Order of Canada member inspired by his childhood in St. Catharines

Bob Munro honoured for a lifetime of philanthropy

A lifetime of philanthropy that earned Bob Munro an induction into the Order of Canada was inspired by cherished childhood memories of growing up in St. Catharines in the 1940s and 50s.

“Growing up in St. Catharines shaped my character,” said Munro, 79, who has lived in Nairobi, Kenya, for nearly 40 years.

At the time, the growing city became a destination for numerous immigrants who left Europe following the Second World War, and most of his classmates at Victoria Public School were born outside of Canada.

He said early exposure to multiculturalism “challenged your own value system and made you basically more international.”

“It’s not surprising, given my growing up in St. Catharines, that I spent a lot of time working on international problems and living in different countries and different cultures, which also helped to shape my character,” Munro said.

It sparked an early interest in international issues.

While reading newspaper articles about the United Nations as he delivered copies of The Standard as a teenager, he said he realized: “I’d like to work for them some day.” “I was 14 then,” he said.

“And 14 years later I was working for the UN Economic Commission, working on the front lines in western Europe. That really helped shape my career, 1956 in St. Catharines and what I wanted to do with my life.”

Munro went on to help found a new European environmental department within the UN’S Economic Commission, leading to his participation at the first world environment conference in Stockholm in 1972.

A few years later, he was appointed as secretary-general for the first United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, in Vancouver, and eventually worked to get the UN’S habitat offices located in Nairobi.

Munro and his wife Ingrid ultimately moved to Nairobi in 1985, where Ingrid led the UN’S International Year of Shelter for

Growing up in St. Catharines shaped my character. BOB MUNRO ORDER OF CANADA INDUCTEE

the Homeless.

After seeing the abject poverty people were living in, in the slums of Kenya, Munro again turned to his childhood memories for inspiration as he developed a plan to help them.

“With the kids here, you can’t believe the level of poverty,” he said, describing nine-squaremetre shacks that families of five call home with no running water, no electricity and no sanitation.

Munro said he was watching children playing with a string and paper ball, when “all of the sudden I had sort of a flashback.”

He recalled playing hockey and baseball on Royal Canadian Legion-sponsored little league teams, and the positive impact it had on him and his teammates.

“I learned so much from sports and those leagues and role models that by the time I was 15 or 16, I was thinking these guys are volunteering their time. Some day I’ll pay them back. I’ll do something like they’re doing,” he said.

Munro founded Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA), giving children in impoverished communities an opportunity to play organized sports.

“That’s what MYSA became. It was inspired by the youth leagues in St. Catharines and by those volunteers that organized it,” he said.

“It was my payback. Why shouldn’t these kids have the same chance me and my friends had to play real sports with real referees, real coaches and real rules?”

Munro said he got the children who wanted to play soccer involved in helping develop the organization, while also working to improve their community.

“I made a tough-love deal with them.

“I said if you do something, I’ll do something. If you do nothing, I’ll do nothing,” he said.

“I had no idea of their determination, their talents, their commitment and abilities to do things. So, they kept doing things and said, ‘OK we’ve done our part, now you’ll have to … get us more money and more partnerships.’ That’s how it started.”

The program has had a profound impact in the decades since.

“The kids growing up in the slums, the only role models the kids had were drug dealers and vice lords, prostitution and brewing illegal liquor,” he said.

“What MYSA did was provide new heroes and role models.”

He said many of those heroes are MYSA program alumni, such as Montreal CF defensive midfielder Victor Wanyama.

Munro said another former MYSA goalkeeper, Moses Mutuli, focused on academics when he wasn’t playing soccer and went on to study at the University of Nairobi’s science department. Following graduation, Mutuli was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to obtain an MBA at Oxford University. He said “this kid from the slums” is now the president of The Actuarial Society of Kenya.

They’re just a few examples of the life-changing impact the program has had, earning the program two nominations for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Munro, who last visited St. Catharines in 1994, is eager to return to Canada to receive his medal from Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, but there’s currently a backlog due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I don’t know when it will be, but I hope it’s before the snow comes because I don’t have any winter clothes anymore, so Ingrid and I will arrive at the airport in summer wear,” he said, laughing.

He called being notified about the Order of Canada “a huge surprise.”

“I’ve never done things for getting honours or awards,” he said, adding throughout his career his work has been focused on helping political leaders resolve issue for which they have gotten the accolades.

“The minister would get the credit and I would get the results. It’s not a bad deal,” he said.