It is with great pride that the Mohawk College Alumni Association congratulates Kendra Gregson on being awarded the 1999 Premier’s Award for Applied Arts: Community Services. 

Gregson was presented with her award in 2000, in an elaborate ceremony held at the Sheraton Fallsview Hotel in Niagara Falls by Minister of Training, Colleges & Universities, Dianne Cunningham. 

A 1985 graduate of the Mohawk College Child Care Worker Program, Gregson has continued her studies both locally and internationally. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and Anthropology from McMaster University, a graduate Diploma in International Development and Co-operation from the University of Ottawa and a Diploma in Psychodrama from the Institute of Interpersonal Relations in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

Over the years, Gregson has performed a variety of roles such as Early Childhood Program Co-ordinator, Affirmative Action Co-ordinator, Youth Consultant, and Youth Program Co-ordinator. Over the past nine years she has been a Relief and Development Worker in Latin America, Argentina and Bosnia-Herzegovina. 

She arrived in Bosnia during the war in May 1994, assigned by CARE Canada to Bihac, to lead a staff of 80 working on social reconstruction. She focused on the needs of vulnerable people: children separated from their parents, elderly people, people with physical or mental disabilities, and survivors of violence. Trying to find them the services or networks that could help them. Direct duties during the war included medical care, psychosocial assistance, home care and material air (food, medicine). 

Gregson has braved the ravages of war, “It’s not fun being shelled or being sniped at… but one quickly gets used to the physical environment of war.” She confesses to spending many nights under the staircase in her building while being shelled. But Gregson is not bothered by destroyed buildings and rubble. What she finds heartbreaking, is to come upon situations like the seven small orphans she found in an apartment trying to cook for themselves by putting flour and sugar in a pan and sticking it in an oven. 

Gregson’s REACH (Rehabilitation for Elderly and Children) Program has helped re-establish the social networks that peaceful society takes for granted, like restoring fundamental services such as schools. In 1998, she worked in Sarajevo as the Social Policy Task Force Co-ordinator for a consortium of relief and development organizations including the World Bank, CARE, The Canadian International Development Agency, European Union, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the Bosnia-Herzegovina government social protection ministries. This consortium was created to discuss social policy developments within the country, and she helped the Bosnian governments develop workable social policies in the aftermath of the war.  

Gregson is currently working as a Social Protection Consultant in Bosnia-Herzegovina, providing assistance to the World Bank in its work in social protection and poverty analysis. Her responsibilities include analysis of social benefits, social policy issues, and providing support to the World Bank in the design of its living standards measurement and labour market surveys.  

Gregson is also a member of the Directing staff for “The Humanitarian Challenege-Refuges and Displaced Person’s”, at the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia. This is one of only a handful of peacekeeping centres in the world, and the only one that deals with peacekeeping partnerships in complex emergencies. This Directorship is tribute to Gregson’s commitment to peacekeeping efforts. 

Most of us are aware of the suffering endured by many people around the world. Some of us read about it, others talk about it, but few become as directly involved as Kendra Gregson. Despite working under horrendous conditions, Gregson has dedicated her life to making a difference somewhere else in the world. It is largely due to her genuine sense of caring that she received the Canada Day Award for Excellence in 1985 from Prime Minister Brian Mulroney for her work in the areas of Peace, Participation and Development. In 1998, Gregson was honoured with the Award of Merit from the Anglican Church of Canada, and this year she received the Canadian YMCA Peace Medal. 

It is through her extensive humanitarian efforts that Gregson is truly dedicated to her chosen profession, to peacekeeping and to international development. Gregson has not only distinguished herself within her field, but has made an outstanding contribution to her community – the world community! Congratulations Gregson! 

This story was originally published in Summer 2000 in the Mohawk Alumni In Touch magazine.