You could almost hear the stomachs rumbling from all the way in Brackendale.
Students gathered at Howe Sound Secondary School (HSSS) on Friday (May 3) to participate in the annual 30 Hour Fast. This year the fast was held to raise money for the SAM Project, a local non-pro?t organization dedicated to helping the lives and sustainability of agriculture and small-scale farmers in Zambia.
I think it's important for kids in Squamish to experience for a day what a lot of the less fortunate world lives like, said teacher Mr. Kevin McJannet. When the students do this they feel like they are a part of something larger, and I thought it was wonderful that they could see exactly where their money went to. The 30 Hour Fast is a great opportunity for the students to feel like they are doing good things and it's fun too.
The students who participated started fasting at midnight on Thursday (May 2) and didn't eat a morsel of food until 6 a.m. on Saturday (May 4). They slept overnight at HSSS on Friday (May 3), where SAM (Sustainability Through Agriculture and Microprojects) Project founder Colin Eves gave a presentation on the work that the group does in Zambia. He also gave details on where the pledges and donations the students collected would go the Goat Palace, a centre of sustainable growth in livestock for the farmers.
Eves said a firsthand experience helped him want to become involved in SAM.
We went over to Africa after the death of our son and we wanted to help somewhere, he said. And under some circumstance we ended up in Zambia where we thought there was a need. We wanted to start gardening projects and sustainable solutions to local needs and since 2007, our approach has evolved and further developed into something bigger.
He said that since 2007 more than a dozen youth from the Sea to Sky Corridor have travelled to Zambia to help out.
I think the students are really inspiring, he said. It's wonderful that young people are service-minded and they have the global awareness that other people in the world aren't as fortunate and they want to help out in some way.
After Eves' presentation, there was a vigil held dedicated to the fact that a child dies every three seconds. Each participant received a tea light that was lit and represented a child's life. Every three seconds, students would blow one out in honour of a child who has died.
I love that we get to have fun while helping those who are less fortunate, said Mackenzie Doherty, a HSSS leadership student who helped organize the event.
The event helped raise $3,000 toward the SAM project and organizers thanked everyone who helped out.
For more information on The SAM Project please visit www.thesamproject.ca or on Facebook at The SAM Project.
Learn more about the SAM project -
