The founder of the Gimli-based Flag of Humanity, which received Canadian charitable status last year, delivered a message of unity and a monetary donation to a school in Guatemala last month.
Bruce Benson visited the town of Poza Verde, where he met some teachers and students at the Escuela Mixta Aldea Poza Verde. He later presented the school with a cheque for $3,000.
Benson said his foundation was “pretty happy” to do that.
“The initial plan was to find five kids to pick up trash and we’d award them with $500 each. Having toured the school and realizing there were 150 students, and also realizing they needed a lot of things that could benefit all the students, we gave the money to the school instead,” said Benson. “The teachers told me they dip into their own pockets to buy supplies for the school. We don’t realize how lucky we are [in Canada] to have the schools we do and the supplies we have.”
Benson had visited Guatemala once before, and he decided to go to a different part of the Central American country, which borders Mexico to the north, after a friend of a friend offered him free lodging so that he carry out his mission of spreading the message of the commonality of being human and voluntarily cleaning up trash.
The homeowner’s wife, who offered Benson his house, is in charge of the school, and she introduced Benson to teachers and many students. Benson said the school was on its scheduled two-month break. They spent a morning cleaning the school, then hung up the Flag of Humanity and distributed about 100 T-shirts to the kids.
“The people I met in Guatemala were absolutely fantastic. I was staying in an out-of-the-way spot and started picking up trash along a gravel road about a two-mile walk from Poza Verde, which is half the size of Gimli,” said Benson. “On the second day, a group of kids came along and said, ‘We will help you.’ It was a wonderful experience.”
Benson created the flag in 2008 after realizing his son would inherit a troubled world. Its mantra is to celebrate the commonality of being human regardless of a person’s religion, skin colour, nationality, or politics. Over almost two decades, Benson has taken his flag to Jerusalem, Egypt, China, Thailand, and America, to name a few places.
With U.S. president Donald Trump targeting Canada with a suite of punishing tariffs, Benson said his flag sends a message that is the antithesis of nationalistic rhetoric.
“In this time of uncertainly we’re facing right now with what’s happening south of the border with nationalism, we need this message more than ever. When I first heard the term nationalism, I thought it was a wonderful term. People should be proud of their country and be patriotic. But what nationalism has come to mean is us and them. The world is too small for us-and-them thinking, and the problems of the world are too big for us-and-them thinking,” said Benson. “So the message of the Flag of Humanity is opposite of us and them.”
In a month or so, Benson said he’s taking his flag to India to visit the Golden Temple, a religious site in Amritsar, in the Punjab region. Then, in the summer, he’s taking the flag on a lengthy kayaking journey down the Mississippi River, which will take about two months as it’s a couple of thousand miles from the headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico.
Express Photos Courtesy of Bruce Benson
“How will I be received in America? Well, I’m bringing a positive message. I’m just going there with a message of unity; that’s all it is. Who would have a problem with that?” he said.
Wherever he takes the flag, Benson says people appreciate its message.
“The Flag of Humanity is a message that really resonates wherever I go,” he said. “There are a few constants: children always want to help me [clean up trash], and people respond positively to the flag’s message.”
Benson said that if any teacher in Manitoba would like to have a Flag of Humanity in their classroom, he’d be more than happy to provide one.
For more information about the Flag of Humanity, visit theflagofhumanity.com
