SASKATOON (Staff) – A few years ago an international development official came to see “Betty-ann Kay,” who worked at the Rural Interchurch Development Co-op.
The official was surprised to meet two people at RICDEP – Betty Payne and Kay Williams.
Payne laughed as she recounted the story while recently receiving a 1995 Global Citizens award from the Saskatchewan Council for International Co-operation.
Bring issues home
She and her teammate worked for a decade to bring Third World issues to rural Saskatchewan through film tours and seminars.
The award comes posthumously since RICDEP is gone. It died last June following federal government funding cuts that also caused the collapse of two-thirds of all the Canadian development education groups.
Payne told the group that although the co-op is gone but the spirit lives on.
Williams said working for the co-op has spoiled her since she has “come to believe all people in rural Saskatchewan have good hearts.”
