John Barnfield

John Barnfield is no ordinary visitor to Haiti. With 23 years as a development volunteer in Haut de St. Marc, he thinks of his friends in Haiti as family. John first travelled to Haiti with an awareness group in 1985. “We experienced a richness amongst the people we met,� he says. “It was truly a life-changing experience.�

Inspired by the Haitian people, John co-founded non-governmental organization Rayjon Share Care with Ray Wyrzykowski in Sarnia, Ontario. Rayjon fosters lasting improvements in the quality of life in Haiti, Dominican Republic and other developing countries.

In 1985, child mortality was high in Haiti. Many children died of treatable illnesses like measles or from contaminated water. No health care programs existed for the 30,000 residents of Haut de St. Marc. Community members asked Rayjon to play a supporting role in fulfilling their dreams of education and health for their children. Seeing the relationship between education, health care and women’s empowerment, Rayjon supported a range of community projects with funds raised in Sarnia and from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

John credits the leadership of women in the community as the driving force of change. As of 2008, Haut de St. Marc has a full health care program, including measles immunization so successful that the disease hasn’t resurged for over 10 years. In Haiti, child mortality has decreased by 47 per cent from 1990 to 2002.

The first children who attended schools in the 1980s are now teachers in the same schools. “We have seen a generation of Haitians develop and grow,� John explains.“You get a real sense that the community of the whole region is beginning to hum,� John says. Despite the devastation brought by recent hurricanes, there is hope for the future, he added.

Juggling his volunteer dedication to Rayjon with his full-time career as an engineer, John has helped make it possible for over 2,500 Canadians to experience the richness of Haiti through awareness trips like the one that first took him there.

“Community development is not about building schools and clinics, or sinking wells, though those things may be indicators,� he explains. “It is about the transformation and empowerment of people.�

Promoting Development Principles

The Ontario Council for International Cooperation (OCIC) is a coalition of organizations working globally for social justice. OCIC recognizes that global justice requires the transformation of social structures and changes in human relations. OCIC calls on all members to endorse 15 Development Principles that address human rights, basic human needs, global resource stewardship, democracy, and good governance.

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