Tessier feeds humanitarian interests in Africa

Wayne Gibson
The Press Review, Eston SK



January 13, 2008

An Eston Composite grad is seeing her visions of Africa converge in both educational and career opportunities.

Last September, Stephanie Tessier, 21, returned to her hometown of Eston to help pack a 40-foot container of supplies for impoverished and war-torn children in Uganda. Little did she know that by a little networking with corporate sponsors of that project, she would land a university co-op to assist SaskTel with its humanitarian efforts in Tanzania.

For at least the next four months, she will evaluate the methods with which the company and its partner organizations can be most effective in their assistance overseas.

But this opportunity is merely the latest way in which Tessier has begun to realize her dreams in a tangible way.

“I wasn’t exactly sure where I was headed, but my main interest has always been Africa,” said Tessier by phone from Regina where she began her co-op placement with SaskTel last week.

Just a few months earlier, in June 2008, Tessier stepped foot on African soil for the first time, volunteering with the organization AVIVA just outside Cape Town, South Africa. Tessier spent six weeks at the Home of Hope taking care of abandoned and abused babies, an experience she described as “amazing.”

“It was fun, (I) was learning, and it was social too because I stayed in a volunteer house. I met volunteers from all over the world,” she said.

Home of Hope is not a large orphanage, according to Tessier, and she spent most of her time working in the ‘baby house’ with infants up to the age of two years. Most came from the townships around the suburb of Table View and had any number of afflications including HIV and fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).




“They only had eight-to-ten babies in there at a time, so that’s why you get so much more attached to them,” Tessier said. “Some of them were abandoned; some were being abused and taken away by social workers, or severely neglected. Some of them, they just found them in abandoned bins.”

Tessier recalled the heartache of caring for one baby who tested positive for HIV, FAS, and tuberculosis.

“It just broke my heart because his life is going to be terrible,” she said.

Tessier and other volunteers typically worked 12-hour shifts for two or three days and were then given the equivalent time off, leaving her with plenty of opportunity to be a tourist in South Africa as well.

Perhaps the most indelible impression was made by Home of Hope staff.

“These people who run that safe house are amazing. They give up their entire lives to do that. They don’t have personal time, it’s all for the babies,” she said.

“It was an awesome experience. I would definitely go back.”

Tessier is currently enrolled at the University of Calgary studying communication and culture. She hopes the four-month work co-op with SaskTel YOUTHnetwork- during which she will evaluate the company’s process of sending another container of clothing and essential supplies to Tanzania- will help her determine her future plans, particularly as they relate to Africa.

Before graduating high school, Tessier raised money to assist an HIV-positive woman in Zambia. AIDS awareness and prevention remains a key concern for her.

“I’m still trying to figure out what I want my focus to be. That’s kind of why I’m doing my co-op too because you get to do a few different works terms, kind of test out the waters of different areas,” she said.

She hopes her final university co-op might take her back to Africa to work.

July 13, 2009 at 10:51 AM