Out of Africa
‘There's no end to help needed’
Posted by Mary Golem
‘There's no end to help needed’
Posted by Mary Golem
FORMOSA – Jody Benninger had more reason than many to celebrate the goodness of being Canadian on Canada Day.
The 29-year-old Formosa resident has spent a good portion of the last two years living and working overseas, first with HIV/AIDS sufferers in South Africa and Zambia and more recently working with the elderly in Ghana.
"Oftentimes I hear people complaining of things that most Africans can only ‘dream’ of complaining about one day," Benninger says, "and it's frustrating. It's truly an eye-opening experience to see the way people are forced to live in developing nations so that we may live as comfortably as we do here – especially the elderly."
"In most African countries, there is no such thing as a pension plan or even health care security at all," she noted. "And the elderly in Africa suffer the same problems that come with aging that the elderly do here in Canada, except theirs is coupled with crippling poverty."
Benninger believes Canadians need to take an interest in what is happening outside of Canada's borders. "When we educate ourselves, it becomes a lot more clear why the world works in the funny way it does," she says.
Living her life with what she calls "a life conscientiousness of when you know better, you do better," Benninger says her greatest wish is that through education and awareness, "we can all become pro-active in the quest to bridge the gap between those who have, and those who have not."
In an effort to do that, Benninger will be making a presentation about her journey in Ghana at the White Rose Coffeehouse on Walkerton's Main Street this Fri., July 4, starting at 7:30 pm.
The presentation is open to the public.
Benninger spent from July 2007 to February 2008 on a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded internship. Help the Aged Canada, based out of Ottawa, is an NGO that is part of the CIDA Internship Program and they recruited Benninger, sending her on the internship with HelpAge Ghana out of Accra, Ghana's capital city, for eight months.
It was an experience Benninger will always remember, but may not necessarily repeat.
While there, she worked on an income-generating project with seniors, as well as helping at and organizing events and activities, including information meetings for seniors.
"This internship taught me to stick with what I know," she said, admitting the knowledge and experience she gained while working as a volunteer with HIV/AIDS sufferers at a transition home in Ottawa while studying at Carleton University in Ottawa for her Honours Sociology degree (2004 graduate) "is really what shaped me as a person" and what also led her to be part of a Development Instructor Program through an international NGO, eventually training in Michigan before going to South Africa in June 2006.
"I never, ever thought I would be working in the HIV/AIDS field," she said upon her return from Zambia in early 2007. "But what I experienced at the transition home was really life-changing. Once you know something, you can't act like you don't know . . . I have always wanted to do something for the betterment of someone else's life and those life experiences at the transition home (where some of the most rejected members of society would come to die of the disease) are what led me to volunteer work in Africa."
Along with teaching and counselling work, her work in Zambia included time in the laboratory actually testing for the virus.
She admits that while she enjoyed the people and her time in Ghana, working with the elderly "is not my thing" but adds it was a good learning experience.
"Just becoming aware of the problems is so important," she said. "Everyone needs someone. And I would hope if I need someone in life, someone would be there. I'd like to live out my daily life with that thought in mind."
She admits she was surprised at the amount of pollution in Accra, Ghana's capital city, and was surprised to learn the pivotal role the country played in the slave trade.
She was also surprised at what she called "the old school mentality" in the country "when it comes to human rights issues" and was shocked to learn from police "to take things into my own hands" when she was robbed of everything she had of value in the country, including her cell phone and digital camera.
"I was basically told there was nothing they could, or would, do for me. It was a good lesson for me – to not get too attached to material things."
What she did learn working with the elderly is the importance of taking time for them in our lives, both overseas and here in Canada. "There were a lot of human rights abuses there. It was hard to take . . . especially difficult to see the elderly being treated so poorly. The elderly need our attention and our patience. We need to be mindful that we'll be there someday too."
Although unsure of what or where she'll be working next, Benninger intends to do whatever she can to help bridge the gap between the developed and the developing world, while at the same time, hoping to inspire others to do the same.
"There is no end to the help that is needed," Benninger said when she returned from working with HIV/AIDS sufferers in Zambia and South Africa.
The same holds true, she learned, for the elderly in Ghana.
Source: http://www.thepost.on.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1100525
