Summer school
Degrassi cast members help lay the foundation for global change
What happens if you let the cast members of the Emmy- nominated TV show Degrassi off the set of their fictional school? They may just start building a real one.
“We got to start from the ground up on a school,” says Munro Chambers, who plays Eli Goldsworthy on the show. It was the Degrassi team’s volunteer project while in the coastal village of Asemkaw, Ghana last summer.
“Every time you put your shovel in the ground, and every time you mix cement, you’re building a foundation for these kids, literally and metaphorically,” says Jacob Neayem, Mo Mashkour on the show.
For many of the cast members of Degrassi, it’s become a summer tradition to journey across the globe to volunteer with Me to We trips. Since 2007, they have volunteered in communities in Kenya, Ecuador, India and Haiti. On these volunteer trips, they’ve built a playground, painted classroom walls and helped complete a school-building project.
In Ghana, laying the foundation for the new school proved to be challenging at times, but what the cast members found inspiring was working side-byside with the community members.
“People just jumped in to help,” says Neayem. “There was a businessman six hours away who would drive every day, or every other day, to come and help build.” The cast even noticed a very familiar face one day. “We were walking by and said ‘hey, that’s our bus driver,” says Neayem. “These people don’t have to be there, but they want to. It’s humbling.”
For the cast, the experience also meant walking in someone else’s footsteps. To make cement for the build site, cast members fetched jugs of water from the source the community uses. “It’s probably one of the hardest things I’ve done,” says Aislinn Paul, who plays Clare Edwards. “You start moving and the water moves with you. It’s like a mini ocean on your head, and it’s throwing you off balance.” The task took on even more gravity when cast members realised that the women of the community did the water walk up to six times a day.
As she worked side-by-side with the community members, Paul realized she was laying the groundwork not only for schoolrooms, but also for her real-life role as a global citizen.
“The experiences have helped me develop a passion for travel and ... for people,” says Paul, who has volunteered previously in Ecuador, India and Haiti. “The other trips prepared me to not be prepared at all. I’m always greeted with more than I’m expecting. It was definitely the same in Ghana. They were so loving and joyous and welcoming. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a wonderful, vibrant community.”
Neayem would agree that though their contribution will enable the children of Asemkaw to go to school, the cast of Degrassi also received an education that will endure.
“These are the warmest people,” says Neayem. “You feel like you’ve known them your whole life. We speak different languages and we have completely different cultures, but there’s an understanding, a human understanding.”