Paul David Hargrave was born in Toronto, Ontario on June 25, 1952 to parents Thomas and Phyllis Hargrave. He was a younger brother to Lynne (born 1946) and Barry (1942).

As a young boy, Paul had asthma and the resulting breathing problems limited his ability for vigorous activity. However, he excelled in school and was able, by completing two grades in one year, to advance quickly through elementary school.

In 1960, Paul and his family moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia. He completed high school and in 1967 began undergraduate classes at Dalhousie University.

Paul always said that he wanted to study medicine, and this focused purpose was realized when he was accepted in 1971 into medical school at Dalhousie.

Paul’s interest was in family medicine. He advanced easily through all the formal training and internships required to practice medicine.

And, in 1976, joined with two classmates to open a clinic in Springhill, Nova Scotia. His dream of practicing family medicine was realized at 24 years of age.

In 1978, Paul learned of a residency program in anaesthesiology at St. Paul’s hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia. Always eager to expand his medical knowledge he registered for the two year program and moved west.

After one year, he learned of an opening for a physician in family medicine at a clinic in Ladner, a small town in the Delta area south of Vancouver.

Paul had fallen in love with the mountains and ocean surrounding the area. Ladner was on the Fraser River where it enters the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The pull was so strong that he informed his colleagues in Springhill that he had decided to stay, still following his dream of family medicine, but on the west rather than the east coast of Canada.

Paul had met his future wife Linda in Springhill. She visited him in Ladner and she too fell in love with the possibility of living there. They were married and soon two beautiful children, Dylan and Alice, were born in 1982 and 1984.

In 1984 shocking photographs of men, women and children on the verge of starvation in Ethiopia were seen around the world.

Source @ BBC

The aid organization Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief (CPAR) with headquarters in Toronto responded by initiating aid programs in Ethiopia.

The following year, they organized a Study Tour that provided an opportunity for Canadian physicians to travel to Ethiopia to have a first-hand view of the crisis.

Paul loved to travel, but his growing practice allowed little time to follow this passion. However, when he learned of the CPAR tour he immediately decided to go.

The experience was life changing. He saw how the efforts of CPAR’s relief programs were focused and efficient involving local, trained people to deliver aid in food, water, sanitation and education in highly targeted ways in co-ordination with other aid organizations.

When he returned to Ladner, Paul immediately began to organize a CPAR chapter in British Columbia. He gathered a voluntary Board of Directors comprised physicians and others interested.

In the programs CPAR was creating, first in Ethiopia, and subsequently in other African sub-Saharan countries. Fundraising activities included annual barbeques, school and community presentations and sponsored golf competitions.

Paul continued his passion for family medicine in Ladner.

He attended annual CPAR meetings in Toronto and invited members from headquarters to come to British Columbia to continue to spread the word about CPAR’s mission and activities among physicians in the province.

His enthusiasm was contagious and his efforts were praised by the headquarters staff in Toronto.

In January 1998, Paul was diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer. He died in early February at the age of 45.

His unexpected death, at such a young age, deeply affected his family and the entire community he had served for 20 years. The largest church in Ladner where a celebration of life service was held was filled to capacity.

Money raised at the event and in local schools in Ladner, where there was a i Penny’s from Heaven’ campaign in Paul’s memory, was donated to CPAR.

A Canadian government program that matches charitable gifts to aid organizations, like CPAR, was used to double the amount.

Then, through coordination between CPAR offices in Uganda and Toronto, under a UN aid program, the amount was doubled again.

The money raised in Paul’s memory became the funding base for building the CPAR Dr. Paul Hargrave Memorial Centre in Lira, Uganda.

The centre in mid 2010s

Construction started in 1999 and was completed in March 2000, when Paul’s son Dylan and his brother Barry and Barry’s wife Margot attended as members of a CPAR Study Tour.

Trees planted in Paul’s memory in the courtyard in front of the Center during the dedication ceremony continue to grow there today.

Today, the country program of CPAR, CPAR Uganda, localized into an independent Ugandan non-profit organization (CPAR Uganda Ltd).

Click here to read more about the history of CPAR Uganda

The Dr. Paul Hargrave Center is used for healthcare services, social innovation, training and mentoring and as a farmer field school.

Unfortunately, the Lira Centre no longer bears Paul’s name.

Thank you Barry Hargrave, Lynne (Hargrave) Bowes and David Bowes, kin of Paul, for providing us with this information, herein published in this post. Our quest to learn more about he who gifted CPAR Uganda a gift that keeps on giving has been satisfied. With immediate effect the whole of our Lira Centre is re-branded “Dr. Paul Hargrave Memorial Centre of CPAR Uganda.” All references to it here on our website will be changed today. As soon as it is feasible, an artistic team will be deployed to the Centre to re-brand it accordingly. Including, installing a plaque or memorial stone at the centre that can never be painted over. As it happened when the buildings were renovated and painted in early 2020s, we neglected to put back the branding on the building. Henceforth, we will correct this anomaly, duly recognize and publicly express the everlasting and multiplying positive impact of Dr. Paul Hargrave’s kindness and contribution on thousands of lives of people from disadvantaged communities in Uganda. We are forever grateful to him, his family, friends and others so kind to continue supporting his work and sustaining his legacy.