waterloo site.
news
2011 Annual Fundraiser - October 25, 2011
On behalf of the board of directors and volunteers of Nations Cry, we would like to thank everyone who participated in our 3rd Annual Fundraiser this past weekend.
The night was a tremendous success, raising a total of $500,000.
The event was truly a group effort with a special thanks going to our hosts (DeWitt family) and all of the sponsors who contributed.
2011 Sponsors
Absolute Spa, Anchor Guitars, BC Sportfishing Group, Cactus Club, Southpoint Exchange, Cassels Brock, Coastal Pacific Aviation, Comor, DLC Distribution, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Golf Town, Innovative Fitness, Julian Carlson, Kerrisdale Design, Kerrisdale IT Consulting, KPMG LLP, Las Ventanas al Paraiso, Lavish Liquid, LUSH, Nita Lake Lodge, Obakki, Ralph’s Radio, Red Galleria, Rosewood Hotel Georgia, Silver Wheaton, Steve Nash Sports Club, Studeo 55, TE Fitness, Thai Jewelers, The Body Shop, Travel Masters Vancouver, U.P. Securities, Vancouver Art Gallery, West Central Forest Products, Whistler Skydiving, Ziptrek Ecotours
Progress at the Waterloo Site - October 14, 2011
Before the Junior Secondary School construction begins in Waterloo, a security wall is being built around Nations Cry’s property. This is common practice in Sierra Leone and is necessary not only for security reasons but for reasons of land title as well.
We just received word that the foundation has been completed and the wall is going to start going up next week. In the meantime, the team has been working on design plans for the school. Below are a few recent photos of the property.
The $650 Cupcake - September 30, 2011
I work with a great group of people and they are all extremely supportive of Nations Cry and my involvement in the organization. For a few of the individuals that I work with, this support translates into any possible excuse to make a donation.
A few months back there was a small birthday celebration at work for myself and few colleagues. Myself and the other birthday boys received a large cupcake and a card signed by everyone in the office. The cupcake was large (and I mean large) and before long I was challenged to eat it in under two minutes (this kind of thing often happens in the office where I work). The kicker was that if I pulled it off, a donation for $200 would be made to Nations Cry. A few other colleagues jumped on board, for some reason thinking that watching me eat a giant cupcake as fast as I could would be quite entertaining, and the states got as high as $650!
The pressure was on. I will let the photo below fill you in on the outcome:
Contributed by Denver Harris
Education Update – More than curriculum - September 2, 2011
I recently finished reading a book called Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (by Kristof & WuDunn). The book covers many situations that the couple encountered in a variety of developing countries. It gives examples of research showing how important it is to educate girls/women and for developing countries to value them as contributing members of society. Some of the stories in the book were very difficult to read, especially with two young daughters of my own, but it gave me an even more earnest desire to make sure that the girls in the community we are helping, Waterloo, have an equal chance to attend and finish school.
The drop-out rate for girls who attend junior high school increases dramatically after hitting puberty. One reason is that most of these girls don’t have access to hygiene supplies and so cannot attend school for one week each month; this causes them to fall too far behind their male peers. Elise, one of our Nations Cry volunteers, recently put me in contact with an organization called Project Thrive (http://www.projectthrive.org). This small organization, based in Washington, has agreed to partner with us and provide each girl who attends the Waterloo school with a feminine hygiene pack. These packs will allow the girls to attend school without missing one week a month during their period. It may not be part of the curriculum, but I see it as an essential piece of our mandate at Nations Cry which is “to change the world through practical, long-term, life-transforming solutions”.
Contributed by Dana Watson
Construction in Sierra Leone - July 10, 2011
When I was invited to join in on a trip to Sierra Leone this summer, I knew very little about Nations Cry and the people involved in the organization. I realized, early on, that this was an organization that operated in a way that resonated with my own values. Traveling as a group of 5 guys, we seemed to have an instant connection and we were all excited to contribute to the construction of a new school, each in our own unique way. I work as a general contractor in residential construction and I was excited to learn about building practices in a work environment so divergent from my own.
The first thing that struck me was how much work they did by hand. Structures in tropical locations like Sierra Leone are made primarily with concrete and bricks that are mixed, formed and cured on site. Other than the dump trucks that deliver sand and gravel, absolutely no machines are used to construct a building. They even make all there gravel by chipping at rocks all day with ball peen hammers. I was shocked. The lumber used for framing the roof of most buildings is cut by hand. A lumber mill in Sierra Leone consists of a pile of logs, several workers with hand saws, and a stack of lumber out at the street for sale. It definitely put some of what I consider to be “hard labour” into perspective. But with such high rates of unemployment, it became obvious to me that they were happy to have a job.
Contributed by Corey Siemens
Education Update – Future Waterloo School - June 14, 2011
Our junior high school project in the community of Waterloo is coming along very quickly. A team of 5 guys went to check out the property and the wall foundation this past June. The rainy season started late so the workers were almost finished the foundation for the 10-acre wall. Unfortunately, I have not yet added hard hat to my list – not that they wear those in Sierra Leone.
I have three huge piles of Sierra Leone junior high textbooks sitting on my office desk. They remind me of the huge task I will have the pleasure of beginning. It may not sound like a job everyone would enjoy, but I LOVE reading and planning curriculum. I took an entire course on it during my Education Undergrad and was one of my favourite tasks as Elementary Head Teacher at WRCA. The Sierra Leone curriculum is a little different from what we use here in BC (picture three huge textbooks entirely dedicated to teaching about agriculture), but I am just as excited to see what we will be teaching the junior high students at the school in Waterloo as I was to plan for my grade 3 classroom. From what I can tell, the material is very applicable (maybe with The Merchant of Venice and learning about cricket in PE being the exceptions) and with a little “tweaking” will make for some very successful and community-contributing (and hopefully even country-influencing) young adults. If you would be interested in joining me on this quest to overview curriculum I would love to have you 
. I am sure I can find something you would enjoy reading and that you would find the task extremely rewarding. You may find a hat that suits you very well.
Contributed by Dana Watson
