On an early weekday morning in late July, Isaac WardB次元官网网址攃lad in neoprene and wearing goggles and a bright orange floatB次元官网网址攕tepped into the waters of Sproat Lake at Taylor Arm and began to swim.
There was no fanfare for the start of his fundraising swimB次元官网网址攖hat was reserved for the opposite end of the lake where the venerated Hawaii Mars waterbomber was preparing for its final departure from Sproat Lake.
A member of Arrowsmith Baptist Church in Port Alberni, Ward's swim was the beginning of a mission to El Salvador to build homes for those who lost theirs in an earthquake in 2001 and subsequent other natural disasters.
Ward spent nearly 13 hours in the water swimming 23 kilometres from one end of Sproat Lake to the other, wrapping up on the public beach at Sproat Lake Provincial Park. His goal was to raise at least $6,000 to cover the cost of building one home and his travel to San Vincente, central El Salvador.
Now, five months later, Ward is with nine other church members in El Salvador building homes for people who are unhoused. In 2001, a series of earthquakes measuring nearly 8.0 on the Richter scale destroyed 108,000 homes in El Salvador and another 170,000 were damaged. Hundreds of people lost their lives. Since then, the devastation has been compounded by other events.
The Arrowsmith Baptist volunteers are working with Shelter Canada, which provides stable employment to 42 Salvadorans who build homes alongside international volunteers. Port Alberni-based volunteers hope to build 15 homes while they are in El Salvador: each home costs approximately $3,800 to build.
The team lead for the trip is Peter Tsai, who was one of three people supporting Ward for his swim. Peter, Ezra and Sam Tsai all made sure he was safe, operating his support vessel.
Ward, 25, is a marathon swimmer and triathlete born and raised in Port Alberni. "I have a passion for adventure, pushing my limits and inspiring others to be the best version of themselves through athletics," Ward said.
Ward learned to swim in order to compete in triathlons, and soon learned he loved the sport. "The feeling of weightlessness gliding through the water, where the only thing that matters in the moment is getting your next breath; everything else just disappears out of mind."
He quickly realized that he loves to swim, and "I was pretty decent at it. I figured I might as well use my skill set and talent to raise money for a charity," he added. That's where the idea to swim the length of Sproat Lake was born.
"This is the lake I first started teaching myself how to swim in, about 11 months ago," he said following his swim on July 26. "I did my first swim right on this beach. It's really beautiful, it's super nice water, it's very clear and yeah, it's a good distance as well."
The longest distance Ward swam before July was 10,100 metres.
"It's my longest swim by almost 13 kilometres."
A small group of people were waiting on shore as Ward completed his swim, including family his mother, Liana West, and family friend, Joyce Caldwell.
"I think it's absolutely wonderful," Caldwell said of Ward's effort.
"It was amazing," an emotional West said after greeting her son on the shore. "He sent me the live tracking link and I kept looking...the last 20 minutes I could see him coming. I was bursting with pride."
Ward has an online link with more information for people interested in learning more, at .
Cumulatively, the Arrowsmith group raised $82,000 and they plan to build 15 homes before they return to Port Alberni.
The organization that the Arrowsmith Baptist Church group is affiliated with started building homes in 2002 following a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in El Salvador that killed almost 1,000 people and left hundreds of thousands more without homes. Shelter has helped build 5,200 homes since the initial trip by three friends in Alberta.