The Castle was built as a private residence in 1859 by Nelson Gilbert Reynolds, Sheriff of Ontario County and was the largest private residence in North America until Casa Loma was built in 1914.
Built of limestone and stone in an Elizabethan style, the Castle cost an astounding $70,000 to build and took three years to complete. Reynolds lived at the Castle until 1874 when he was overcome with financial difficulty and forced to sell the land and the Castle to the Methodist Church of Canada at a cost of just $35,000.
Fuelled by a belief in the power of girls, the private mansion was converted into a school for young women known as the Ontario Ladies’ College (OLC). In 1979, OLC became Trafalgar Castle School. True to its founding mission, Trafalgar continues to shape the lives of young women through excellence in girls’ education.
Dr. Leanne Foster made an acquaintance of Narmin Ismail, founder of Spark of Hope. Spark of Hope is a non-denominational, registered charitable organization in Canada and the United States. Their purpose is to empower young women, primarily from the Global South, to become the next generation of leaders in their communities. They achieve this by providing scholarships and ongoing personal support to ensure that every student succeeds at university and is equipped to become an outstanding leader.
However, Narmin told Dr. Foster that young girls need help and preparation in some cases to be able to attend University which is where Spark of Hope focuses, at the University level. They identified need to 'Reach girls early' at high school level.
Leanne described it based on the 'star fish' analogy, saving one at a time.
Reaching and helping girls due to economic, war zones or social situations that prevent them from furthering their education and reaching their potential.
World of Difference was organized to fill this gap, to reach girls earlier and prepare them for University. The program was launched in 2017 with support from the Rotary Club of Brighton and other Rotary clubs. The first student was Lala from Tajikistan. Lala graduated in 2019 and is now completing her 3rd year at Trent University. Lala directs the summer programs at Trafalgar Castle School. She was 3rd in her graduating class and won the Science Merit Award.
Their second student was Zena from Syria in 2018, graduating in 2020. Zena is now finishing her second year at York. She has refugee status in Canada and may not be able to return to Syria due to deteriorating conditions there.
Due to COVID and people not able to travel, they put the program on hold for the past two years.
Then in 2021 the Taliban took control in Afghanistan with the removal of US troops. Shabana Basij-Rasikh had a school for girls in Afghaniston called SOLA. They had to burn all records when the Taliban came and then under the ruse of going on a field trip Shabana managed to get 145 families out of Afghanistan to Rwanda via a private airport. But they couldn't take anything, no papers, documents as they were pretending to be on a field trip.
Shabana is looking to re-establish her school in Rwanda, but the older girls are ready to move on. Working with the US and Canadian governments, 145 girls got out, with 140 choosing Canada over the US.
Trafalgar Castle School has taken two of these girls. They are at the school now, getting settled and will start grade 11 in September.
Dr. Foster was very thankful for the support of Rotary. Together we can Make World of Difference.