The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - B1

TERRACE STANDARD

‘DUSTIN

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OTLB LEAF SOLS ATL LOD CTS PT OLGA

QUEZADA

Around Town

Music makers

EARLIER THIS summer, several young members

of the Terrace Academy of Music took their Royal.

Conservatory of Music exams.

A member of the examination board was in Ter-
race in June to listen to candidates one-on-one.

In the piano discipline, three: locals achieved
- their first class honours.

Aimee Qualizza (grade 1), Jenna Sabino (grade"
2) and Jocelyn Halbauei (grade 4) had a grade be-

tween 80-89 percent. |

-Many more took honours with grades i in the 70-
79 per cent range. .

- They were: Maisson Gill, Ethan Anderson and’
' Alexander Dodds (grade 1); Diana Chkipov and
Jessica Harrison (grade.2): Kurt Gasser, Graeme...

Linton, Tristan Walder, Anna Linton and Cassan-

dra Robinson (grade 3); Justin MacKenzie and —
Lisa Marie Steinhauer (grade 4); Tayler Harrison,
David Evenchick and Laura How (grade 5); Stacey
Zorn, Meagan Moi and Lynsey Haynes (grade 6);
and Miranda Leffler and Annie Greenwood (grade
- 8).

Rounding out the pianists are Hailey DeAma-
ral and Kendal Ruygrok (grade 1), Dyllan Tomaz.,
(grade 2), Briana Pellegrino (grade 9) and Sarah ©

Thompson (grade 10), all of whom achieved a pass.

—a grade of 60 to 69 per cent.

Four violinists also made the grade.

Alaric Weicksel and Katie Hollett (grade 1) and
Sandra Yoo (grade 3) earned first class honours,
while Janine Rioux was graded a pass. ©

The tests’ comprise technical _ requirements,
sight-reading, ear tests, studies and repertoire.

The Royal Conservatory of Music certifitates ”
‘for grades 6 to 8 are accepted by high schools as

fine arts credits for grades 10-12:

@ Hair today...

. THORNHILL fire “chief Wes Patterson
gets his head shaved by Reva Jurgeleit
of the Grand Ole Barbershop at the
Cops for Cancer Tour de North event at
George Little Park Sept. 13. Patterson
raised more than $6,500 for the cause..

_MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO

VILLAGERS i in Ginir, Ethiopia fill buckets with water for the first time in more than four years, thanks to the hard work and -d fundraising of Ter-
race Rotarians Lesley’ and Art Erasmus. They’ re already working ona new project to bring water to another community. ,

Water brings hope
|to Ethiopian village

_ By SARAH A.
ZIMMMERMAN-

WHEN water came pouring
"out of a tap in

the small
Ethiopian village of Ginir,
it was’a aday of celebration
for the villagers and a
pivotal one in the lives of

_jocal couple Art and Lesley. +

“Erasmus.

It marked the first time
in more than four years the
people of Ginir had access
to running water and also
marked the ‘culmination of
three years of fundraising
and international coordina-

tion for the Terrace couple.
As the water started to
flow villagers celebrated.
“They were smiling and
laughing and. clapping, a
large group of people, it was
_very exciting,” recalls Les-

‘ley. . 4

The running water means
villagers, mostly women and

young children, .no longer’

need to walk a gruelling 14-
kilometre round trip to col-

And though ‘Lesley and

_” Art knew how far the people

had to go to get the water,
seeing the trail to the water

“hole snaking its way back

and forth down a steep em-
bankment was overwhelm-

_ ing.

“It's avery steep inl-

cine and switches back .and_

forth,” says Lesley, adding
many women walk on the
hard ground in their bare
feet, in an effort to get a bet-

- ter footing.

Eliminating the trek to
the water hole means women
and children can spend more
of their time either going to
school or working on house-
hold duties. More important-

ly, the running water means

Jess women and children are
at risk.

Lesley and Art heard
many tales of people being

hurt along the trail, falling

victim to predators such as
dangerous snakes, and in the
case of young women, fall-
ing victim to other people.
“Young children are - at

_ risk of being raped if they
-are alone,” Lesley says can-
didly, adding children and
young women tend to travel
in groups to avoid such a
fate.

The dyanmic couple first |
visited Ethiopia in 2003 and —

recognized immediately the
need for running water.

“Until you are actually

there you really don’t under-
stand how desperate the situ-

ation is when people don’t.

have water,” says Art.

“You go from knowing it
to feeling it.”

The couple are meinbers
of Rotary International — a
service club which works on
local and international proj-
ects around the world. In
Terrace there are two clubs
_—the Skeena Valley Rotary
Club. of _which Lesley. is
a member and the Rotary.
Club of Terrace which Art
belongs to.

They used their involve-
ment “in the club to raise
more than. $55,000 US to
replace and revive a pump

to return.

“LESLEY and Art Erasmus in Ethiopia. The couple pias

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

which failed four years ago,
forcing villagers to travel to
the watering hole, ,

. Three years later, thanks

to donations from Rotary

clubs throughout the region
and matching grants from
the international: body, the
couple was able to return to

the village to watch the wa-_
ter flow for the first time this -
- Spring. It’s a moment that

will stick in their minds for
very long time.
~The impact on the sprawl-

ing :village of 20,000 can’t

be calculated in dollars.
“We were told,

‘if we had

were coming we would have
had the whole community

“line the streets,’” Art recalls. °

“And I’m‘ kind of: glad
they didn’t because I would
have burst into tears.”

Lesley concurs.

“We didn’t realise - we
were affecting that, many ~
people, ”" Lesley says, add-.

ing despite the language bar-

genuine in their thanks.

