Cullen seeks the scoop on geese droppings

By Louise Umutoni, The Ottawa CitizenMarch 20, 2009

Councillor Alex Cullen will hold a public meeting April 2 to discuss Andrew Haydon Park's goose droppings problem.

Ruth Tremblay, president of the Crystal Beach-Lakeview Community association, already has a few ideas. She suggests planting low bushes to discourage the Canada geese from nesting, or using trained dogs to chase them away.

Cullen, who represents Bay Ward, says allowing dogs on leash into the park could be the solution.

Tremblay isn't sure, however. The park is busy and there are two play structures that dogs are not allowed near. "Maybe if the dogs were allowed in at particular times of the day that would work, but that would be hard to regulate," she said.

There's no question the geese and their droppings are ruining visitors' enjoyment of the park on the Ottawa River. The geese leave their droppings all over the park and make it unbearably smelly, said Tremblay. "There are so many of them, they might even outnumber the people."

The meeting will be held at Maki House, on Leeming Drive, at 7 p.m.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Michele Heights youngsters do their part to give neighbourhood facelift

Children tackle community image

Youngsters from the Michelle Heights Community House removed the ice from a community basketball court so people in the neighbourhood can play, just one of the tasks they have taken on over March break to spruce up their community and give it an image boost.

Photograph by: Pat McGrath, The Ottawa Citizen, The Ottawa Citizen

As they devour their meal at the Michele Heights Community House, the little girls squabble about their favourite characters from a popular TV show.

"I like Fatim," one girl says between bites. "I like Teddy," says another.

No one would guess that this is their first and probably their only real meal for the day. The girls come from various places in Africa. Only minutes earlier, they had joined with other children to scrape ice off their basketball court, in just one of their attempts to give their neighbourhood a facelift.

Many people associate Michele Heights, south of Carling Avenue in the Britannia area, with crime and violence. But rather than crawl under their beds to hide from all this, little Jazmine Ismail and her friends have chosen instead to change their community's image.

"We want our neighbourhood to look really pretty and we are removing ice on the courts because the boys want to play basketball. We all love basketball," Jazmine said, flashing a toothy grin.

Removing ice is not all they're doing. The children are also clearing garbage and putting up bird feeders.

"The kids decided there were some things they wanted to change about their neighborhood," said Bill Robinson, a volunteer at the community house. "We helped them do this by organizing this and bringing in students from Bell High School and Mackenzie High (in Deep River) to help out."

Robinson says the children particularly complained about garbage cans being too close to the houses. In the summer they overflow and the smell is unbearable.

Robinson said the children decided the problem could be solved in three ways -- by picking up the garbage, creating awareness and educating the public.

"So far, the children have written to the west end councillor Alex Cullen about the garbage problem and hopefully that will have some effect," Robinson added.

Another volunteer, Ben Fleming from Mackenzie High, said that with media attention on this week's project, the young people might not have to wait that long for change to set in. Mackenzie sent a team to Ottawa for three days to help with the project.

"Yesterday 12 garbage cans were emptied by the garbage collectors and yet they usually pick up the garbage on Fridays, so maybe they heard something on radio," Fleming said.

Euihyun Yang, another student who gave up time from his March break to help as a volunteer, said he enjoyed working with the children, especially because of their enthusiasm. He went on to say that he was not afraid to work in the neighbourhood despite its bad reputation. It's a rep he thinks is exaggerated anyway.

But one of the girls, Helina Germa, said there are some bad people in her neighbourhood. She said she used to see some of them standing in a parking lot near the community house, drinking and smoking.

Russell Borden is the co-ordinator of Michele Heights Community House. He noted that many people in the area cannot afford much, and must deal with the stigma of being on assistance.

"We are trying to change that at the community house and we have projects lined up for the children. We are trying to give these children self esteem because most of them are victims of labelling," Borden said.

"Some are called poor, black, Caucasian, and most of these labels make them hate school and you know what happens after that. A lot of them can't even afford meals and we thus give them food after every program.

"But we can boast of success stories -- I am a success story," said Borden, who was raised in the neighbourhood and later returned to become the community house co-ordinator.

