Development often starts with a woman. Support leadership programs for women through the USC, 56 Sparks Street, Ottawa. [Lotta Hitschmanova, 1978.]
Today is International Women’s Day, a time to celebrate the achievements and lasting impact of remarkable women like Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova C.C. (1909-1990), whose message of compassion, hope and peace has never been more relevant than in 2025.
Dr. Lotta, as she was known, was a beloved Canadian humanitarian who arrived penniless in Canada in 1942, as a Jewish Czech WWII refugee.
The year 2025 is also a time when we have witnessed politicians in the United States and in Canada advocating for large cuts to foreign aid programs. And they’ve also been heard making jokes about beautiful Lesotho, a country “which nobody has ever heard of.”
Well, Dr. Lotta and the organization she founded — the Unitarian Service Committee, USC Canada — stood for something entirely different. And she most certainly had heard of Lesotho — as she started a program there in 1971, a program that I visited on many occasions during my 22 years with USC Canada.
Single-handedly, from the 1940s to the 1980s, Dr. Lotta helped educate and mobilize Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Putting Ottawa on the map – not just as a seat of government and political debate – but as a center for Canadian caring and concern for the rest of the world.
Dr. Lotta used her skills as a journalist to great advantage, producing hundreds of Public Service Announcements (PSAs) that Canadians would hear on the radio and TV throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
For those readers who are too young to remember Dr. Lotta, I thought it might be useful, in today’s global context, to share a few of those PSAs from the 60s and 70s that were heard, often multiple times on a single day.
This is Lotta Hitschmanova of the Unitarian Service Committee. Charity begins at home. Indeed it does. And then it goes on to embrace next door neighbours and all those who need help. So start by caring for those near you and then give a thought, and if you can a dollar, to the children far away, who have no hope without your help.
This is Lotta Hitschmanova of the Unitarian Service Committee. The child that starves in a distant land isn’t your child and you aren’t concerned. And yet, if it were your child, and you were helpless in the face of catastrophe, wouldn’t you hope that someone would care. Please help through the USC, 56 Sparks Street, Ottawa 4.
This is Lotta Hitschmanova of the USC. I tour all USC projects overseas every year, to see if our programs are nearing their natural completion. By using indigenous staff and working through local partner agencies, we are able to eventually work ourselves out of a job, and move on to new projects. Please help today by supporting the USC, 56 Sparks Street, Ottawa.
The USC believes that a voluntary agency must be thoroughly human and work from the heart, with compassion and understanding, but also with a maximum of professional knowledge. The USC believes a voluntary agency must never humiliate, but must create cooperation between human beings, so they can build a better tomorrow together. Please help through the USC, 56 Sparks Street, Ottawa.
Do you ever ask yourselves what it is like to live in that other world? Hunger, walk hours to doctor, basic amenities only exist for the few, the rich. Water, clothes, education. What is it like? Most of us will never know. But we can help. Many choose USC to channel their support, because USC is completely non-denominational and non-political, for more than 30 years. I inspect USC projects every year. You can trust the USC, 56 Sparks Street, Ottawa.
Development often starts with a woman. Support leadership programs for women through the USC, 56 Sparks Street, Ottawa.
Can you imagine what it would be like in 2025, if Canada still had a compelling, powerful, independent voice like Lotta’s sending out caring, hopeful messages to the rest of the world? Would people listen? I think so. The world has never needed a Lotta Hitschmanova more than today.
Thank you Lotta, for your inspirational and ground-breaking leadership, and Happy International Women’s Day!
David Rain