team photo of OT Works! employees cheering after race

Supporting Our Global Community: 2019 Run for Water

Last Sunday, OT Works! therapists and their families ran in support of Bekkye and other communities in Ethiopia.  The 2019 Run for Water at Mill Lake Park (Abbotsford) raises funds for clean drinking water projects in these rural areas.

OT Works! Involvement

While our OTs work locally, we also want to have a global effect.  As healthcare providers, OT Works! recognizes the impact one’s environment can have on well-being.  By improving access to clean water, a community can transform.  We are thrilled to have fund-raised and contributed over $2,226 to clean drinking water in Bekyye, Ethiopia.

About Bekyye

Bekyye currently has no access to clean water. Girls and women journey for hours every day to fetch water from rivers and ponds for cooking, cleaning, drinking and animal care. With the funds raised last weekend, as well as funds mobilized by the community of Bekyye itself (who are raising 10% of the project cost), access to safe, clean, and local drinking water can become a reality.  The project aims to enable:

  • Children to attend school
  • Mothers to start businesses
  • Fathers to water their crops
  • Reduction in the transmission of waterborne diseases

Meet Kibra

Kibra is the youngest of 10 children and besides having to walk for two hours every day to fetch water for her family, she was travelling on foot for another two hours a day just to get to her elementary school. Five years ago, Run for Water began a sponsorship program in the communities where they bring clean water; this sponsorship provides a scholarship for girls to go to high school and university. Kibra was one of those recipients. Her story is an incredible example of what a small investment can do to change an entire community. Watch her story here:

Learn more and donate at Runforwater.ca.

Jaclyn (white shirt, long brown hair), Pamela (green shirt, short grey hair), Nicole (black shirt, long brown hair)

Meet Jaclyn Forsythe & Nicole Chan

Welcome Jaclyn Forsythe and Nicole Chan to the OT Works! team. They provide community OT services helping clients with musculoskeletal and orthopaedic injuries as well as mental health issues and mixed diagnoses. They work with clients following motor vehicle accidents and workplace injuries with a focus function and return-to-work.

Nicole is passionate about community-based rehabilitation. She meets her clients where they are at in their recovery and her treatment solutions are insightful, creative and individualized.

Jaclyn organizes and simplifies complex situations to produce meaningful results. She has experience with chronic pain with a focus on return-to-function and return-to-work.

Like all of our therapists, Nicole and Jaclyn, are full registrants and in good standing with the College of Occupational Therapists of British Columbia (COTBC).

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