BY SARAH MELODY  

“I’m focusing on making the education system have more female examples in the history books,” 19-year-old Anwar Basunbul, the G(irls) 20 Summit delegate from Saudi Arabia, tells Samaritanmag over Skype. “Because if you want to change the culture and tradition, you have to change the mentality of the new generation, so they can grow up believing that men are like women and women are like men. We can work. We can do whatever they’re doing.”

The first-ever G(irls) 20 Summit was held in Toronto June 15 to 17, beginning 12 days prior to the official G20 summit with 20 world leaders from the major economies. Twenty-one females delegates, ages 18 to 20, were chosen from each of the G20 countries — Argentina (Julieta Leiva, 19), Australia (Jane Harris, 19), Brazil (Thais Moraes, 18), Canada (Leah Stuart-Sheppard, 19), China (Emily Zhang, 19), France (Ines Le Bihan, 20) , Germany (Alexandra Rose Rieger, 18), India (Tanvi Girotra, 19), Indonesia (Kartika Nurhayati, 19), Italy (Alberta Pelino, 20), Japan (Aiki Segawa, 19), Mexico (Tania Montemayor, 19), Russia (Anna Malinovskaya, 20), Saudi Arabia (Basunbul), South Africa (Nomathemba Sibanyoni, 19), South Korea (Eun-Hyang Go, 19), Turkey (Irem Turner, 19), UK (Ruby Tabner, 20), USA (July Lee, 19), the European Union (Simona Popa, 20) — plus Malawi (Laura Dolozi, 18).

The G(irls)20 Summit — the tagline for which is “3.3 billion ways to change the world” — was created by The Belinda Stronach Foundation and executed with more than 40 international partners to raise awareness among G20 leaders about the pivotal role girls and women play in ensuring economic productivity.

By Sarah Melody

The 2^nd annual Canada’s Top Teen Philanthropist search, created by financial company Mackenzie Investments, has awarded Sophia Gran-Ruaz with a $5,000 donation to the charity of her choice and $1000 for her post-secondary education. The 17-year-old student at John Cabot Secondary School in Mississauga, Ontario, founded Snug As A Bug, Kids Helping Kids six years ago to create care packages for children entering shelters.

“That’s probably the most difficult time for them,” Gran-Ruaz tells Samaritanmag. “Most of them come just with the clothes on their backs because they are fleeing with their mothers because of abusive relationships and things like that. The care packages are all gender and age appropriate and are filled with books, stuff animals, playing cards, puzzles, magazines.”

The Mississauga, Ontario resident created Snug As A Bug after writing a speech about homelessness for school. Accompanied by her father, she went downtown to speak first-hand with people living on the street. “It was an amazing experience, especially being so young. You certainly have stereotypes of what a homeless person is so hearing their stories really broke that stereotype for me,” she says.

Too young to volunteer at most other charities, the enterprising 11-year-old gathered 500 care packages for babies to age 16 and sent them to Interim Place North and South. The second year approximately 1300 care packages were sent to Interim Place North and South, and The Salvation Army Honeychurch Family Resource Centre. The third year over 2300 care packages were created and sent to the previous two shelters, plus VCWRS Women’s Resource Center. And so on, with more packages and more recipients added each year.  To date, Snug A Bug has distributed more than 10,000 packages.

By Sarah Melody

We have 30 basic human rights, according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, created by the United Nations in 1948 to provide a global understanding of how to treat individuals.  Before I became National Youth Spokesperson for Youth For Human Rights International’s Canadian chapter in 2005 at the age of 16, I had no idea what my human rights were, and even though the document has been around for 61 years I know most people don’t.

Back in 2005, I was promoting anti-bullying through my tune “Song of Peace,” which led me to the Stop the Violence conference in Toronto, held by Michael “Pinball” Clemons, then coach for the Toronto Argonauts. I spoke on behalf of my generation, in front of teachers and community leaders. My three minutes grabbed the attention of Youth for Human Rights International, a non-profit organization teaching people their human rights. They asked if I would represent their organization.  After seeing their “United” music video, a street-savvy, multi-ethnic, anti-bullying message, and their other video PSAs and printed materials, I accepted the position. I was titled National Youth Spokesperson and my first major assignment was to represent Canada at the 2006 International Human Rights Summit held at the United Nation headquarters in New York.

Human Rights is a global term we hear often, but many people can’t define. So the question is what are human rights? “Rights” are things we are allowed to be, to do or to have, simply by being human. We each own 30 basic human rights, based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and in my role as National Spokesperson, I have been speaking and singing my songs at elementary and high schools across Ontario. We hope to expand to the rest of Canada. I educate the kids about human rights and how it’s our responsibility to learn them and spread the word, since human rights are not taught in the schools or at home. My message to everyone is not political; it focuses on education. Even in Canada, a place of freedom, we still have issues of violence in homes and on the streets. By educating each other, we can hopefully, eventually, eliminate this.

Nine-year-old raises $2000

By Kevin Shea

To look at him, Toronto’s Michael Fessaha is a regular kid – just turned nine, a handsome young man with a twinkle in his eye and who is always on the go. But beneath the exterior lies a soul that’s wise and compassionate beyond its years. Few of us, let alone a kid, can lay claim to raising $2000 for cancer research.

In December 2005, Michael’s father was diagnosed with stomach cancer. His frequent visits to the hospital for chemo treatments had impacted Michael, and as his journey was coming to an end, his only child was deeply affected. Although his final five weeks in palliative care at The Princess Margaret were filled with love (“His room could easily have been mistaken for a maternity room, there was so much joy,” explains his wife, Gaby Abdelgadir), Michael’s father passed away on February 13, 2008.

Michael took his father’s death exceptionally hard, and through sage advice, was set up with a guidance counselor, Carrie Mack, to ease him through the tragic loss. Mack brought Michael together with Lisa Slater, a teacher at St. Albert Elementary Catholic School in Scarborough, Ontario.

One day, Michael’s mother received a phone call at work. “A teacher [Slater] from Michael’s school was on the phone,” recalls Abdelgadir. “I asked her if everything was okay and she assured me that it was. But then she got emotional as she told me of a plan Michael had discussed with her.”