23/8/2005 - Ottawa, Canada: A friendship between two York University students has taken on a new dimensions, Laura Thompson, a young Canadian from Orillia, Ontario, and Samuel Fuakye an SOS scholarship student from Ghana, spent part of their summer vacation visiting Samuel's SOS Village in Tema, Ghana. The two met while both were attending York University in Toronto. Laura is now a graduate and Samuel continues his studies.
Laura and Samuel worked with the SOS children at the Tema Village to create drawings and paintings based on the themes of light an hope and will have brought the finished pieces back to Canada to share with Canadians of all ages. The children's art will be featured at SOS Canada events throughout the year including, the SOS Canada Village Lights Gala on November 26 and the One Small Candle Family Day November 27.
Samuel's and Laura's journey was documented by a film crew from Villagers Media, and will become part of a new television documentary series - World Class - Youth who can change the world. The episodes will tell the stories of young Canadians, aged 16-25, who want to make a difference in the world. The productions will document the young people's first experiences in the developing world and their exposure to the realities of life faced by people in the world's poorest regions.
Conceived and developed over the past two years, the series aims to help nurture a growing awareness of Canada's youth to a larger global context and alert them to the potential for their direct involvement in it. As the prelude to an extended 13-part series, this four-part pilot series showcases students and recent graduates from all parts of Canada venturing out across the globe and getting involved with projects in their host communities.
Samuel and Laura stayed in SOS Tema Village for most of their visit, and also made a trip to the north of the country to visit the place where Samuel was born. The two stopped in at the SOS Canada National Offices in late July, shortly before they left for Ghana. Laura, who hopes pursue a career in working in the developing world, hopes to use reproductions of the SOS Ghana art to help raise awareness of the work of SOS Children's Villages. "I would really like to make these pictures into a book, because I think that they could potentially make a very powerful statement that both children and parents will be able to relate to," she explained.
Both Laura and Samuel and Villagers Media Director Steve Deme want to express their very sincere appreciation to the staff at SOS Ghana and SOS Tema Village, for their help in making the visit the film shoot a great success.