Alberta – You may not know it, but there’s probably someone in your community helping to end poverty in Central America by supporting Horizons of Friendship, a Canadian charitable organization, based in Cobourg – a small town one hour east of Toronto on the north shore of Lake Ontario.
The connection between Horizons of Friendship and Alberta began in late 1973, when individuals, churches and other organizations responded to the appeal of one of its founders, Father Tim Coughlan, for help for communities in Honduras devastated by Hurricane Fifi. The legendary generosity of Albertans means that much of this support continues to this day.
Some Alberta supporters choose to help Horizons of Friendship with their volunteer activities. Currently, Beth Chetner who lives in Calgary is a member of the Board of Directors. She joined the Board in 2006 and acts as Horizons of Friendship’s official Alberta representative to the provincial government’s Wild Rose Foundation. Beth recently commented; “I love the way that Horizons works with local partner organizations in areas of education and self-help community development. I hope to continue to learn more as Horizons expands its support base in Alberta,”
Other Albertans have shown solidarity by travelling with Horizons of Friendship on its annual exposure tour to Central America. This past February, Murray and Penny Young, also of Calgary, spent 11 days in Nicaragua, meeting with community organizations and learning about projects supported by Horizons of Friendship.
When asked about their impressions of the work, Penny responded: “I thought that the work being done was great; it was very worthwhile and useful for those involved.” Murray added; “The money Albertans give to Horizons is money well spent. I was very impressed with the monitoring and auditing that Horizons undertakes. With a lot of organizations, it’s hard to know where your money’s going. With Horizons, you know that it’s going exactly where it should and the recipients are accounting for it correctly.”
In fact, the two were so impressed that, on their return, they decided to expand their support of Horizons of Friendship’s work by raising funds to buy a sterilizer for the health clinic in a low-income neighbourhood run by one of the Nicaraguan organizations they visited.
Central America is our close neighbour; yet over half of its 40 million inhabitants live in poverty without access to the basic human rights of clean water, adequate food, health care and basic education. Many Albertans, as well as Canadians from coast to coast to coast, feel outraged by this injustice and have joined Horizons of Friendship’s efforts to improve life for Central American families.
But financial support from Alberta goes beyond individual and community donors. In 1982, Horizons of Friendship started receiving funding from the Alberta provincial government through its Agency for International Development and since 1994, through The Wild Rose Foundation.
The Wild Rose Foundation matches contributions provided by Albertans to fund projects by qualified charitable organizations that improve social and economic conditions among the poor in developing countries, specifically those in smaller communities in rural areas.
Due to the ongoing strength and depth of its Alberta-based support, Horizons of Friendship has received the maximum provincial government grant every year since 1982 and has just received funding for its 13th proposal to The Wild Rose Foundation. Currently, Albertans from across the province support the work of Horizons of Friendship to the tune of over $26,000. In 2006, Horizons of Friendship registered in Alberta as an extra-provincial not-for-profit corporation to meet the new requirements of The Wild Rose Foundation.
An example of the work made possible by the assistance of Albertans, is a community health project in rural Nicaragua. Horizons of Friendship has made a significant difference to the lives of over 4,000 inhabitants of seven rural communities in an area where 80% of the population live in abject poverty. For many years, Horizons of Friendship has supported the efforts of a community organization, The Association for People’s Development (ADP) which works with local families to improve their health and nutrition.
Specifically, leadership training has been provided so local people can participate more effectively in community government and manage their own credit funds. Along with this, training was given in preventative health and sustainable agriculture and the families have been supplied with grain storage silos, latrines, wood-saving stoves and wells. The health of all family members is now improved through access to clean water, more sanitary conditions and an increase in the quality and quantity of food produced. Murray and Penny Young visited a very similar project on their trip to Nicaragua in February.
These kind of basic projects are not glamorous or newsworthy, but make an incredible difference to people and communities who, for so many years, have struggled just to survive. They are typical of the kind of grassroots, long-term sustainable development for which Horizons of Friendship is renowned. Albertans can be proud of their contribution to this modest but vital work.