“They come up and even

though we can’t speak, they

' take you" by the hand and
_ hold your hand in both of
theirs and the look in their

99

eyes is ‘thank-you.

“lect it from a watering hole.,

known exactly, when you

Pioneer returns as an author

By DUSTIN QUEZADA

Wanted: tales of gold
 rushfever.

CBC RADIO'S provincial noon show is panning
for golden nuggets—from its listeners. BC Almanac
has launched a new book project revolving around
the 150th anniversary of the 1858 Fraser River
gold rush, and creation of the mainland colony.
“This event really defined our province,”
host Mark Forsythe, “especially after 30,000
American miners arrived... it forced the British
to declare the mainland.colony very quickly in
November 1858.”

BC Almanac is asking British Columbians to
describe a personal connection to the gold rush;
whether it be an ancestor who worked the Fraser
River sandbars, sold supplies in Lillooet or danced
the hurdy gurdy in Barkerville. It might include

visible signs of the gold rush in their community _

like the old Cariboo Wagon Road, artifacts, letters,
pictures or an abiding passion for gold panning.
The story will be told from many points of view:
Canadian, European, Asian, American and First
Nations — the first to locate gold. .

_ To make a contribution, visit the BC Almanac

web page www.cbc.ca/bcalmanac, click on Gold
Rush Connection. Forsythe says he and co-author
Greg Dickson want to get people thinking about

. B.C.’s fascinating history and hopefully explor-.

ing the province’s old gold rush communities and
trails. This will be the third book from the CBC
current affairs program: previous titles include
The British Columbia Almanac (Arsenal Pulp, net
proceeds to BC Childrens Hospital) and The BC
Almanac Book of Greatest British Columbians
(Harbour Publishing, royalties to Friends of the
BC Archives). For more information contact 604-
662-6126 or write B.C. Almanac, CBC Radio, Box
4600, Vancouver, B.C.

says

‘AUTHOR MARIANNE Brandis
says she has a photo around her

workspace taken from the Bench,

It looks west and south down the
‘Skeena Valley in Prince Rupert's di-
rection. It was taken half a century

ago.
The same
haselapsed -

time ~

ye Gan

since Brandis v was last in Terrace.
“I've got a lot of images and
memories,” said Brandis, who lived

with her family here as a child and

teen. “ICUs a big chunk of a Person’ s

life
For Brandis and her family, not
only were the years here nu-

“merous (nine) but forma- .

live.
The Dutch immigrant
family - . father Bill,

mother Madzy and sib-
lings Marianne, Gerard
and Jock — was perhaps
the first postwar immi-
grants from Europe.
They eked outa liv-
ing as pioneer. farm-
ers (without previous
‘agricultural .experi-
ence) where Eby St.
meets the base of
_the Bench.
Brandis’'s
mother kept a

. da -_
un morous and in-

‘sightful _ diary
throughout her
life and the
family’s time

was no dif-
_ ferent. ;
' From
these writ-
ings, her
daugh-
ter has
painstak-
ingly and skill-

thorough,  hu-—

in Terrace.

fully weaved a book titled Frontiers
and Sanctuaries: a Woman's Life in

Holland and Canada. \t details her

mother’s life from her upper class
Dutch childhood and wartime in Eu-

“rope to her pioneer life in Canada,

her family life, writing, painting and

descent into paralyzing .rheumatoid .
arthritis. Through these chapters in

Madzy’s life, Brandis creates the

book’s chapters.

For Brandis, it was the time in Ter-
race that would influence so much of
her life, including her career, as her -
award-winning books are based on
the conditions of pioneer times. Her
books include The Tinderbox, The

veaneee

‘ the Scales, and Rebellion: A Novel :

of Upper Canada.
“Living on the farm: shaped the

values of what mattered,” said Bran-.

dis last week from her home in Strat-
ford, Ont. “Certainly, the way of life
provided hands-on. experience with
pioneer living.”

Brandis says ‘the family lived
pretty primitively, even at the end of
their time here. "

They lived without a mechanized
vehicle at the beginning, drew water

from a well and had no furnace.

The chapter devoted to Terrace
tells of these times.

For instance, when the’ Knox
United Church bummed to the ground

.in January 1949, Madzy consoled |

the minister, vowing to help replace
the church bell.
“How are you going to do that?
We can’t afford it!” he replied. .-
Madzy wrote a letter to her min-

ister in Holland outlining the prob-
lem.
A bell would be sent to Terrace

and 15 months after the fire; it rang -

at the dedication of the new church.
It is still part of the church. -

Brandis, who will make a hand-
ful of appearances here next week to

promote the book, says the project

was unique and time consuming.: . .
- It took three and_a half years to

research ; and write the book. Brandis. —
uses several excerpts from her moth-.

er’s writings, as well as contributed
information and memories from her
mother’s relatives and friends.

The final product took two more>
* years to finish.

The challenge, said Brandis, was
jn separating her roles as daughter
and biographer.

Brandis will read from her book at
the Terrace Public Library Wednes-
day, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. and at Misty

- River Books the next day at 2 p.m.

She will also. appear at area
schools on both days in the mor:
ings. ,

_ Her talks’
_ legacy of Terrace: how nine years of

farming on Eby Road shaped the life _

and writing of Madzy Brandis and
her family.”

It will mark the first time Bran- -

dis will return since the: family left
in 1956.

“Tm very excited and look for-
ward to it and to see what changes
have taken place.”

She knows her former town will
look little like the picture that re-
minds her of Terrace.

theme will be “the