Tour for Humanity continued our Thames Valley visit in the small town of Arva, Ontario today. Located approximately 30km north of London, the small community is home to a large high school of 1,200 students from surrounding towns. Today Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Daniella worked mostly with Grade 10 classes and one Grade 12 class. The 12s were the first workshop of the day and they participated in the Global Perspectives workshop. The material was very well received. The teacher said afterwards that showcasing the 10 Stages of Genocide in relation to the Holocaust and Rwanda was exactly part of what the students would be studying later in the semester and as such our material fit in very well.

At the end of the workshop one student hung back. He told Daniella once the class had left that he was really interested in history and wanted to know how it would be possible to one day also work for a human rights organization. Daniella spoke with him a little about the career path she had taken, but also offered other avenues for him to consider. The Grade 10 classes that participated during the day also came across material that they will cover during the remainder of their course. One teacher even commented to Daniella after the workshop that the story of the SS St. Louis and Canada’s treatment of Jewish refugees will be on the final exam in June.