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p8trjbune aprid 1990 st 1 mission work worth the effort for busy stouffville resident bruce stapley correspondent just a few months ago martyn hartley was running a 15-mil- lion department of a machinery breakdown insurance company and heading up a staff of 40 today hes a fulltime staffer with a stouffville area mission dedicated to improving the lot of third world countriesand hes still not sure where his desk is going to be for mr hartley a 42yearold stouffville resident and father of three the decision to chuck his career in business stems back to a family holiday in jamaica in 1985 an ardent christian and a dea con at springvale baptist church mr hartley was curious as to what the jamaican churches were doing to help their people deal with the poverty that is so widespread in that country upon his return home he con tacted the peopleat emmanuel international the grass roots stouffville missions operation which sends workers and resources to assist local churches in their efforts to improve basic livingconditions in third world villages mired in poverty over the next four years mr hartley involved himself in the organization of four overseas work projects involving laymen from stouffville area churches the groups would participate in ongoing emmanuel programs working shoulder to shoulder with local church workers in jamaica and haiti f we were involved with things like water improvement the cap ping of wells road work and rebuilding churchsponsored fam ily centres and facilities says mr hartley he says his decision to take what will end up being a 75 per cent cut in salary to join the emmanuel team is a matter of doing what he knew he had to do as a result of those short term projects and out of a desire to serve god i am encouraged to be drawn into full time work with emmanuel you get hooked after sdss students bring shakespeare to town kate gilderdale correspondent stouffville resident martyn hartley is doing all he can these days to help poverty- stricken peoples in third youve been involved in these projects seeing how positive they are mr hartley will become the missions church coordinator whose job it will be to present the ministry of emmanuel to canadi an churches ill explain how emmanuel creates links with local churches in developing countries and how they work under the authority of the local people to help alleviate the daily hardships associated with poverty we dont want to be seen as an organization which sets up its own foreigners projects when we leave we leave it in the hands of trained local people mr hartley joins his wife jill who has worked in the missions financial department since last may he will be responsible for lining up most of his own financial sup port through donations from church members in the stouffville area and elsewhere world countries his interest in helping less fortunate fami lies stemmed from a family vacation he spent in jamaica the reaction to his resolution to join the mission has been favor able he says although under standably some people cant fath om why he would make such a severe life adjustment you worry about how the kids will accept it but they seem to be taking it in stride my clients say they are sad to see me go but they all wish me well my oldest son thinks ive taken early retirement which i had always planned to do while mr hartley admits hes heading into an unknown lifestyle hes optimistic i feel that god wants me to be available for this type of work well sell the house and buy a less expensive one he insists hes in it for keeps that it is something he has known he would eventually do ever since making that first trip back to jamaica in 1985 as far as im concerned this is it where its going to lead i real ly dont know a fabulous experience is how stouffville district sec ondary school teacher jim rehill described the shakespeare in action sia program which a group of sdss students from grades 9 to 13 have been involved in for the past two months the program at this school is a pilot project explained compa ny artistic director michael kelly the normal work of the company is a day school program we run throughout metro- high schools and junior high schools in grades 8 through 13 the day school program is based on a workshop series and the premise is to make shakespeare accessi ble to students with funding from the ontario arts councils theatre in educa tion department and the york board of education the focus is on demonstrating the relevance of shakespeare for todays audience the idea is to assist the compa ny to come into the school and work with various departments over an extended period of time with a selected group of stu dents said mr kelly shakespeare in action artis tic director michael kelly makes a point during a ses sion with students at sdss weve done everything from improvisation movement eliza bethan dance and african jazz dances he noted during the first four weeks of the program we took the students through a workshop process to give them the tools needed to present shakespeare then we gave them scenes to start working on all the stuff in the workshop process is directly related to the scene work students do different scenes from various plays and the focus is on the individual students and how far one can take them within a given scene sdss held an elizabethan banquet yesterday where students enacted the scenes they had worked on mr kelly said sia goes beyond the normal parameters of classroom teaching and provides students with an insight into artists in the community and what it means to be a professional artist its unusual for students to have that kind of contact with the outside community the company has high expecta tions of the students who take part treating them as they would professionals they have to be there when theyre supposed to be if they miss a session they have to have a really good rea- son the sdss students have grown tremendously since the beginning of the project he noted as far as jim rehill is con cerned the program has been a very positive experience for all students involved people will be absolutely amazed at what these kids are doing he said theyve been treated like adults and an adult commitment has been expected from them theyve taken a big load on school staff have been very co operative in working around revised schedules during the five- week program he reported ive enjoyed watching them the stu dents advance the more thats been demanded of them the harder theyve strived for their goals im proud of the work theyve done wmmm wont 8ss i q2 i like to think of myself as an involved caring parent lavishing on my children every enriching experience known to humanity so that when they go into coun selling they cant blame their deprived childhood for their dam aged psyches but i draw the line at a pet rat perhaps im hardhearted but when my nine year old daughter announced that a schoolmates rat had been blessed with a multiple happy event a cheery oh how wonderful can we have one didnt spring to my lips her rep resentations to me were brushed aside hands on experience is fine when it comes to computers but rats later that day she told me arioth- rates corner kate gilderdale er friend was willing to sell her a cage in which to install ratty so what precisely was the problem she would clean it as she cleans her room no doubt once a month whether it needs it or not feed it i may not like rats but id hate its death by starvation to be on my conscience and give it all the nurturing genus rattus desires i knew it was hopeless to try a logical approach so i pointed out that portia our resident feline may not take kindly to a rival however unappealing indeed explained warming to my theme ratty would be in considerable danger of ending up as the hors doeuvres to portias daily gourmet diet of nutritionally cor rect canned food ratty i was told witheringly would be installed in my daugh ters bedroom with the door closed and portia would not be admitted without a chaperone in vain i tried to explain that drawing parallels between caring for a goldfish and a rat was hardly fair sprinkling a dusting of fish flakes into a tank is simply not in the same league as scrubbing out rattys cage and having actual physical contact with a live rodent while this column could well result in the formation of a league for the protection of rats rights nothing can make me feel an empathy for what funk and wag- nail defines as a destructive and injurious rodent larger and more aggressive than the mouse now my daughter tells me her friend will buy one for her as a birthday present as a confirmed cat- lover i used to worry that my children would beg for a dog or hanker after a hamster but frankly rats didnt cross my mind and im not plan ning to let them cross my thresh old im sure rat fans will tell me that rats are sensitive that they respond to cuddles that theyre fastidious nevertheless if ratty moves in im moving out rats are creatures which lurk malevolently in stephen king movies and edgar allen poe nov- els in medieval times they roamed the streets carrying the plague but never have rats as pets even been an outside contender at the risk of endangering my close relationship with my daugh ter and denying portia a shortlived playmate and snack ive declared the issue of rat ownership closed i dont think even dr spock will condemn me on this one