Councillor Rupke helping to add to a school in Nicaragua
By Bill Rea

Jack Rupke

King Councillor Jack Rupke could be excused for missing the last couple of meetings, since the Ward 6 representative has been busy with humanitarian work abroad.

Rupke is part of a party of 12 currently working on an addition to a school in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua.

He travelled to the Central American country Jan. 27, and is expected to return home this Saturday (Feb. 10).

Rupke is a member of Valleyview Alliance Church in Newmarket, which is affiliated with the Christian Alliance of Canada, and he is part of a party of 12 from the Alliance working down there (three from his church).

"We're going to be doing grunt work," he commented about a week before his departure. "What ever it takes to add an addition to a school."

He wasn't able to offer many more details on the actual work he was to do. The school has been an ongoing project for years, and he was to have no word on how advanced it was until he had actually seen it.

This is not the first time Rupke has undertaken such a mission. He said he took a similar trip to Costa Rica a couple of years ago to help build an addition to a church. He added his plane did stop in Nicaragua on the way to Costa Rica, but all he saw of the country on that occasion was from "looking out the window of an airplane."

The purpose of the effort, he said, is to show compassion to people in need. He also said he expected to find differences between the two countries.

"There's more poverty there than in Costa Rica," he observed.

He also understood there's some political strife in Nicaragua, but that has nothing to do with the project.

"We're not there to be politically involved," he said. "We're there to help the people."

He did expect the weather to be nice down there, and he said he would be prepared for the conditions. "I do have my hard hat," he remarked, adding he obtained one with the King Township logo from the operations department.

Rupke said he volunteered for this work, adding he's paying his own expenses. He also wasn't sure where he would be staying while in Managua. "We'll find out when we get there," he said.