Capt. Nichola Goddard once told her parents that she did what she did (soldiering) so they could do what they do (teaching).
In 2006, she was part of a Canadian Forces team tasked with rooting out Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan. Her theory was, once the country was stabilized, people like her parents could come in and help educate the shell-shocked nation.
It’s that kind of philosophy that drives Canadian soldiers to sign up for duty away from their loved ones, knowing there’s a possibility they’ll never see them again.
Sgt. Randy McCourt of Summerside also served in Afghanistan as part of a Psychological Operations team. While there, he helped educate Afghanis about what Canada’s role is in stabilizing their country. Now, he’s educating the military about the Afghanis’ views of the war.
He said where young Afghanis once had limited options, they now look forward to the future. They want to be doctors and teachers instead of poppy farmers.
Canadians are dying to ensure that future. And it’s so often those images of the flag-draped coffins that Canadians see of the mission.
Goddard was 26 years old when she became Canada’s first-ever female soldier killed in combat. She died May 17, 2006, during a firefight in the Panjwaye District, Afghanistan. Instead of simply mourning her loss, though, her friends and family have continued to improve the world in her name.
Saturday, hundreds of people attended a concert at UPEI in aid of the Nichola Goddard Light Up Papua, New Guinea, project. The project provides health-care facilities in rural Papua, New Guinea, with solar-powered LED lights. Goddard was born in Papua, New Guinea, where her parents helped found schools in the Third World country’s isolated communities. Her parents, who now live in Charlottetown, are Tim and Sally Goddard.
“We could raise $50 million a day for good causes and it won’t bring her back. We could do nothing and it won’t bring her back,” Tim Goddard told Transcontinental Media before the concert. “So you just try to do what you can do.”
Today, as we mark Remembrance Day, we can all do more than mourn. We can be spurred by the deaths of our Canadian soldiers to help them carry on making the world a little brighter.