| Students raise money for earthquake
victims |
| Collingwood Collegiate collects supplies,
to assist El Salvadorians |
| By Raymond Bowe |
| Enterprise-Bulletin (Tue, January 23, 2000) |
| COLLINGWOOD - On Jan. 13, a powerful earthquake rocked most
of Central America, wreaking havoc across mainly the small Third World
nation of El Salvador, spewing mud slides and destroying villages in its
path. |
| To help the people in the epicenter, students in CCI's
Amnesty International chapter are gathering medical supplies, blankets and
bottled water to alleviate the hardship of the locals. The CCI
chapter has 15 members. |
| CCI's Canadian and World Issues teacher Mark Ruzylo
volunteered his pickup truck to take the supplies to Toronto. From
Toronto, the supplies will be loaded on a ship destined for Central
America. |
| "El Salvador is a very poor country and people there
can't help themselves because of a lack of money," said Veronica
Downie, student leader of the Amnesty chapter. |
| "Even the little bit (of supplies) we get in
Collingwood will help." |
| Marty Wilkinson, who also teaches Canadian and World Issues
at the high school, pushed the students to raise funds to help the people
there. Wilkinson visited El Salvador in 1992 just after the end of
the Central American country's 12-year-long civil war. he was part
of a delegation who reported to educational committees and the teacher's
association about what was going on there. |
| "The rural areas had nothing going for them,"
said Wilkinson, citing lack of health care as a primary concern. The
government of the time, he added, was doing little to support rural
communities. |
| "Besides, (residents of Piedre Azul) were very fearful
of the government," he said, because the village was a strategic
military outpost. |
| In 1992, students at the local high school joined forces
with the Swiss government to help build a school in the remote village of
Piedre Azul. |
| The school enrolled about 200 students, and because the
group helped to build the school, the Salvadorian government hired three
teachers for the school. |
| CCI sends $500 a year to purchase supplies, and the school
bears a Canadian flag, a map of Canada pinpointing Collingwood, and a
plaque commemorating CCI for its continuing support. |
| The village is about 20 km from San Miguel, the closest
city. |
| The remote region was hardest hit, and rescue crews haven't
even reached San Miguel yet. |
| Therefore, it has not been determined whether or not he
school and many of its students survived the earthquake. |
| El Salvador's population is over 5 million people. |
| In 1996, Wilkinson spent another month in El Salvador,
along with two CCI students, to help with work in the fields and help with
child care. |
| He noted that they were readily accepted. |
| "Because we helped to build a school there, we would
like to be involved," said Downie. "However, we are pretty
sure it was destroyed (during the earthquake and subsequent mud
slides)." |
| Any money collected to help with relief will be wired to
the country's equivalent of the United Way. The chapter has raised
almost $1,000 in just under a week. |
| Although this is the first trip of supplies going to El
Salvador, as log as donations keep coming in, the students will keep
sending them to South America. |
| "We'll make as many trips as we need to," said
Downie. |
| The Peak FM is serving as a depot for people who want to
donate blanket, towels and first aid supplies. |
| For further info, call Marty Wilkinson at 445-3161 ext 367
at the high school, or at home at 444-2791. |
