Measuring change

By Ann Flynn
January/February 2011

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The truth of the wealth of Brazil is hard to uncover. Brazil is seen as having a strong economy, as prospering and being a wealthy nation. FASE presents us with a different reality. They tell us that close to 400,000 people in Recife live in precarious housing conditions. They tell us that the poor do not have the same rights as the rich. The poor do not have rights to homes, to clean water, to sanitation, to health services, and many of the other social benefits we assume when we come from a country like Canada. FASE works to mobilize citizens to demand these rights. They organize people to lobby government, they write position papers, they organize forums, they provide assistance to grassroots groups in how to change government policies. FASE helps to bring about change... Change is hard to measure until you talk with the parents, the grandparents and the families that now have a place to call home, a place for their children to play safely, a place to plant a garden and hang out the laundry. Then you understand that change is not measured, it is visible in the eyes and smiles of the people.

Ann and her husband Marty live in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and have two grown children. Ann works for the City of Fredericton in the area of human resource management. She has been involved with the Saint John Development and Peace Diocesan Council for the past six years. Ann enjoys all sorts of sports and activities “that help to keep me moving.”

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