An important part of the neighbourhood facelift plan, dubbed "Who is Nobody," is a faceless, colourless doll that the children decorate after every successfully completed project. The doll "serves as a constant reminder of the work they have done in the community" said Borden.

From a lost boy to world renowned hip hop artist

BY LOUISE UMUTONI IN CANADA

At the age of 9 racing across minefields with an AK-47 taller than him, Emmanuel Jal would never have believed he would be where he is. Born and raised in war torn Sudan, he wasn’t given the opportunity to grow up, with a father who left the family to join ASPLA a rebel group and a mother who was left to fend for a family of 5 with one more on the way all by her self. And that’s not all the other half of his childhood was spent dodging bullets on the battlefield as a child warrior. After he had been through the most atrocious things ever imaginable Jal was rescued by an “angle”, as Jal likes to refer to her, Emma McCune the legendary British aid worker, married to a Sudanese war lord who smuggled him to Kenya. And that’s when Jal’s life began to make an uphill climb. Call it luck if you like but I was able to attend Emmanuel Jal’s book review in Ottawa for his book War Child, his memoir. “I wrote this book because I wanted to reach out to people who can relate with what happened to me as well as those that can help,” Jal said. Particularly Jal claims he wants to tell the world his story in an effort to promote his campaign to save child soldiers. “I am eating one meal a day in order to save up some money to help my people in Sudan,” he adds. Writing one’s memoir may sound simple but ask Jal and you will know that is not the case. He says it was one of the most difficult things he ever did. “I couldn’t sleep for days and I kept hearing gunshots, bombs…the smell of decaying flesh couldn’t leave me,”Jal narrated. But up there on stage he composes himself and tells his story with ease and even throws in a few jokes here and there as he re-lives the very few good memories of his childhood. The memories are so bad that Jal still can’t read his memoir. However, this is not all there’s of Jal. The 29 year old will stop at nothing to get his message across. Emmanuel Jal is a renowned hip hop artist. His unique style of hip hop with its message of peace and reconciliation born out of his experiences as a child soldier in Sudan, has won him worldwide acclaim. His music can be heard alongside big names like Coldplay, Gorillaz, and Radiohead on the fundraising ‘Warchild - Help a Day in the Life’ album. It can also be heard in three ER episodes, the National Geographic documentary God Grew Tired of Us. His music can also be heard in the background the of a feature film ‘Blood Diamonds’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio. He also featured on John Lennons’ ‘Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur’ amongst the likes of U2, REM and Lenny Kravitz. “For me, music was a kind of medicine. Whenever I sang I felt all the pain go away,” Jal explained. His first hit Gua, meaning ‘peace’ in his native nuer tongue was broadcast across Africa on BBC and was a number one hit in Kenya. When asked if his music had achieved the purpose he sought, Jal explained that for now it was more than he could ask for, because his intention is to get the attention of the outside world. To get them to realize that there was actually a person out there that needed to be rescued. “Emma McCune rescued me and gave me another shot at life. Someone else out there needs the same opportunity,” Jal says. It’s no wonder he sings about McCune with a lot of love and respect in his song to her and says he wants to be just like her. He performed at Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebrations in Hyde Park, London, June 08. He shared the stage with Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox, Damien Marley and Stephen Marley at the Black Ball in London in July 08 and also addressed delegates at the UN in New York in the same month. Jal has also performed with Razorlight, Supergrass, and Faithless in Europe. And when asked if he would like to sing in his country, he pointed out that there he wouldn’t get such a huge response to his music. He adds that he would rather use the huge response from outside to help his people. He plans to open a school there under the Gua project. “I believe that education is the key. If you are educated then you are free and I believe that I can free my nation through education,” he explains. He goes on to say that the solution to problems in Africa is education. That if people stopped using guns but their brain then that definitely would make a difference. Emmanuel Jal’s story is one to inspire Africans from war torn countries and give them hope that tomorrow will be a better day. But also it is for the person out there who can make this happen, a person who in just a flash can change one’s life, save a soul. And this is what Jal is embarking on, the journey to touch souls that will touch other souls in an even greater way. Good luck with that brother.