ar

_ including South Africa.

30 Terrace Review — — Wednesday, May 17, 1989

Students seek facts } re
from African visitor J |

iy foweren eee

_ About 40 students at Skeena

Junior Secondary School took
advantage of an opportunity last

Friday to question a woman

from Zimbabwe about life in
that country and its relation-—
ships with neighboring natidns, |

Connie Nkonio,
educated in her native country

Social Leadership, She told the
students that her career takes her
‘throughout: the 400 ,000-square

kilometer country. organizing.

small-scale social and economic
development projects in rural

areas. She said the country is at-.
.tempting to. find solutions to

high school drop-out rates and
high unemployment in the
regions outside urban areas by.
establishing what she termed
“education with production’’,
which involved life and culture
skills training and education in
trades.

“We are attempting to make
changes,” she said, “and we

decided to come here to find out -

how people make changes in
Canada.”

Questions from the students
ranged from politics to social

customs and the country’s

favorite sports. They learned
that Zimbabwe has a parliamen-
tary democracy in the British
tradition, that children attain

‘the age of majority at 18.

(although, she noted that drink-
ing alcoho! is socially unaccep-
table at that age) and that the
nation’s ' preferred sports are
soccer and rugby.

- Zimbabwe’s nine million peo-
ple attained independence from
British colonial rule in 1980,
When asked about racial ten-
sions,
when independence began,
many of the country’s white
residents left Zimbabwe, fearing

a racial backlash. But many of -

them returned after a couple of
years after their fears failed to
materialize.

Terrace
strike |
‘record:

falls

The Terrace area’s ques--

‘tionable distinction of being the

site of the longest teachers’

strike in B.C. history moved

- north last week. The dispute that

has closed schools in the Nass

_ Valley entered its sixth week.

The issues in School District
92 will have a tiresome famili-
arity for local residents: wages,
disciplinary ‘procedures, taxa-
tion levels. The Nisga’a
Teachers’ Association is seeking

a contract on par with those
signed in. other -B.C. districts;

the Nisga’ a school board says.
the area is exceptional in that it

has fewer than 70 residential tax-

payers. .
At. last ' report negotiations

: had broken off and both sides

are. waiting for a mediator to
become available. carey,

30, was

‘tions.

Nkomo reflected that..

Nkomo said that although
media coverage of Africa in
general tends to dwell- on

. widespread poverty, Zimbabwe
is.in fact self-sufficient in terms:
' of food production. During a re-
cent drought in one Tegion Zim-:

babweans took care of the relief

themselves, requiring no foreign.
‘aid.
-and holds.a diploma in Rural _

She noted, however, that Zim-
babwe is still economically
dependent on the United

Kingdom, the United States and ©

South Africa. Their relationship
with the latter creates political
problems, primarily because
they are a land-locked country.

She said exports and imports are .

shipped when possible through
neighboring Mozambique, but
that route is frequently closed
due to the efforts of marauders
backed by the South African
government who destroy roads
and rail lines. She claimed those
same groups make incursions in-
to Zimbabwe itself, committing
atrocities in villages and at-
tempting to destabilize the
government,

The mention of South Africa
and the apartheid system

‘brought up the question of

economic sanctions against

South Africa: does the black |

population support them?
Nkomo says yes.

She pointed out that it was the
black people themselves who
had originally called. for sanc-
When asked if the
sarictions wouldn’t make things

.even worse for: the blacks, |
Nkomo replied that in view of -

the poverty most blacks already
live in and their lack of political
power in South Africa, they

have little to lose, Sanctions, she -

said, would have far more im-
pact on the white power struc-
ture.

Canada is far from pristine in
terms of race relations. In
meetings with Northwest native

leaders, she found: much mutual

ground. One student exclaimed
there is no comparison, ‘‘We
don't treat native people nearly
that bad; we're trying to
change.” -

‘Nkomo responded by saying
that 40 years ago, before the
‘apartheid system was devised,

Afrikaaners came to Canada .
‘because ‘they had heard that

Canada had hit on a good way
to deal with aboriginal people’.

