It's all about the Kids: Saskatoon ALSO Day 4

Thursday of the Saskatoon ALSO experience saw the Vincent Massey group continue in the classrooms in the morning.  They continued to build on relationships that they developed with the children, and also prepared to say good-bye, seeing as this was their last day at the school.  Thanks to the students and staff at Vincent Massey for a great experience.  There is so much good being done at this school! 

The other ALSO Saskatoon students spent their morning at the "Youth Unchained" conference at the new Cathedral in Saskatoon. 

This conference was planned by the Saskatoon chapter of NASHI, an organization that works to end to modern-day slavery and human trafficking.  The Cathedral was packed with youth from Saskatoon-area schools.  The keynote speaker was Craig Keilburger, the founder of "Free the Children", an organization that works to raise awareness of the plight of working children, mostly in the field of unfair labour practices in the developing world.  Craig spoke for an hour, but kept the student's interest with his passion and gripping message.  He encouraged the students to not wait to take action, but to take action against injustice now, while they are young just as he did as a 12 year old.  "The world can't wait".  Why is human trafficking an important issue today?  Here are some stats from NASHI's website:    

GET THIS:
1.  Human trafficking is modern day slavery
2.  Against their will, children are pulled out of orphanages and sold
3.  27 million men, women and children are held as slaves
4.  It is the fastest growing organized crime activity in the world today
5.  Each year 2 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade
6.  There are more slaves in the world today than ever before in history
7.  The average cost of a slave around the world is $90.
8.  An estimated 30,000 victims of sex trafficking die each year from abuse and torture
9.  The internet is fuelling the need for more trafficked children
10.  Canada is ranked as a destination of trafficked victims – domestically and globally

After taking in the conference in the morning both groups met at Bishop Klein community school where Vice-Principal Kris Hanson toured the students and showed them what things were happening to address some problems facing this community.  The students from Vincent Massey did not have far to walk as Bishop Klein in Vincent Massey's 'sister catholic school' just down the street.  Mr. Hanson organized some speakers that met with our student's in Bishop Klein's chapel.

From there we headed north to Camp Kinasao to begin the reflection portion of the ALSO experience.