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The Voice of North Grenville
The North Grenville Times
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International Woman’s Day 2024
The Voice of North Grenville Reaching by direct mail 8,500 homes and businesses in North Grenville
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March 7, 2024
Vol. 12 No.9
Janne Ritskes - a woman of merit, words and deeds
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by David Shanahan Last week, I wrote about the Shalom Small Homes project, designed to provide over 55s in North Grenville with stable and affordable homes. One of the guiding forces behind the project is local North Grenville resident, Janne Ritskes, author, builder, founder of charitable organisations, and recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor General of Canada. Her resume provides just a glimpse of what she has accomplished. Janne has over 40 years of international experience with integrated community
she could to alleviate the suffering of the Cambodian people. In 1994, Janne traveled to Cambodia with the support of friends and family as she put herself in harm’s way for people she had never met… half a world away. Her experiences with NGOs in Asia and Africa helped Janne to develop her own unique community development approach. Janne’s approach was not one of just giving assistance but one of teaching the people she worked with. With her approach, she assisted Cambodians to regain their dignity and self-respect. Janne’s legacy is the 4.7 million Cambodians she helped out
development programs. Her work has focused on the poorest of the poor in the slums of the US, Kenya, East Africa, the Philippines, and Cambodia. She stayed in the Philippines from 1980-1988, 1988-1991 in Kenya East Africa, and from 1992 until the present in Cambodia for her World Renew Development work. She developed two NGOs—Tabitha Foundation Cambodia and Nokor Tep Women's Hospital (Foundation). After discovering the terrible genocide in Cambodia caused by the brutality of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime, Janne set out with all her savings to do what
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March 7, 2024
of poverty through savings programs, goal setting, and cottage industry. Her book, “I Am Who I Am: my 25 year journey with the poorest in Cambodia”, details her work and challenges in Cambodia, where her motivation was “How do you institute a program that will allow them to start dreaming again, start believing in themselves, start working for themselves?” With that goal in mind, Janne worked with the Cambodian people so that she could sleep at night. She said, “You know whether you have done good or not. If you have done good, you will sleep.” Among many other projects, Janne’s Tabitha Foundation, drawing on 30,000 volunteers from around the world, has built an astonishing 13,266 homes for people in Cambodia. A special focus on women’s health in Cambodia resulted in the building of the Nokor Tep Women’s Hospital, an initiative launched by Janne, the Cambodian Minister for Women’s Affairs, and the City of Phnom Penh. Nokor Tep Women’s Hospital was officially registered with the Royal Cambodian Government in 2011. The vision for Nokor Tep Women’s Hospital is based on an issue of justice and equity, a vision
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