Sunshine Coast people are the sort of folks who look at the world and see things that need doing, and then set out to do something. They question, donate, volunteer – and sometimes they travel overseas to spend time working in Third World countries, to see for themselves.
Lynda Kearns is one of these people. She spent her childhood summers on the beach at Davis Bay, and became a full-time resident in 1997. And with the help of many people and businesses on the Sunshine Coast, Kearns has gone much further.
She is the founder and project director of a Coast-based registered charity, the CanaDares Society, which supports and finances a home for children coming from hazardous living conditions in rural Tanzania. CanaDares works with the Tanzanian NGO Vijaliwa Vingi Society (VVS), which Kearns started 15 years ago. She travels between the Sunshine Coast and Tanzania twice a year for three months at a time.
Now CanaDares is setting out to realize a long-time goal, to develop a school at the existing VVS 20-acre site (about 60 kilometres west of Dar es Salaam). The community is chiefly Muslim, but VVS is not affiliated with any religious organization, and the project’s children are both Muslim and Christian.
Kearns wants to grow her school, building classrooms and hiring teachers for each grade, as the students progress. They will be taught in English and Swahili at the same time, with an emphasis on reading. (In the Tanzanian school system, primary school is taught in Swahili, secondary school is taught in English. This transition gives many children trouble. Books are rare; reading skills are given little attention.)
The new school program will also provide an opportunity for interested Canadian teachers to volunteer for a month or two at a time, to assist the Tanzanian teachers who will be presenting the curriculum.
With her years of experience in Tanzania, Kearns is familiar with the social norms, language difficulties, government regulations, bureaucracy and physical obstacles in starting up a social enterprise in one of the world’s poorest countries.
Kearns plans to make the school financially self-sufficient over the next few years. Right now, however, she is raising funds to operate Vijaliwa Vingi and build and grow the school, all at the same time.
Her experience in doing the apparently impossible will be invaluable. And so will the support of Sunshine Coast people.
CanaDares’ big event of the year will be their annual Golf Tournament and Dinner (with silent and not-so-silent auctions and highly miscellaneous entertainment) to be held at the Sunshine Coast Golf and Country Club on July 30. It’s supported by many Sunshine Coast businesses.
For advance registration, visit the Sunshine Coast Golf and Country Club website at www.sunshinecoastgolf.com.
To meet Kearns and learn how you can get involved, come to a press conference at St. John’s United Church in Davis Bay on June 14, from 4 to 5 p.m. A further talk and question period will continue from 7 to 9 p.m.
Contact Kearns at 604-993-0107 or [email protected].
– Submitted
