Canadian Living salutes: Denise & Ken Taylor

Organizing more aid
Back in Canada, the Taylors contacted local hospitals, pharmacies, drug company sales reps, and agencies such as the Victorian Order of Nurses asking them to make donations of surplus medicines and supplies. "There is just so much that gets thrown out here -- still sealed and sterile -- that has potential value in Third World countries," says Denise.

Soon the couple had transformed a small storage space into a mini-warehouse. About two dozen shelves are stacked with bottles of medicine, rolls of sterile gauze, surgical gloves and other supplies. Every week volunteers, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists, help Denise and Ken carefully check, sort and categorize the incoming donations. Ken or one of the other doctors custom-tailors an assortment to suit each recipient country (there are no narcotics, however, because of the problems posed by their street value). A covering letter explaining that the items are a humanitarian gift eases the travellers and their packages through customs.

To ensure that the aid reaches the right person, Ken requires those delivering supplies to obtain a signed receipt from the receiving physician and return it to Not Just Tourists. "Some are nervous about taking drugs to a foreign country," says Ken, "but then they take them, and they see the reaction that they get, and they want to do it again."

How other Canadians can help
Canadian travellers now take more than 6,000 kilograms of medical aid to 30 countries each year, and took more than 3,000 kilograms in 2003 to Cuba alone. As the word about Not Just Tourists spreads, more and more tourists come to the Taylors wanting to help. "A lot more Canadians are on the move, and we're only too happy to assist them to help people in another country," says Denise. "Most say it's the highlight of their trip to be able to meet the local people and take medical supplies to those who desperately need them."

The Taylors share that feeling. Denise remembers one of the couple's first trips to Cuba: At one stop, a group of locals asked to see the doctor from Canada. "Ken sat down with them and started treating them and giving them medicine," she says. "He turned to me with a look of sheer joy on his face and said, ‘I feel so good.'"

For more information, visit www.geocities.com/notjusttourists.