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Introducing… Fred Says!

Dalia Joao (left) is a community health worker in Nacala-a-Velha, Mozambique. She cares for patients like Sifa Nuro (right) who are learning to manage their HIV. Photo: Simon Chambers

November 8, 2013

By Simon Chambers

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The Most Reverend Fredrick James Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada and President of the PWRDF Board of Directors, admits that some people call him “Your Grace.”  But he much prefers simply to be called “Fred.”

Fred is passionate about the work of PWRDF, which he calls “one of the best good news stories of the Anglican Church of Canada.”  An important part of the work PWRDF does is to work with people and communities to ensure people have enough good, healthy food to eat.

It all starts with food: good health, the ability to learn in school, or to be effective at work.

Fred Says is a campaign that PWRDF will be undertaking over the next three years to move people to understand food security and the PWRDF mission. Food security is an increasingly common term, but not well understood by most – food security refers to the availability of food and one’s access to it.

The first thing Fred Says is “Have you Eaten Today?”  In Canada, it’s easy to assume that everyone has enough to eat, but in other countries, friends often greet each other with this question, and the answer they often receive is “no.”  If your friend hasn’t eaten and you have extra, you generally share of your excess.

Fred encourages us to learn more about these patients, including Sifa Naru, a widow in Mozambique who stopped taking the anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) that will control her AIDS because she didn’t have food to take them with.  Her story inspired PWRDF to step in and provide food packets to Sifa and hundreds of other patients to help them get back on their feet after being diagnosed with HIV.

Every two months, Fred will offer a new “Fredism”””a unique saying which is linked to a PWRDF project and is related to the month, season or holiday in Canada.  You are invited to learn more online and in the Church about the issue of food security and the work that PWRDF and its partners are doing. In turn, the hope is that you will donate or host an event to continue to raise awareness of the importance of food in the lives of every person around the world.

Fredsays.ca will host resources, video, stories, and portals to give online to support the projects linked to each Fredism, and will be updated with new content as each Fredism is launched.