Posted by Mirjana Komljenovic
Carolyn Houston receiving a cheque from Aart Dronkers for The CLAP (Canadian Leadership Assistance Program)
Yesterday I met with Carolyn Huston to hand her the cheque for Bangladesh thanks to the generosity of our club to support her efforts. The project in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh is of particular interest because Carolyn has had to face considerable risk to even travel there. She has identified a need and went for it with a lot of bravery and a hands-on approach from buying a motorcycle to securing land to build a school. Our project will be to provide training for sewing machines, so that the villagers can generate income by mending and making clothing they can sell on the local markets. The trainees will train other villagers and thus sustain the program for future generations. Those who have been trained will train other villagers and so on. The sewing machines are mechanical and therefore easy to maintain.

Carolyn has formed and registered a non-profit organization in Canada early 2017 and since then she established partnerships with Canadian and local aid organizations, as well as build a strong net-work on site in the Chittagong Hills Tracts villages.

I have enclosed 3 attachments: A photo of the handover at the Beanery yesterday, a document describing the tailoring project our club will be supporting, and the Thank You letter from Carolyn Huston as president of the Canadian Leadership Assistance Program (CLAP).

Please join me in applauding Carolyn for the great work she is doing!

Aart Dronkers