Saturday 25 September, 2015
by Peggy Taillon
It was a beautiful cool overcast fall day when 90 golfers took to the Pine View Golf Club course for HERA Mission’s First Annual Golf Tournament www.heramission.org. The late September tournament was a first for the charity named after Co-Founder Peggy Taillon’s son Devlin Hera. “Hera” means love in his tribal language of Luo. HERA raises fund to support the work of a women’s leadership group, Asembo Bay Women for Development, an organization that leads development projects, sponsorship of children to secondary and post secondary education, women-led business opportunities, agricultural and infrastructure projects.
The event had many generous sponsors including: Osolee who launched a HERA bracelet where all proceeds are donated to HERA; Dermis Orleans; Nordstrom; Trigon Insurance; Scotia Bank; LOFT Hair Designs and so many more. The event had a Market Place including Kenya art and jewelry, Osolee, Barefoot Books and World Changing Kids. Hair, make-up and massage were offered to golfers from Burberry, Dermis, Airbonne and Mind and Body Massage.
HERA was established as a means to put a spotlight on the leadership and work of the women in the village and as a way to keep a promise to a country loved by its Co- Founder Peggy Taillon, a country that brought her and her son together in a fateful journey where Taillon had to fight tradition, custom and the legal system to become Devlin’s mother. Over a 15-month period Taillon remained in Kenya and worked against all odds to convince Kenyan authorities to allow the adoption, even though she was a single mother, which is specifically prohibited by Kenyan law.
To Taillon, HERA is part of promise she made to her son, his birth family who she supports, the place of his birth and his heritage. We are connected to it, there are so many layers to it all. Devlin now eight and half, is beginning to understand all of the layers and has embraced it with pride. He feels a deep connection to Kenya, the village, his family and friends. They are proud of him. I am too; it is all more than I could have ever wished for.
Photo credit: Leah Mowers
About the writer
Peggy Taillon founded the HERA Mission of Canada in 2008, a foundation that supports women leading development projects, empowering widows, children and grandmothers in Western Kenya. Through this work, Peggy honors the community where her son Devlin was born. Peggy recently joined the Bruyère Foundation, which raises funds for Bruyère, a bilingual academic health care organization which includes two hospitals, two long-term care homes and Bruyère Village, a place that promotes aging at home. Peggy has also led the Canadian Council on Social Development, influencing public policy and the changing landscape for the third sector in Canada over the last several years. Peggy served as senior vice-president at The Ottawa Hospital, and previously led Ontario’s Mental Health Implementation Task Force, a sweeping reform process. Peggy served as an Advisor to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care and to the Premier on the implementation of Ontario’s Regional Health Authorities, Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs), along with a number of other major health reform processes. She sits on the Council of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and is co-chair to the Canadian Council on the Social Determinants of Health under the Public Health Agency of Canada.
For more information:
Peggy Taillon [email protected]
http://www.heramission.org/
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