Children with very Little

I remember when I was in Daruvar in ’92, no sorry ’93 and we’d drive down from Daruvar to Pakrac and we had a joke called the Pakrac Cadillac. Basically it was a farm tractor with a wagon full of hay and people would sit on that. That was their mode of transportation. And the best analogy you can see if you ever saw a movie called “Children of the Corn” and you see those kids in the cornfield that’s exactly how they looked like. A lot of kids, you know, missing teeth, dirty. It was sad to see these kids living in these conditions and hard looking at kids from North America and one aspect that was hard to adapt was after seeing the poverty over there in Croatia and then when I was in Bosnia, people doing with the least they have and making toys out of it. For example, this kid had an old can and had a stick and he was playing with it to roll it and then I come back to Canada and I see our kids, “Oh, I didn’t get the latest Nintendo. I’m pissed off, blah, blah, blah!” So that’s like going from there to here and you’re seeing this it’s like, “What the heck are you complaining about?" You have more than enough!”

Mr. Allaire describes the poverty that exists amongst the Croatian and Bosnian children comparing it to the lifestyle of our children in Canada.

Denis Allaire

Mr. Denis Allaire was born December 25, 1962 in Timmons, Ontario. As a young man, Mr. Allaire recalls his decision to join the military as a selfish opportunity for financial and security reasons and enlisted on a bet. He trained as a medic receiving trades training in Cornwallis, Ontario, OJT in Trenton, Ontario and then six month training at Borden, Ontario Medical School. Joining the 5 Field Ambulance Division as an army medic, Mr. Allaire deployed overseas, his first deployment being in 1993 to Croatia, then Rwanda followed by two tours to Bosnia. After 24 years of military service, he discharged from the military. Mr. Allaire retires having a great sense of pride for his contribution and is thankful that he made that decision in life to join the Canadian Forces.