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business elite canada
H
MAY/JUNE 2015
SPECIAL CHILDREN CREATE LASTING IMPRESSION
A career spent helping oth-
ers around the world has
impacted UNICEF Canada
President & CEO David Mor-
ley in many ways, but there
are two people who immedi-
ately come to mind when he
thinks about the lifelong jour-
ney he has taken.
As a 22-year-old volunteer,
Morley met a young boy liv-
ing on the streets in Central
America. He would help the
boy with his homework; the
street-savvy boy would try
to teach Morley the skills of
pick pocketing. “I couldn’t do
it,” Morley said. “He’d be sit-
ting at the table and suddenly
he’d put my wallet in front of
me, and say, ‘David, you’ve
got to be careful. You don’t
know who you’re going to
run into!’”
One day Morley asked the
boy what it was like to sleep
on the streets with his young-
er brother and sister. Instant-
ly offended, the boy correct-
ed Morley. “I never slept on
the streets and don’t ever
say I slept on the streets,”
he exclaimed. Instead, he
would find newspaper and
lay it down each night on a
bench for himself and his sib-
lings. Though he had taken
the term “sleeping on the
streets” literally, it showed
Morley the pride and dignity
that the young thief — con-
sidered one of society’s out-
casts by many — maintained
despite his impoverished life-
style.
Today, that young boy is a
grandfather and he and Mor-
ley keep in touch through
social media. “He’s just one
that really touched my heart,
and it’s lovely.”
A more recent encounter
about two years ago hap-
pened when Morley met a
12-year-old girl in northern
Iraq who had fled war-torn
Syria with her family. She had
a few books that had been
translated into Arabic in front
of her, and Morley asked her
what one of the books was
about. “I don’t know,” she re-
plied. “I used to know how
to read but I’ve forgotten.
I haven’t been able to go to
school for years.”
And that’s what fuels Morley
in the day-to-day challenge to
find more fundraising dollars
and, in turn, build the futures
of disadvantaged children.
These are the children who
don’t benefit from the health
and education systems that
most Canadians take for
granted. “It’s just luck of the
draw that I was born in Cana-
da … I’m just going to try to
do what I can,” he said.
