Reflections on the Lethbridge Human Rights Advocacy Training

During October 20th through October 22nd, the John Humphrey Centre hosted an in-person Human Rights Advocate training in Lethbridge. This has been an exciting time for us as we transition to delivering in-person workshops again.

The following is a reflection of the workshop from Yaw Baayim:

In all, it was a success. Lethbridge was too big of a small town to me. Was I expecting a larger turn out? YES. Was I excited about the number of people that showed up? YES. Was there gender balance? YES. Seeing more women represented made me more excited. Just like any event, there were a few hiccups, but lessons were learned. I can’t wait for the next training in another town. I had the chance to chat with a participant about the number of unhoused people in Lethbridge, some of the reasons, and her experiences with unhoused people. She said “my aunt, uncle, and cousin are all homeless, and they have been homeless since I was young. I used to allow them into my house, but now I have kids and they cannot come home with the drugs so I go to their tent every day to offer them food. My auntie is a professional shoplifter. She can shoplift anything you want and exchange it for drugs. She is an addict, in fact, all of them are addicts. I became sober 14 years ago, and if not, I would have been homeless as well. That is what motivates me to fight and help them, because they are all vulnerable. It hurts to see them in the rain, cold weather, doing drugs, and with no protection. I am the only protection they have”.

I asked how she gets money to buy that number of food for them and she said “I sell my TikTok videos to individuals to make money so I can buy food for homeless people. I go to the shops and look for food on sale so I can buy more and distribute to them. That is the reality of homelessness and I am happy not to be one of them, but I am always fighting and caring for them”.

Listening to the participant while she expressed her love to help the vulnerable made me realize how important it is to serve whenever needed. It motivated my spirit to know that we are not alone. There are a lot of people like us who are making a change in their communities.

Here are a few photos from the training: