In December 2014, Sarah Gabriel was on a winter holiday in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico when she decided to turn her vacation into something more.
The Vernon author made inquiries about visiting one of the many local orphanages in Pacific coast city.
“I suddenly realized that I wanted to find a way to help so I asked the taxi driver to take us to an orphanage that doesn’t get a lot of help and a lot of visitors,” she said. “We bought food and played with the kids.
“As we were leaving, I cried in the taxi and said I can’t leave these kids behind and so I vowed to find a way to help them after I got home.”
Her tropical vacation was the inspiration for the The Many Colours of Hope Foundation, formed in the spring of 2015 to create positive change, locally and beyond, with a mission to support and provide accessible education opportunities for all women and children.
Locally, the foundation is starting with hungry kids, and has planned its first fundraiser at Fulton secondary school with a drive-through breakfast on Wednesday morning.
“The foundation is passionate to make a positive difference to Vernon’s hungry children and youth,” said Gabriel. “Through our contacts at Fulton school and in the community, our board has become aware of children at Fulton who are trying to learn but sadly are arriving at school hungry. The challenges to learn and participate in the classroom — without a full, nourishing breakfast to fuel their day — are significant.”
Funds raised at the drive-through will be donated to the Fulton breakfast program which provides a nourishing breakfast — or lunch — to hungry children in the school.
Helping children is a cause close to Gabriel’s heart. Her own childhood in South Sudan was torn apart by civil war, and she has shared her story in her memoir, My Resilience: A Dinka Girl’s True Story of Civil War in Sudan. At the age of 11, she was sent to a residential boarding school on the Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth) in Cuba, where she spent a dozen years before coming to Canada 16 years ago. At one time, the island was home to 61 boarding schools, each with a capacity for 500 pupils.
“When I was growing up in Cuba, we would often go without and we were hungry so we could not concentrate because we were worried about when we were going to eat,” she said. “I want to help kids on the island but it’s very hard to get there and is isolated from the rest of Cuba and the rest of the world.”
With her new foundation, Gabriel hopes to help children not only in Mexico and Cuba, but in Vernon, the city she has called home for 12 years.
“Our big project is to build a school in South Sudan, in memory of my brother who was killed during the civil war,” she said, adding that a portion of each sale of My Resilience will be put towards raising money to build the school.
For Gabriel, going from her childhood home in South Sudan, to a refugee camp in Ethiopia and a boarding school in Cuba — and not seeing her family for many years — moving to Vernon felt like coming home and it’s why she wants to give back to the community that has welcomed her.
“This is the first time I chose home, my life was always chosen for me, but when I came here and I drove along Highway 97 and I looked at the lake and the town and saw the college, I just knew this is where I wanted to live.
“Until I came to Vernon I had only ever seen kids without parents — it’s what I knew — and so Vernon was a place to heal. People asked me lots of questions but the more they ask, the more I cry and then writing the book helped me to heal.”
Gabriel selected Fulton for her first local project because of her connection to the school that began when she first moved to Vernon. At Vernon & District Immigrant Services Society, she met Fulton teacher Alan Gee, who used to bring his Global Education students there.
“The students asked me lots of questions and I would answer them and that’s when I realized that talking about my story was a way for me to heal and that it would be good to write about it. Alan is now a board member on my foundation and I found out about the breakfast program. Now my dream is coming true.”
The Hope and Heart for Hungry Children drive-through breakfast takes place Wednesday from 7 to 8:30 a.m. in the student parking lot at Fulton school, 2301 Fulton Rd., off 25th Avenue. This event takes place, rain, snow or sun.
Gabriel and her board of directors are partnering with the Fulton teaching staff and Grade 12 students to prepare a breakfast bag, with two breakfast options: the “Ham’nEgg McManwich” (hot sandwich) or a yogurt/fruit cup with muffin combo; coffee or juice complete the breakfast bag, and the cost is $5 per breakfast.
The foundation is grateful for the generosity of local business donations of food and other goods, including: Steve Meggait and Fresh Valley Farms in Armstrong for the ham (steve@freshvalleyfarms.ca); Igor and Irma Ruffa of Lumby’s Bella Stella Cheese (bellastellacheese.com) for the cheese and yogurt; Mollie Connally and Millie’s Oven for the muffins (millyconnally@live.ca).
Visit www.sarahgabriel.ca to learn more about Gabriel’s inspiring journey and the work of the foundation. Donations to support the drive-through breakfast can be made through the website.
