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Photo by Ken Barbour

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Global Stewardship instructor, Cam Sylvester, with proof of the huge hole he helped dig on a recent trip to Kenya.

Working the world for opportunities

| Submitted by Cam ‘Sylvester

Ask Capilano College Political
Studies instructor and Global
Stewardship program convenor,
Cam Sylvester, what he’s done
lately, and you'll get a pretty
mundane answer: “I dug a hole.”

But we’re not talking just any hole.
Tt was 5.5 metres wide and two
metres deep. And it wasn’t just
anywhere either—it was for a
village school in the Masai Mara
region of Kenya.

Cam has just returned from Kenya
where he dug alongside Craig
Kielburger, the 23-year-old
Torontonian who started Free the
Children, a non-governmental
organization (NGO) that builds
schools in Kenya and around the
world, when he was only 12 years
old. Cam was there with the
support of a grant from the Gordon
Foundation to further expand the
Global Stewardship program’s
relationship with Free the Children,
and to meet with universities in
Kenya, all in order to expand
opportunities for students in the
popular program. The hole they dug
will house a huge tank to collect
rainwater for the village.

“The Gordon Foundation has been a
great supporter of our dream to
have students involved globally in
service learning, volunteering and
studying development issues in
Vietnam, Costa Rica, and Kenya
simultaneously,” Cam explains, his
lips still blistered from Kenya’s
equatorial sun. “It was a real
honour to work with Craig and his
team. They really did all the work.
I just did my best not to keel over
from a heart attack. I’ve never
been with a group of people with
more energy and enthusiasm. It
was very inspiring.”

Jeanne Mikita, his partner and a

Geography instructor at the College,

joined Cam on the trip. For Jeanne,
tapping into her flexible benefits
spending account to help pay for
the trip was well worth it.

“From a professional development
perspective, it was a great
opportunity,” she says. “I’m
teaching about Nairobi in my urban
geography classes this term. It’s
one thing to read about Kibera, the
largest slum in Africa where
perhaps one third of Nairobi’s three
million people live. It’s another to

Tired of:taking your life into
your hands when turning left at
the foot: of Lillooet? Curious
about how far northbound traffic
lineups are going to extend onto
the Second Narrows Bridge for
commuters wanting to access

Free the Children’s Craig Kielburger (left),
Capilano College Geography instructor,
Jeanne Mikita, and Cam Sylvester.

visit it and bring home photos and
stories for my students.”

According to Cam, the meetings
with three of Kenya’s top
universities went very well.

“Tm not sure which university
Global Stewardship will eventually
partner with,” he says, “but the
faculty at all the universities I
visited told me they were very
interested in developing
relationships with our Tourism and
Women’s Studies departments, so
I’ve brought back lots of contact
names.”

And Cam’s visit with a contact at
the United Nations office in Nairobi
may also lead to future internships
for students in the College’s
Political Studies department.

Exit 22? Wondering what the
current construction is all about
at the foot of Lillooet? Several
changes to the way vehicles
access Capilano College and its
neighbouring streets are currently
in the works and they should
address the area’s traffic concerns.

B.C’s Ministry of Transportation
identified six locations for
improvement to meet the growing
volume of traffic and additional
development in the area. They are
Mt. Seymour/Seymour Boulevard
Intersection; Mt. Seymour/
Riverside Drive intersection;
Seymour Boulevard/Dollarton
Highway. ramp and Main Street
intersections; Main Street/
Mountain Highway intersection;
Mountain Highway/Fern Street
intersection with Highway 1
eastbound exit ramp/Fern Street
intersection; and Highway 1
westbound ramp with Lillooet
Road/Mt. Seymour Parkway
intersection.

College Adult Basic Education
instructor, John Pass (left), _
with Canada’s Governor General
Michaélle Jean and Jean-Daniel
Lafond, viceregal consort of
Canada, at the Literary Awards
ceremony at Rideau Hall on
December 13. John was the
2006 recipient of the Governor
General's Literary Award in the
English-language poetry category.

cm = Capilano
Ca Perge

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