Olds volunteer firefighter Rus McKevitt returned from a humanitarian trip in Burundi last summer unable to enjoy western luxury, the comforts of North American life having lost their lustre.He came back from one of the poorest places in the world, ranking 178th of 187 countries and territories according to the Human Development Index in 2012, compiled by the United Nations Development Programme.In Burundi, a small African country south of Rwanda, McKevitt had no access to hot water and experienced rolling blackouts throughout his stay.And yet, he only felt culture shock once he was back on Canadian soil.“I experienced it when I came home and was inundated with everything that we have and everything that's so readily available,” McKevitt said. “You really realize how much we really have and how much we really don't need to exist and to live a comfortable life. It's quite amazing.”Children there played with balls made of either banana leaves or wrapped up socks. Adults did chores with makeshift tools crafted with branches. McKevitt was struck by how happy the local people appeared despite their poverty.“So many people walk around with frowns over here. Everybody walks around with smiles over there. It's such a contrast but it's amazing to see,” he said.This July, McKevitt is going back to lead a team of six people, aged from 15 to 21 years old, to work with two non-profit organizations active in the country: Souls of the Feet and Loveworks.But he needs the public's help to fund his trip. On May 3, he will be holding a garage sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the town's Protective Services Building on 65 Avenue. Donations will also be taken.The trip will cost $3,700 and everything from appliances, electronics, books and homemade baked goods will be on sale.McKevitt has lived in Olds for more than 15 years, with almost 14 spent as a volunteer firefighter. He works in Didsbury as a safety officer with a construction company.In 2012, his daughter Michaela visited Burundi with Loveworks. She heard about the organization while she was attending Olds Koinonia Christian School.“When she came back, she told me all about it, was sharing pictures and stuff and just really made me want to experience it as well,” McKevitt, a lieutenant with the Olds Fire Department, said.The year after, he followed her to the country, where they worked in different cities as part of an eight-member group.“We've helped them build houses, we've helped them learn how to plant crops, so coffee crops and tea crops,” he said. “So we're giving them that hand that they desperately need to essentially become self-sufficient.”McKevitt also had some time to play soccer with local children, breaking his toe during a game.Then the group travelled to Ngozi, a northern city where they built houses for the Batwa, a once-nomadic people that have since settled. They were poor and lived in grass huts in the hills, McKevitt said.“We go in there and we work with the Batwa and we build bricks. We make the mud, build the bricks and then we help them build their houses,” he said.The group built four houses for four families, he continued.After that, McKevitt said they visited the genocide museum in Rwanda and a church that was the site of a massacre.His trip this year will take more time in that country, working with survivors and widows from the 1994 genocide.However, Burundi is the place McKevitt wants to focus his attention on.While many are familiar with the Rwandan genocide, fewer know that Burundi, which has a similar ethnic composition, was engulfed by a civil war for more than a decade.“It's a country that's pretty much passed by, right? I can go back to the genocide in Rwanda and the same thing actually happened in Burundi,” McKevitt said. “But Rwanda was the one that got all the publicity, they got the spotlight, they got the western aid and Burundi was kind of forgotten about.”McKevitt is spending his work vacation days to return to the country. Michaela will not be joining him this time, though.He describes his daughter, who is 20 years old and studying psychology at King's University, as socially conscientious and having a heart for justice, saying that going to Burundi has strengthened their relationship.Unlike what he calls the excesses of living in a rich country, that's something he'll never tire of.“I think it definitely brought us closer, helped us understand one another and I actually saw things through her eyes that I didn't fully understand when she came back from Africa the year before.”To contribute to McKevitt's fundraiser, contact Deb Martens of the Olds Fire Department at [email protected]
