The YMCA of Eastern Ontario recognized two local peacemakers at the 2023 Peace Medal Award Presentations at the Brockville YMCA.

Heather Haynes, an international artist living in Gananoque, founder of non-profit organization The Art of Courage received the medal for Kingston. Through storytelling the Art of Courage raises awareness and funds to support vulnerable women and children in the Democratic Republic of The Congo. 

“My art lead me there, I’ve always had my art as being connected to charity in some way…which led me to go abroad to Uganda in 2008. It was the people that really affected me…I ended up going to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2011 after I read a book by Lisa Shannon called A Thousand Sisters, it was the stories of the women and I felt as though I wanted to meet the women and create paintings of them so I can tell their story…to raise awareness of what’s going on there,” says Haynes.

She says she felt a responsibility to do something.

“Their stories were horrific, they’re impossible stories to reconcile in your heart or your mind…I just started painting and I found opportunities to show my work and tell people and they’d feel it from the paintings…I’d raise funds through the sales of paintings, events, fundraisers.”

Haynes adds a meeting led her to raising funds to house orphans.

This experience led her to paint 80 orphaned children who were in this home, she called it The Wall of Courage.

“I started touring it to raise funds to build a school to educate all those children and more children in the community…My responsibility is to be honest with where I’m coming from, it’s a human connection. If people are suffering I believe we need to do something to stop them from suffering,” says Haynes.

The Art of Courage started in 2018 and educates 400 children and is run by 23 staff. Haynes says we’re challenged to raise the funds.

“Because of the U.S.-Canadian dollar, food prices have doubled…the funds are about $40,000 more than we walked into four years ago…Businesses can donate…pay a teacher’s salary for a year, or buying school supplies…it’s community here, supporting community there.”

Peace week is an annual event, where YMCA’s across Canada celebrate acts of peace and recognize individuals or group who have demonstrated a commitment to building peace in their community or in communities around the world.

“If you have a gut instinct to do something, follow it, don’t let your mind tell you it’s impossible, you don’t know until you try…If I didn’t make that one small step, none of this would’ve happened. I don’t have this huge network, I’m not a wealthy person by any means, I’m an artist…The intention is good, I think if we follow those impulses when they’re out of love, I think we’ll learn a lot and it will always lead us somewhere better….when you’re kind to someone, they’re kind to someone, that’s the kind of energy we want instead of fear and impossibility, there’s possibilities we just don’t see them enough on the news,” says Haynes.

Mezaun Hodge, Co-founder of Diversity Advisory Coalition was the medal winner for the Brockville area.

Listen to the full CFRC interview with Heather Haynes below: