The Bridgewater Nova Scotia Leg of the KAIROS Living Courage Tour
By Bev McDonal
15/06/12
Lucy loves Tim Horton’s coffee and Claudia sells great soy based cookies! These are things we learned having representatives of two KAIROS partners among us. The two women and Rachel Warden were waiting for me at the home of Jim Guild and his partner Jane in Halifax. I arrived with a tiny VW Golf to transport all three plus their “stuff” to Bridgewater for their last presentation of the Nova Scotia leg of their tour. It took two men the best part of half an hour to fit two huge suitcases, five smaller cases, plus a digital projector, maps, posters, olive oil, etc. into my small car plus four people. We were fully loaded and the car laboured up the South Shore hills until we reached our destination.
Claudia had not been feeling well the first few days after her arrival in Canada so we stopped at a Tea House in Mahone Bay for a soothing drink. Unfortunately there was no “Tim’s” for Lucy at the tea house so she still had to wait until we reached Bridgewater for her cup of “grog”. After setting up at Bridgewater United Church we had a meal together at a local restaurant with several local folks joining us including Cathy Etter who sells Zatoun Oil in the area. We then felt ready to face the evening!
The chapel at the church proved to just the right size for our gathering. The room was filled with folks from many South Shore towns from Bayswater to Shelburne and from towns in the Annapolis Valley from Port Williams to Middleton. Ruth Rudderham made all the local arrangements and hosted Claudia and Rachel overnight as well. The atmosphere was relaxed and informal. There were several display tables for KAIROS, Zatoun Oil and information about Israel/Palestine. Tea and coffee were available for those in attendance.
I carried out my attempt at a territorial welcome to the Territory of the Mi’kmaq and the District of Shubenacadie. Joanne McFadden, retiring KAIROS Board member, acted as moderator. Folks seemed receptive and responded with applause at times during the presentations. We learned among other things that Colombia still has 4,000,000 internally displaced persons and a lot of poverty despite the Colombian government claims that peace has come to their country and violence has been reduced. Lucy made us understand how difficult life in Palestine is for many families. Her sister emailed her during our time together to say that her family had been without water for 15 days and that water was a huge problem. It is not being equitably shared by the two peoples. Claudia’s cookies were a big hit and Lucy learned more about Zatoun Oil (a Canadian venture). A reporter from the Bridgewater newspaper took photos and conducted some interviews.
As we headed to the airport in Halifax on Wednesday morning, I had the feeling we were just getting to know Lucy and Claudia. They are both hard working brave young women who have already seen more violence and hard times in their lifetimes than most of us will ever see! Our hearts went with them as they headed off to Deer Lake Newfoundland for the next leg of their tour. We wish them both success in their endeavours and God’s protection.
Bev McDonald
Bayswater, N.S
