Three young Squamish women embarked on a journey this summer that would take them over 15,000 kilometres away from home to one of the poorest countries in the world on one of the poorest continents. This past July, Squamish residents Emily Vickerson, 18, Aryn Lewis, 23, and Navjot Basra, 22, visited Zambia, Africa to experience first-hand the efforts of the SAM Project. Launched by Squamish's Colin and Sandra Eves in 2007 after their 16-year-old son, Alistair Samuel (known as Sam), was tragically killed, the SAM Project works to enable local enterprises in communities in Southern Zambia that have been affected by HIV/AIDS. SAM stands for both their son's name and for Sustainability through Agriculture and Micro-enterprises. "We set about to devise a model that would assist rural communities in Zambia to generate sufficient cash to fund their own school feeding programs that wouldn't be reliant on external aid," said Colin.Zambia ranks 165th out of 177 countries in terms of poverty (Canada places fourth). Colin and Sandra wanted to educate Sam's peer group in Squamish about the huge challenges facing people in this country, so they created the Squamish Community Action Program, which is designed to develop the leadership skills and social awareness of Squamish youth. This winter, they solicited applications from current and former Squamish students between 17 and 25 years old. "We were looking for vocal and active members of Sam's peer group who had a sense of adventure and community-mindedness," said Colin.While very different people, Vickerson, Lewis and Basra all shared these qualities Colin and Sandra were seeking. They were selected to be the first students from Squamish to go to Zambia. The women had to raise their own funds to get to Zambia, with the SAM Project covering their expenses during their three-week stay. Each woman had very different reasons for wanting to make journey. For Lewis, it was a long-standing interest in African culture. For Basra, it was a desire to take her community involvement to another level, and for Vickerson it was more personal. She knew Sam well and said she wanted to help his family.During their stay there, the young women were fully involved in the work being done by the SAM project. This included participating in HIV/AIDS workshops in rural villages, assisting with free immunization clinics for children under five years old, helping at a pre-school, and working alongside villagers to create sustainable and income-producing gardens.Each experience was more eye-opening than the next, said the women. The huge stigma of having the AIDS virus was revealed when 29 people showed up at workshop to be educated about the disease, but only four were willing to take the free test. Lewis said people think that "as soon as you are tested positive, you will die. But they were shown at this clinic that it is possible to live with the virus."She also described helping to make "briquettes of elephant dung and chiles" which are burned at night to keep elephants from destroying the gardens.Fundamentally, while each woman went to Zambia for a different reason, they said they all came away with the same overriding impression: appreciation. "It was the most humbling experience of my life -seeing people who don't have anything, who are so poor and yet still so willing to share," said Basra.Vickerson said she also saw people "who have the worst lives and yet are the most happy, positive people you will ever meet."And Lewis came back seeing the materialism and consumerism of North America in a new light. "I realize I don't need a lot of things to be happy and secure," she said.Now that they are back, the women will be taking what they've learned to schools and community organizations through video and slideshow presentations they are creating themselves.All three agreed that this experience was life-changing. "I think about the villages and the people I saw every day and wonder how they're doing," said Lewis.
