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Canada World Youth organize food drive

Food drive for food bank on Oct. 22: CWY needs your generosity!
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Canada World Youth participants Margot McComb from Quebec

Last week, 18 youth volunteers arrived in Sooke. Nine of them are from different parts of Canada, and the nine others are from Mozambique, a Southern African country. They are all currently doing the Canada World Youth (CWY) program in partnership with the Mozambican organization AJUDE.

CWY is a national non-profit organization offering communities and youth exceptional international educational experiences. Since it began in 1971, thousands of individuals and communities across Canada have participated in exchange programs with over 50 other countries.

This year, 39 Canadian communities will host programs and Sooke is one of them. These 18 young people just came back from Inhambane, an incredible community situated just next to the Indian Ocean, where they lived in host families and volunteered in different areas of this community for three  months.

The Mozambicans who received these Canadians taught them lessons on how to respect guests, how to give them a place that they will, at the end of three months, call home. Their generosity, way of sharing, happiness, dances and music, simplicity and their way to be satisfied with what they have, no matter what, really taught the foreigners a new life style that will influence the future of each participant.

The group is now in Sooke to learn what Canadian culture has to share. One week has passed and the participants are already in love with Vancouver Island. They received some incredible workshops that unleashed the positive potential of youth through arts-centered and multicultural learning that values self-awareness, leadership, community and social change. The participants learned about the native culture by doing some activities such as taking part in a sweat lodge. They are impressed by how nice the residents are to them, their welcoming host families and the friendly persons at the municipal hall.

This year is the 40th anniversary of CWY. In order to celebrate that, the team is organizing  a  food drive in the community. The goal is to fill 40 boxes of food. They will all be waiting for your generosity at the Sooke Community Hall, 2037 Eustace Road, on Oct. 22, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

All of the food donated will be distributed to the Sooke Food Bank.

Non-perishable items that are needed most are: Peanut butter, canned fish, cereal, juice, beans, canned fruit.

For more information contact, Andrea Noakes, Project Supervisor: anoakes@cwy-jcm.org

Contributed by

Laurent Darveau and Venildo Matsinhe