Interview: Dave Toycen, President of World Vision Canada
repost: http://streamsofhope.blogspot.com/2009/06/interview-dave-toycen-president-of.html
Author: Bryna Jones
Interview: Dave Toycen, President of World Vision Canada
For those of you who didn’t read my post yesterday, please take a moment to do so before you continue with this intro. I feel almost any words I use to describe the work of World Vision, Canada, and it’s President, Dave Toycen will be inadequate.
For those of you who may not know, World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. As followers of Jesus, they are motivated by God’s love for all people regardless of race, religion, gender or ethnicity.
Mr. Toycen’s career in international aid and devleopment has spanned more than 35 years, 21 of which have been spent at World Vision. His 12 year tenure as President has seen donations increase almost nine fold to over $381 million and the number of children sponsored by Canadians has risen fivefold to more than 480,000.
In this two part interview, Dave was kind enough to share with SOH his recent experience in the Democratic Republic of Congo–a country torn by civil war, poverty, and some of the worst injustice the world has ever seen.
ME: What was the purpose of your trip to the Congo?
Dave: It has been 15 years since I had last been to the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, during the time of the Rwandan genocide. At the time there were refugees scattered across Goma, bodies everywhere waiting for mass burial – and now more violence stalks the region. I had to come back, to see how our programs are helping those struggling now and how we can better serve those in need moving forward.
I also wanted to meet with our staff and other NGOs in the region to encourage them. Many leave their own families behind to sacrificially and persistently put the needs of others before their own. And I wanted to remind them that there is a team of people in Canada working to support them and the work on the ground.
ME: What is the situation like there?
Dave: What we’re seeing in eastern DRC is an incredible humanitarian crisis – absolutely one of the worst in the world right now. Nearly 1.5 million people are displaced, women and girls are the victims of sexual violence and children are recruited as soldiers daily. An estimated 45,000 people are dying every month from malnutrition and infectious diseases in the region – a number we would certainly not tolerate here in Canada.
For me personally, this was one of the most difficult trips I have taken in a long time. It all strikes like a body blow when you go into a therapeutic feeding centre and see skinny, severely malnourished little ones struggling for life. One mother named Furaha has two children at her side, a baby who is one month old named Divine and a one year old named Prisca. Prisca has signs of severe malnutrition, including painful mouth sores. Furaha’s husband is out looking for work so she is left to care for two sick children on her own.
I was also struck by the incredible amount of sexual violence that women and girls face. It is certainly a tool of war used by many parties to the increased violence and one that leaves sheer trauma and terror in its wake.
ME: What is World Vision’s presence in Congo?
Dave: World Vision began working in the DRC in 1958, helping girls who would otherwise have been forced into early marriage. By 1988, World Vision had established longer-term community-based projects, through child sponsorship, and is now assisting 56,000 sponsored children in the country.
We are currently working with communities through 25 long-term development programs. We are working to improve water and sanitation, develop infrastructure, improve health and education, in addition to responding to HIV and AIDS while improving food security through special, shorter-term projects.
We are helping 50,000 children recover from the trauma of war in eastern DRC through a UNICEF-funded psychosocial and child protection project. We are also helping families in crisis with survival items like blankets, soap, plastic sheeting for temporary shelters and other emergency help to children and their families.
ME: Do you think the Canadian government needs to take more responsibility in addressing the needs of this conflict?
Dave: We believe that the conflict in the DRC requires a regional solution, and Canada, as co-chair of the Friends Group to the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region, is well placed to support the Governments of DRC, Rwanda and others in finding a lasting solution for peace and development.
Given that The Mission of the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (abbreviated in French as MONUC) primary mandate is the protection of civilians, and given Canada’s leadership on the protection of civilians mandate, we would say that there is a logical fit for Canada to provide greater support for the activities and planning of MONUC around the protection of civilians, especially girls and women who are so vulnerable to rape, which has become a frequent weapon of war in this conflict. This will require the concerted efforts of the international community, and we call on Canada to play a lead role in this.
This is the end of part one. Check back on Thursday for the final half of the interview in which Dave describes what we can do as individuals to help those affected by this crisis. He also shares two personal stories of the inspiration and hope that can cause people, and a nation, to heal.
