Up Close and Personal with Tanya
Every year we do a Q&A time so you can get to know me better. This year, our volunteer, Rebecca Bowerman asked me the following questions
Rebecca: “When talking about 2020 there is often a lot of negative. Let’s start with something positive: What has been the best thing that has happened to you this year?”
Tanya: “Working on a team, encouraging each other, connecting virtually with the world and across Canada and believing that even though these times are unprecedented, our work must continue. Hope depends on it. Working with volunteers has also been a huge privilege– we’ve been working out a new partnership with the Salvation Army and getting lots of volunteers ready to respond locally to disasters that may occur here in Canada!
Rebecca: “Fantastic! It is clear that even in 2020 World Hope is up to big things. We are great at overcoming challenges – especially when we work together. What has been one challenge of the past year that has been especially hard for you?”
Tanya: “Learning to live in a new normal. Has this been awkward? Certainly. Has this been confusing? Absolutely. Has this been strange – you bet! But in the hard, God works. In the confusing, God is present. And He has been so present in my life personally and I have seen Him work around the world.”
Rebecca: “As we leave 2020 behind and enter into this new year, what are you hopeful about?”
Tanya: “I am hopeful that we will continue to see lives transformed. This is the very reason why World Hope exists! And even though I’m unable to travel and visit our projects or hang out in person with our partners, we are connected through a common thread of our mission: to bring opportunity, dignity and hope to the most vulnerable people around the world.”
Rebecca: “That mission remains so relevant, especially now, with the ways the pandemic has impacted vulnerable people globally. What is something about the last year that keeps you up at night, when thinking about our mission to bring dignity and hope to vulnerable people around the world?
This is a season of walking – of holding hands with those we love or bringing hope to a world that seems dark. This is a season – let’s walk it together.”
Tanya: “The disparity of women and children that has grown around the world since the beginning of the pandemic has been particularly troubling to me. Women take the brunt of household chores and have been impacted the most by the pandemic right across the globe. The job losses increased, we saw an acceleration of trafficking and abuse, lack of access to education and technology, the list goes on. This is heavy on my heart and I desire to see these numbers changed.
Rebecca: This is a big task – but such an important one. What wisdom have you gleaned over the past year that you are holding on to as you face the upcoming challenges and goals of this new year?
Tanya: “There is a Bible verse that I love, Isaiah 40:31. Focus on walking and not faint. A colleague of mine shared recently that walking is okay! We aren’t always going to fly or run, but walking is also okay. Sometimes we fly, sometimes we run
but there are other times that we walk. This is a season of walking – of holding hands with those we love or bringing hope to a world that seems dark. This is a season – lets walk it together.”
Stay connected by following World Hope Canada’s Facebook page.
You can support WHI’s efforts to empower, protect, and build resiliency around the world by giving to The Hope Fund.