‘ What they took back to Africa,

she said, was a concept of
reserves on which aboriginal

_people could be isolated; but ina

modified form — instead of
establishing reserves on lands

_ the people had originally oc-

cupied, the Afrikaaners set ‘up
“‘bantustans’’ in remote and
resource-poor areas of the coun-
try and relocated blacks there.
Connie Nkomo is one of a six-
member group of women
travelling across Canada under
the auspices of an international
organization called Inter-Pares.
(among equals). Her appearance
at Skeena school wrapped up a
three-day tour of the Northwest
‘that included discussion sessions
at the Terrace Women’s

- Resource Centre and the Ker-

mode Friendship Centre. - —

.Nkomo also noted: that

A large group of Skeena school’ students took more than
Connie Nkomo about life In her native Zimbabwe.

4

an hour recently to question

New alert system offers peace
of mind for independent living

Many people are capable of
living on their own but a feeling
of insecurity, or the anxiety of
relatives, causes them to give up
their homes prematurely and
take up residence in an institu-
tion, -

These residents include the
elderly, the physically disabled

and diabetics. But an emergency ©

alert system can increase inde-

‘pendence, lessen anxiety. and

saves lives, says Terrace Home
Support, Services coordinator
Betty Stewart. Because, if ‘there
is a problem while they’ re alone,
help: can be summoned in a
matter of minutes.

About 40 Terrace, Hazelton
and Kitimat residents attended a
meeting at the Terrace and Dis-

- trict Community Services offices

last week and information of-
fered by Ernie Schweitzer, gen-
eral manager of Candel Indus-
tries Ltd.,. was received with

great interest. Candel manufac-  §
tures a system called Telegard, ©

which sends a message toa
preselected phone number in the

"event of an emergency.

Schweitzer explained that the
user Of the system wears a
‘*pendant”” which, when two
buttons are. pressed, emits: a
beeping sound to alert anyone in
the home and a radio signal
which causes a message to be
sent to the preselected phone
number, If there is no answer at
that number, Telegard then dials
two more numbers sequentially.
If neither of those numbers: re-
spond the call is then switched to
the fourth responder, which in
Terrace would be the Fire De-
partment. This, says Schweitzer,
insures that the call for help will
be heard, ‘They don’t get many
calls,’’ he said, ‘‘but they're the
backbone of the system.”

Other features offered by the |

Telegard system described by
Schweitzer included a range of
about 100 to 150 feet (up to 500
feet with exterior antenna). The

unit is waterproof so it canbe.

wor outside, a 24-hour reset
feature automatically summons
help if the unit is not reset, and a
rechargable battery supply oper-
ates the unit for 24 to 36 hours
in the event of a power failure.
_ Schweitzer says that, once in-

a4

stalled, the system is economical
to use. He says that each Tele-
gard is installed by volunteers
trained by his company, and
they are then monitored by
other volunteers in the com-
munity. But the initial purchase
price of each unit is expensive.
According to Schweitzer, each
costs around $700 and a pro-
grammer to custom tailor each
unit in the system runs around

$300. And he explains that those .

needing the system, most usually
can’t afford the purchase price.
But in other communities in the
province service clubs and in-
dividual donars have been in-
strumental in getting the system
going.

Stewart says the system ‘has

support but what is needed now’
is funding and a network of.
-Feliable_voluriteers. “One “local.

resident attending the meeting
got the ball rolling by donating
$100 immediately following
Schweitzer's presentation, Now
it’s up to others in the communi-
ty to add to the fund and help
bring the Telegard system to
Terrace.

Stewart estimates the need lo-
cally to be about 15-20 units
and, according to Schweitzer,
that’s enough to make the sys-
tem viable. In other Northwest
communities such as Hazelton

_and Kitimat, the demand is low-

er, he says, and if they decide to
go. ahead with the system: he
envisions that. servicing .and
training would be done out of
Terrace. But once those commu--
nities have a clientele of 10 to 15

residents they would then. be .
able to go on their own. 7

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