My daughter just can’t believe the poverty she has seen this past week.

I was a bit surprised at this news, when she reached us by phone. Here, after all, is a young woman who has traveled to Ecuador, Chile, Guatemala and Bangladesh, and completed her university degree.

She had just left for a six-month stint, along with 17 other young adults from Nicaragua and Canada, to live with host families, learn each other’s customs and work with social agencies.

But my daughter wasn’t on the line from somewhere in the Global South. She was calling from Hamilton, Ont.

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