‘We have to strengthen the local social organizations so they can help change their own society,’ says Stan Chu Ilo (back row, centre).
The gift: Creating Canadian Samaritans for Africa
The reason: To fund clean water projects
Rev. Stan Chu Ilo was celebrating his birthday with friends a few years ago in Peterborough, Ont., when someone asked him to make a wish before blowing out the candles on a cake.
"I have a wish," he recalled telling his friends. "I wish that in my home country, they should have access to clean water."
Father Chu Ilo had arrived in Peterborough in 2002 from Nigeria by way of Rome, where he had studied for the priesthood. As a child growing up in Nigeria, he'd suffered from so called "river blindness," a disease transmitted by insects that thrive in water. Father Chu Ilo managed to get treatment in time but the disease can cause permanent blindness.
His friends took up the call and within a few months, they helped Father Chu Ilo to create Canadian Samaritans for Africa, a charity that funds clean water projects and other programs. In the past six years, the group has funded 40 projects including schools, water systems, a home for orphans and a women's co-operative.
Every year, Father Chu Ilo and other volunteers raise up to $60,000, all of which goes to the programs, and he makes regular trips to Africa. He is now based in Chicago, where he is a professor at the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology at DePaul University.
Father Chu Ilo, who is now a Canadian citizen, says the charity reflects the values and generosity of Canadians. And it demonstrates his commitment to social justice. "It's not good enough to say to those living in poverty that 'God loves you,'" he said. "We have to strengthen the local social organizations so they can help change their own society."
Paul Waldie