Peterborough Blogs
Louis Tiboruhanga's Story Is One Of Tragedy, Loss, Desperation & Now Hope Thanks To Peterborough
/There were a lot of firsts for Louis Tiboruhanga Thursday morning (October 27th) as he stood atop a heaping mound of freshly picked Peterborough County pumpkins in the back of a pickup truck looking to the sky and the first snowflakes of the season.
“My first Canadian snow,” the Rwandan father-of-two says.
Louis with his daughters Genevieve & Gloria
Two pickup trucks sat in front of Immaculate Conception Catholic Elementary School, suspensions lowered by the weight of the orange load—200-plus pumpkins.
And then the lineup started. Students snaked out of the school where they were greeted by Louis’s beaming smile.
“Thank you, here you go,” Louis says, as he places a large pumpkin into the hands of a Grade 3 student. Every student in the school was to receive their own pumpkin, including Louis’s own daughters Gloria (Grade 3) and Genevieve (Grade 1).
Louis distributes pumpkins to happy students at Immaculate Conception
How Louis ended up distributing free pumpkins to Catholic elementary students in Peterborough’s East City is a story of harrowing tragedy, loss, desperation and finally hope.
Louis fled his life in Rwanda in January 1997 and ended up in Kenya’s Kakuma (UNHCR) refugee camp. Both his daughters were born and raised in the camp, where he spent more than 19 years.
In 2008, Sister Ruth Hennessy of Casa Maria Refugee Homes in Peterborough sponsored the Tiboruhanga family. But it took another eight years before their resettlement to Canada was approved. Louis’s wife passed away in the camp in 2011.
The camp provided the necessities, including schooling, but Louis says he didn’t see a lot of hope for his children, who were schooled in crowded, under-resourced classrooms.
“The future in the camp was desperate," he says. "You can’t see your children excelling with 150 children in the classroom and expect to have a better future for them."
Desperation turned to hope on July 19th, 2016 when Louis, Gloria and Genevieve landed at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, greeted by Sister Ruth and brought to Peterborough to start a new life.
“It was a very fantastic day—an unforgettable day for me,” he says.
The children have settled at Immaculate Conception and Louis has been finding part-time work.
Peter Leahy owns Merrylynd farm in Douro where Louis has been picking pumpkins.
“Picking gives us time to chat a little," Peter says. "Louis has many interesting and humbling stories. He realizes that for him to adjust to Canada will be hard, but he's doing it for his kids to have a better life. His faith is very strong and his spirit is astonishing. We hope to help him find a job right away. He's willing to do anything and his English is very good.”
Peter Leahy and Louis giving out pumpkins to the kids
One day while working in the field, Louis expressed to Peter that he wanted to give back to the Immaculate Conception school community, which has been so warm and welcoming to his daughters.
Peter offered the pumpkins and pickup trucks, and on Thursday Louis had a chance to make a small gesture of thanks to the school and staff at Immaculate Conception. And his daughters were able to celebrate their first Canadian Halloween with schoolmates in style.
Hope is something Louis and his daughters now have thanks to Peterborough, Canada
“It is something very extraordinary to me," Louis says. "It’s extraordinary in a sense that I see it as the hope for my children—they have the future in their hands."
“I was extremely happy that the school children would come to me, accepting this small gift I had planned for them. I think it is really very wonderful.”
—guest post by Galen Eagle
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Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre Launches Free Business Start-Up Program For Aboriginal Community Members
/The Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre—a Peterborough-based non-profit culture and community organization providing programs and services to urban Aboriginal people—has announced a new business start-up training program geared at supporting and growing entrepreneurship within the city's urban Aboriginal community.
The objective of the program is to increase the participation of urban Aboriginal people in the economy. Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre is offering the program in partnership with Peterborough Economic Development’s Business Advisory Centre, who will be providing the training in order to support program participants in creating a viable business plan.
“In our recent community assessment, a high percentage of our urban Aboriginal community members responded favourably to becoming an entrepreneur,” says Lori Flynn, Executive Director of the Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre. “Owning your own business can be challenging, but a rewarding way to participate in the economy.”
“We are pleased to partner with the Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre on this new business start-up training program geared at supporting our local Aboriginal community,” adds Sandy Greenberg, Peterborough Economic Development’s Business Advisory Centre Lead. “The programming that we are delivering will support participants in navigating the path to a successful business start."
The team at Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre
The business start-up training program will consist of six training workshops starting in late November. Participants will receive one-on-one support from local business leaders and explore practical solutions to get their business ideas off the ground. Workshops will offer topics such as sales, marketing, operations and budgeting.
Each participant will work towards putting together a professional business plan to connect with potential funding sources. The deadline to apply is November 18th, 2016. Child care and transportation may be provided to successful applicants based on need. Interested applicants can visit nogofc.ca for more information or contact the Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre at 705.775.0387.
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First Ever Hackathon Taking Place At Trent University
/Trent University is proud to host its first hackathon in Peterborough. Electric City Hacks (ECHacks) will include about 350 student tech leaders from across Canada and beyond who will design, build, demo and make their dreams a reality.
