Top 50: Bob Davisson

Age: 63
Volunteers in: Haiti
Category: International - Education, Community and Culture
Organization: Lifeline Haiti

ABOUT THE CANDIDATE:
Building Schools and Hope in Haiti
It's impossible not to marvel at the optimism in Bob Davisson's voice when he speaks about Haiti, whose capital, Port-au-Prince, was left in ruins after last January's earthquake. "People ask me, 'How are things in Haiti?' And I say, 'I see progress!'" Hard not to marvel because where others see setback, Davisson, who's been opening schools in Haiti since early 2006, sees hope and possibility.

Watch a profile of Bob Davisson aired on Connect, CBC News Network December 13, 2010 Download Flash Player to view this content.

The retired businessman and former RCMP officer is a full-time volunteer with Lifeline Haiti, an organization he founded with his wife in 2007. With 56 schools in 51 locations, Lifeline is increasing access to education in a country where only 50 percent of children go to primary school, and less than two percent graduate high school. More than 13,000 are enrolled in schools either built by Lifeline or opened in an existing facility. Only one, says Davisson, sustained damage during the earthquake.

Listen to a profile of Bob Davisson by CBC Radio reporter Jennifer Keene: Download Flash Player to view this content.

Yet Lifeline isn't just opening schools-- it's working to fund their operation. When Davisson isn't in Haiti, where he spends four to six months a year, he's home in Medicine Hat, Alta., raising capital. The goal is to have enough money to pay every teacher, he says, and to ensure every child gets one hot meal a day--something Lifeline isn't yet able to do. "We'd be providing four million meals this year if we could. For many, when they go home on Friday, it's their last hot meal until Monday." 

If a generation of children is educated, Davisson believes Haiti can break the cycle of poverty that has plagued it for decades. "To change the country we have to change the children growing up now--this generation who'll be the next leaders. If we teach them leadership and entrepreneurship, it gives them a chance to get out of that $1-a-day job most people have here." In that spirit, Lifeline also provides microloans for businesses (71 so far), and is opening a cinder block factory to generate both jobs and revenue.

Poverty is not foreign to Davisson. Raised by a single mother in Saskatchewan, in a house without water or electricity, and besieged by lung disease that almost cost him his life, he sees himself in the children of Haiti. Though his mother eventually married, he never forgot what struggle can claim of childhood. "I understand what these children feel, and believe what I went through was to prepare me for this." Yet, despite all this, Davisson says luck has been a friend. When his lung disease unexplainably disappeared, he saw it as a sign. "Suddenly the blinders came off, and I could see that even if I saved one child-- well, what's the value of one child's life?" -- Deborah Sanborn

HOW YOU CAN HELP: FURTHER INFORMATION AND LINKS To learn more about Lifeline Haiti, visit their website at http://www.lifelinehaiti.blogspot.com

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