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r r . N " sic, rut, ( zntal 10 diittit " [1 ciciih,rn' - o y», "aTtr1 x”. w A - IME Inn m "rs" - Il M / . .r / _ W.‘ _ l - _1'" - "7 IA‘I";‘\ . l '3." . g _‘V‘(" a " - - _ IV ' " 1",“ro 9 IS., 6 lee', == -‘C‘Ei'O‘U‘ 1.0.0.?“ BN1T, V _ .MMW. MPM. G'tiiile%Ri , .? . ”.m' . NMB, val? i%GiiaIIty, '1..- . 1llh!terlloo woman organizes local Elllll_ Walk It reuse awareness for endangered African ttlltl'lldrtm The 25-year-old Waterloo woman has organized the first-ever local Gulu Walk that will take place this Sat- urday starting at First United Church. ll it takes is that first A),?), to make a dilfer- nee. And Jen Dawson is ready to walk - literally. The pur- pose of the event. which will see par- tic i p ant s walk 1l.5 kilometres. is to raise awareness and support for the young night commuters il Uganda. Africa. According to Dawson's research. every night 40,000 Ugandan children leave their villages and walk more than 10 kilometres to sleep in the safety of large urban cities, like Gulu. The chil- dren fear that due to the country's war, they will be federal/provincial Afilnding boost last eek will help the Region of Waterloo inch closer and closer to its long-term affordable housinglarget. Waterloo regional council learned last Wednesday the Canadian government will give the municipality $12.36 mil- lion under the Canada- Ontario Affordable Hous- ing Agreement. The money will be used to help carry out the region's affordable housing strategy. which aims to By New BAILEY ( Chrorurle Muff By Mum Bum Chrqn “ESE“L - Funding comes through for affordable housing strategy in Northern "We want to put this on the world agenda. " - Jen Dawson Walk organizer abducted. raped, forced to kill or be killed by the rebels if they sleep in their villages. Every morning they make the same trek home. saw the night commuters but I read about them in the newspapers." Dawson said, “I want to make people aware that this is happen- ing." Dawson said. "This is happening to so many chil- dren yet we never seem to hear about it - even though the war has been going for 19years" . Dawson heard bits and pieces about the dangers children face tto put each night e world when she " spent a year id. working at a mason refugee camp . in the south- "UT.er em part of the country "I never Her answer came this past July when she read about Kieran Hayward and Adrian Bradbury. two Toron- "At that time I would have loved to do something but I thought. 'What can I do?'" create 1,500 new afford- able housing units by the end of 2008. "This is definitely wel- come news," said Waterloo Regional Chairman Ken Seiling. "We're hoping the money will flow fairly soon so that we can put out a call for projects." Since the region announced its plan in 2001. 875 new affordable housing units have been occupied, are under con- struction, or are in the detailed design and financing stages. "Very few municipali- ties are doing this much in terms of affordable hous- ing," Sailing said. "We are CITY definitely one of the lead- ers, if not the leader, which is preqy signififant/' Selling said an impor- tant part of the region's enhanced affordable hous- ing strategy is a rural com- ponent, for which a por- tion of the new funds will be made available. "I can't really predict at this point what areas we'll marge”, but we will be putting out calls for pro- posals." he said. With the new funds in place. Seiling said new life has been breathed into the plan. 7 "Now I'm very confi- dent we'll reach our goal." he said. to men who publicly told the story of the night com- muters by walking 12.5 kilo- metres each night in July to sleep in front of Toronto Jen Dawson of Waterloo shows photos of some of the children she met while working in a Ugandan refugee camp last year, NEW? is ’ é L; City Hall. They then walked home at sunrise, all the while con- tinuing to work full time and maintain their daily Waterloo council supports Cambridge hospital lunlling plea 'aterloo Region Wneeds to work together to ensure it operales more efficiently and effectively for all of its citizens. Court. lan McLean made that stance perfectly clear Monday night when he pro- posed a motion to Waterloo city council that asked its members to lend support to Cambridge Memorial Hos- pital. The motion came in light of the provincial govern- ment's decision to renege on its funding promise of a $70 million expansion and reno- vations to the hospilal's mental health services wing BIt BIANCONNELL For The Chronicle The two men have now initiated a worldwide civil movement, Gulu Walk Day, which will take place in routines. of the hospital. McLean's motion asked Waterloo to become more involved with the rest of the region to call on the provin- cial government to review the decision they made towards putting an indefi- nite hold on the hospital's funding. Plaiis include asking Ontario Premier Dalton "Having adequate services... is one of the drivers of our economy. " -- lan McLean Ward 5 councillor ANDREA BAILEY W070 565 King St. N. 0 Nonhlield In GTO Gas Bar ' wwwatwirtthtss.ca 800-1 417 _. cities across the globe. Thanks to Dawson, one of those walks will be in Waterloo. Organizers will also be collecting donations and selling T-shirts and plastic bracelets, with all proceeds going to Ugandan charitable organizations. "I was going to go to the Toronto walk but then it occurred to me that I could organize a local one - that's what I could do." Dawson said. The event will kick off at 4:30 pm. with some speech- es outside the church before the walkers, who are encouraged to wear orange, set out on their hike, The event will wrap up at the clock tower outside Ter- race on the Square retire- ment home with a candle, light vigil. “We want to put this issue on the world agenda." Dawson said. "We will be collecting sig- natures that will be sent to the United Nations Security Council to show them that this is something important and that it matters to more than just a select few." McGuinty, the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, and the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal to review the decisions made around Cambridge's hospi- tal. McLean said Waterloo citizens depend on all of the regional hospitals fur differ- ent reasons. so the city needs to lend its support and recognize the need that Carntiridge's hospital is experiencing. "(We need) to recognize we are interdependent on each other for a variety of things Health care is one of those things," McLean said. "Having adequate services... is one of the drivers of our Pry, Haunew Mhe ' 12am Burg n In b at] s wrung a FREE HEADSET "0 lry value Continued on page 9 TELUS