August 14, 2008
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World Teacher Aid World Teacher Aid is a Canadian charity committed to improving education throughout the developing world. Our current projects are within Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and El Salvador. There are 4 central areas of focus for the charity: Fund Teacher Salaries – Often in developing countries, qualified teachers migrate to the major cities in order to find work. This leaves a tremendous void in the rural communities and as such these children almost never receive the education they deserve. World Teacher Aid aims to change this by funding the full-time salary of teachers within these rural communities. Fund Daily Feeding Programs – It’s VERY difficult for children to learn anything if they are suffering from malnutrition. By implementing a daily feeding program within these rural schools World Teacher Aid has dramatically improved school attendance and overall performance within each school. Student Sponsorship – When children get to a certain age they are then able to go on to a higher level of education (high school or college). This kind of education can be very costly to families throughout the developing world and although they recognize it’s importance, very few families are able to send their children. Seeing this first hand has begun sponsoring students to continue their education. School Renovation Projects – The learning conditions of many rural schools through Africa and Central America are desolate to say the least. Bit by bit, World Teacher Aid is committed to improving the educational environment within each of the schools we are working with. Amy’s Story (Founder of World Teacher Aid) The World Teacher Aid story begins in 2006 with founder Amy McLaren. Amy McLaren has had travel in her blood since she was very young at heart. Lucky to have parents that let her experience the world, she has traveled independently throughout parts of Europe, Australia, and South East Asia. Throughout her travels she has managed to obtain a 100 hour TEFL course in B.C. This is where the adventure for culture began. After completing her certificate in B.C, she quickly jumped on the internet at www.tefl.com and www.daveseslcafe.com and applied for a number of summer jobs in the U.K. During her time in the U.K she taught a number of different students from many different countries including: Spain, Austria, Poland, Sweden, France, Italy, Korea, Japan and Taiwan. She loved it so much, that she ventured out to complete a summer in England and then in Spain while completing her Degree in Sociology and Geography. Her love for traveling caused her to look into teachers college abroad, which led to attending Griffith University in Brisbane Australia where she completed her Masters of Teaching. Her favorite part was the children in the Torres Straight Islands, teaching in that small community was an awesome experience for Amy. Upon returning to Canada after completing her Masters degree, it did not take long before she was on the plane yet again and heading to South East Asia. In south East Asia Amy got the chance to live with a Thai host family. While learning about the generous Thai culture she also volunteered at a local school. After completing her stay she then ventured to Taiwan where she taught for two weeks. Not only did she learn about the Taiwanese culture she also picked up some of the language thanks to her great students. After Taiwan she visited China and Indonesia. All great cultural and learning experiences. While Amy enjoyed traveling and staying in hotels and eating at nice restaurants. The part about her travels that stays most in her heart is visiting third world countries, where she witnessed extreme poverty and a lack of education. Knowing that education, helping others and traveling is something that she loved. She knew that she wanted to do something meaningful, something to help the children that she saw in many countries that didn’t get a chance to attend school because of low finances or a lack of a teacher. In November 2006 Amy and Stu McLaren decided to do something about it. Fortunately five key speakers donated their time to complete a teleseminar on internet marketing with all proceeds going towards a mission trip to El Salvador over Christmas that year. The call was a HUGE success. Together, they managed to raise over , 000 to take to El Salvador. Upon arriving in San Salvador Amy and Stu visited two orphanages where they were able to fund 59 girls to attend school, buy 72 backpacks and pencil cases and many more education supplies. The main focus of the trip was a small mountain village called San Fernando. While visiting San Fernando they were able to purchase a fax machine, power surges for the computers and a photocopier. Education supplies were also donated that Stu and Amy brought in their suitcases. The adventure was such a success that they decided to make it an annual event. With the help of the community, the Grand Erie District School Board and such organizations as Global Volunteer Network, Free the Children and IFREE, World Teacher Aid has begun to have a tremendous impact on a variety of schools, teachers and children throughout Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and El Salvador. Board of Directors Jeremy Laidlaw Jeremy Laidlaw graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario in 2002. He graduated with a business degree and has since moved forward to create a very successful company titled Robin Hood Tech. It’s Jeremy’s experience working with various non-profit organizations David Frey David Frey is from Huston, Texas. Before coming into the business world he spent two years working in missionary work in Bolivia. However, upon returning from his adventures he went into the business wold where he has been helping business’ grow and prosper for the past ten years. David spent five years as a senior business consultant in one of the world’s largest consulting firms. Anderson Consulting, helping clients grow their business. David has also spent tie as a Marketing Practitioner in the “real world” as a former senior V.P. for a 0 Million company, and V.P., Sales and Marketing retirement community industry. David is presently the president of Marketing Best Practices, Inc.,. He likes to say that he has rolled up his sleeves and lived “in the trenches” with dozens of small businesses’ and entrepreneur, helping them improve their marketing efforts. David still lives in Houston, Texas with his wife and two children. Meghan Smith Meghan is a full time teacher with the Grand Erie District School Board. Meghan is an active member in her local community as well as withing the school board, where she sits on numerous committees, one of them being the Social Justice Committee. Patrick O’Connor Patrick O’Connor is a Scholastic Education Sales Consultant. Patrick brings a wealth of knowledge to our board in the area of education and has been a great help in improving and growing our Write To Give Program. Marlies Redekop Marlies is a Vice-Principal for the Grand Erie District School Board. Her experience as a teacher and a principal brings great advantages to our board. - Contact Us
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