Following four years of the One World Scholarship deploying to El Salvador, two years in Panama, and one year in Belize, the OWS is returning to El Salvador for 2017!

This return of the OWS will see five recent graduates of the JIBC deploy alongside a team of six Canadian Fire Service professionals, on what will be the tenth year of Canadian Fire Fighters travelling to Belize to deliver training, equipment, and strengthening the international bonds between fire fighters of both El Salvador and Canada.

Congrats to the five successful applicants, they will be heading to El Salvador in February of 2017.

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2015 marked the 6th year that the Justice Institute of British Columbia supported the international efforts of Canadian fire fighters through the One World Scholarship Program. Each year, four graduates of the JIBC Fire Fighting Technologies Certificate are selected for a 3 week international deployment, all expenses covered through scholarship support of the Irving K Barber Foundation. For 4 years the program was held in El Salvador, then in 2014 and 2015 it was in Panama.

A brief overview of the program in 2015:

• The scholars left Vancouver on February 8th for Panama City .
• The students received a 5-day, 20-hour intensive Spanish language program in the tropical rainforest area of Boquete.
• Their days were split with Spanish class in the morning and then touring the regional fire halls in the afternoon.
• The scholars created a fire safety plan for Jungla de Panama Wildlife Reserve, leaving a legacy worthy of the Irving K. Barber Foundation.
• A large part of the fire hall visits involved presenting the Panamanian bomberos (firefighters) with a demonstration of lifts and carry techniques for rescuing persons inside a structure fire.  These may include civilians or their fellow firefighters.  The bomberos of Panama may already be knowledgeable in these techniques so ultimately the presentation is more of an exercise for our scholars in doing public presentations which is one of the duties of a firefighter.
• Over the 10-day trip we vedisit at least one fire hall in each of the 10 operational zones serviced by the Benemerito Cuerpo de Bomberos de la Republica de Panama (BCBRP).
• Once we are back in Panama City, the scholars joined the 2015 Fire Rescue International Training Association (FRITA) deployment team on February 20th.   At this point, the role of One World scholars shifted from that of student to assisting Canadian firefighters to deliver a training program based on meeting NFPA standards in basic firefighting and company officer duties.

It is fair to say that the days are long and packed with activities and experiences.  Our hope is that this instills a sense of connectedness to firefighters in the global community and gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the career these four young men have chosen.