Gabriolan Rob Plowright says Developing World Connections (DWC), “a Kamloops-based, volunteer-driven, registered Canadian charity” with which he volunteers has added Haiti to the list of countries it will visit to help build needed housing and community infrastructure.

Plowright, who has lived on Gabriola for three years, contacted the Shingle last Monday to tell us about the charity’s work - not only the plans it is making to visit Haiti this spring, but also of the expedition that he will be leading to Swaziland this July.

Developing World Connections is involved in eight countries in Africa, Asia, and South America, Plowright said. He said the agency was started after the 2004 Tsunami which devastated Sri Lanka. He said the charity partners with local aid agencies in developing countries to help build group homes, orphanages, community halls and other structures. He said DWC volunteers do the building for these projects and the local agencies provide the operating funds. DWC tries to send between three and six teams per year to each country, he said.

It costs about $30 per month for kids to go to school in Sri Lanka where average income is about $100 per month, Plowright said, so the buildings they construct often double as schools for orphans and the working poor.

Volunteers raise the money for themselves and the material they use in their construction projects, Plowright said. He said he raised money for his own trips by doing painting and flooring for which people receive a 40 per cent tax receipt. The money is paid directly to DWC he said.

Plowright said the biggest financial support DWC receives is from Rotarians and retired school teachers such as himself. He said it costs about $4-5,000 per participant for two weeks in whichever country a project is taking place. He said about 80 per cent of that goes to travel and accommodation, 10 per cent for building materials, etc. and 10 per cent admin. fees. “DWC has in it’s statutes that the admin fee will never be over 10 per cent, and last year was the highest and it came in at around nine per cent”, he said.

Plowright said he got involved with DWC when his son, William, who travelled for a number of years between high school and university, met DWC President Wayne McRann on a flight just before starting at UBC. William asked McRann why the charity was not working in Swaziland, Plowright said, and McRann told William to write up a proposal. That resulted in a 10 year commitment to work in Swaziland, he said.

It is students who do the majority of the work with DWC, Plowright said. He said some university programs and high schools give students credits for volunteering in such places, and that the majority of the projects are student driven. He said that usually about 20 to 30 students work on a construction project for up to six weeks in the countries they go to.

Plowright said his son set up a 10 year project in Peru and Guatemala, and now DWC has asked him to do the same in Haiti.

Plowright said he himself will be leading a group of about eight people to Swaziland in July. He said Swaziland is a good fit for him because he has a degree in 19th Century African history. He said the need is great in Swaziland because there are so many orphans due to the AIDS epidemic. In a country whose average life expectancy is 34, there is a whole missing generation and children are being raised by other children or by grandmothers, he said.

Plowright said DWC is waiting for things to settle down a bit in Haiti, then a group of adults will go there to construct whatever buildings are most needed. He said they already have a connection with local charity in Haiti.

Contact: r.plowright@shaw.ca or 250-247-2037.