When Burnaby teacher Geraldine Lazaruk and her sister visited Greece for a holiday this summer, their neighbours on the island of Kos came as a bit of a shock.
Right beside their hotel, behind wire fencing, thousands of men, women and children escaping civil war in Syria had made a temporary home in an abandoned hotel.
“Every day that we were there, we would see another group of maybe two to three hundred walking down the road to the camp from the water,” said Lazaruk, who teaches music at Marlborough Elementary. “There were people, I guess, staying in the rooms and then also just in makeshift tarps, lean-tos. There were children sleeping on plastic bags and cardboard with nothing over their heads, which was OK in the summer, but now it’s starting to rain …. There was garbage everywhere; there were women trying to wash clothes in mud puddles.”
Other tourists on the island walked past the refugees as if they were invisible, Lazaruk said, but she and her sister made contact.
Meeting one of the women in the camp – a teacher – brought the tragedy home.
“There were some of her children with her, with their little Hello Kitty backpacks, and that’s when it really hit us that these are just like our students at Marlborough,” Lazaruk said.
There wasn’t much the sisters could do during their eight days on the island, but as soon as she was back at Marlborough, Lazaruk started working on a school fundraiser – a drum-a-thon.
On Wednesday, Nov. 25, Marlborough hosts Rhythms for Life, a 12-hour drum marathon.
Lazaruk has used her school’s African drums for good causes before, like raising money for the Terry Fox Foundation, but this time around the instruments carry an extra layer of significance for the local music teacher.
“It’s very powerful, the drum itself,” she said. “It really brings a sense of community to the students, and there was also drumming every night in the camps. Every night we would hear drumming going on.”
Lazaruk’s students, who have collected drum-a-thon pledges for the last two weeks, will start drumming at 8 a.m. Wednesday and keep pounding away in shifts until 8 p.m.
From 6 to 8 p.m., the public is invited to take in drumming performances and buy hot chocolate and baked goods at the Over the Rainbow café.
Visitors can also shop at the Dreamland Store, a temporary gift shop featuring items donated by parents, students and staff.
And, until Nov. 30, proceeds from the sale of Marlborough’s $10 Husky mascot stuffed toy will also go to the refugee project.
Supporters who can’t make it to the school Wednesday can donate online at www.redcross.ca/marlboroughrhythmsforlife.
All proceeds from the event will go to the Red Cross and will be matched by the federal government.
Donations of $20 or more will receive a tax receipt from the Red Cross.