RIM and the Greater Peterborough Innovation Cluster are major sponsors for the Hackathon, which takes place November 4th to 6th. Electric City Hacks—comprised of a group of computer science students at Trent—partnered with Major League Hacking to do this 36 hour event taking place November 4th to 6th at Gzowski College on Trent’s Symons campus. This Hackathon will challenge student innovators to design, build and demonstrate their developments.
Electric City hack members (computer science students at Trent): Yashar Morabbi Heravi, Waun Broderick, Laura Mann, Matthew Barnes & Dexter Fichuk
ECHacks has invited all post secondary and high school students interested in the development, innovation and progression of technology to apply for this collaborative event, which will demonstrate the best of computer and engineering tech skills.
Creating an environment for students to learn, create and excel, Electric City Hacks will also be a fantastic chance to vie for future employment as many of their sponsors will be sending representative scouts to find student talent in the tech industry. Other sponsors include TD Financial, Fresh Books Cloud Accounting and TribalScale.
“We are extremely excited to support the first ever Electric City Hacks at Trent University," says Michael Skinner, President & CEO of the Innovation Cluster. "Hackathons are a fantastic way to expose talent, grow, recruit and bring new innovative companies to Peterborough.”
Over a dozen workshops will be taking place over the course of the weekend, targeting both university students as well as high school students to highlight the possibility of tech. Coding, robotics and a hackathon bootcamp for high school students are just a few examples of the amazing workshops that will be held throughout the 36 hour event.
“We decided to hold Electric City Hacks because we saw how many opportunities it brought to the schools that hosted them, and how it completely revolutionized tech industries in each community,” says Dexter Fichuk of ECHacks.
The entire event—breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as snacks—will be provided to participants free of charge. The Innovation Cluster will also be hosting the "Chill Zone" with beanbag chairs for the hackers to think creatively and relax.
For more info and to apply, click here.
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Peterborough Downtown Farmers' Market Closes For Season This Wednesday
/It's been another amazing season for the Downtown Farmers' Market, which ends for the year this Wednesday (October 26th).
Head on down to the Louis St. Parking lot and stock up on and enjoy all seasonal produce and all your other favourite local products. Market-goers can get recipe ideas and enjoy samples of Chili, hors d'oeuvre and other treats made with all market ingredients.
Despite soaring temperatures and extreme drought, the Farmers' Market says in a media release that their farmers’ and vendors had a great season, and that they are proud to continue bringing Downtown Peterborough the freshest seasonal and locally made produce and products available in the region.
Visit the final market of the season to enjoy a lunch with friends, thank the vendors and farmers for their hard work this season, and stock up on local groceries.
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Peterborough Couple's Rescue Dog Plays Key Role In Surprise Engagement Proposal At Jackson's Park
/Niki Allday and Jesse Guerin have a real love for animals—particularly rescue dogs. "We are both very passionate about animals, and both owners of rescues," Allday says. "Jesse adopted his dog (Tulo, named after Toronto Blue Jay shortstop Troy Tulowitzki) from St Martin through Cavan Hills Vet and mine (Zoey) was rescued north of Bancroft."
Niki and Jesse with their rescue dogs Zoey and Tulo
Given that their first date was at an animal shelter and they have these rescue dogs Tulo and Zoey, it seemed doggone fitting that Jesse would use one of them as a key prop for a surprise wedding proposal he gave Niki on Saturday (October 22nd) at Jackson's Park.
Niki posted about the sweet moment on her Facebook page...
"He definitely took me by surprise and swept me off my feet," Niki tells PTBOCanada of the romantic proposal. "I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. The way he proposed, the ring, shows how he knows me inside and out."
Engagement photo of Jesse and Niki with their rescue dogs taken by Kathy Jones Traynor
UPDATED: Help Find Missing Peterborough Father Christopher Callaghan
/UPDATE: Great news -> Police report that Christopher Callaghan has been located and has returned home. Police thank the public for their assistance.
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ORIGINAL POST
The Missing Person Investigation is continuing for 44-year-old Peterborough father Christopher Callaghan as friends and family grow increasingly concerned.
The Peterborough Police Service is asking for the public’s help in locating Christopher. He was last seen at approximately 7 p.m. on Wednesday evening (October 19th) leaving his residence in the area of Old Norwood Road in his vehicle. His vehicle is a 2011 grey GMC Sierra pick-up, Ontario plates 9151TK.
Callaghan is described as a Caucasian male, approximately 6’1, 230lbs, short brown hair, no facial hair or glasses, no piercings or tattoos, wearing a burgundy casual dress shirt and jeans.
->> Anyone with information is asked to call the Peterborough Police Service at 705.876.1122 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
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Help 3-Year-Old Kaleb Get His Beloved Car Back That He Just Received On His Birthday
/A 3-year-old Lakefield boy named Kaleb just received an electric car for his birthday three weeks ago. Unfortunately, his beloved white and blue BMW i8 Spyder was stolen last weekend and his mother, Amanda Townsend, is trying to get the word out as best she can to get it back.
Kaleb In His Car
