Samantha finds a way back home
WE Day inspires young woman to reconnect with her community.
In her earliest memory, Samantha Orvis-Campbell is five, running out the front door into the dark. Her mother’s hurried footsteps lead her down the street, away from the violence at home.
Her second memory is the dorm at the women’s shelter in Winnipeg.
“I remember feeling scared, and wondering why we were there,” says Samantha, now 25. “We never went back home.”
Samantha worried she would never outrun these troubles or ever have a home again, but then an unexpected invite to WE Day opened her eyes to new opportunities—opportunities that would allow her to move past bad memories and focus on future dreams. First, though, she would need to survive upheaval.
For the next few years Samantha and her family shuffled from place to place, before settling down in public housing in Ashern, Manitoba.
Samantha found it difficult to fit in among the students of her new high school and soon the soft-spoken, insecure youth became a target for bullies. When name-calling and exclusion spiralled into a physical attack, Samantha’s mother pulled her out of school and moved the family back to Winnipeg’s North End.
But long stretches of instability had made Samantha skeptical about a fresh start. The bullies had devastated her self-esteem, and her new neighbourhood—notorious for gang activity, drugs and violence—filled her with a sense of dread. “I always had this feeling that something bad was about to happen.”
Like other family members before her, including her grandmother and mother, Samantha started drinking to cope with anxiety and depression. Halfway through grade nine, she dropped out of school.
At the age of 18, Samantha gave birth to a son, Noah. This led to giving up her parttime serving job and with that, the tiny apartment she had managed to secure with her boyfriend. She and her newborn wound up sleeping on her mother’s living room floor, jostling for space with other family members.
“I felt like I had no future,” says Samantha. “And I knew it would be the same thing all over again for my son, if I didn’t break the cycle.”
Taking control, Samantha signed up for night classes at Winnipeg’s Adult Education Centre—a WE Schools partner—not knowing where it might lead.
That fall, she was invited by a teacher to join a class trip to WE Day. Unfamiliar with the youth empowerment event, she wasn’t sure what to expect.
On the morning of WE Day, Samantha discovered a roaring arena filled with light and music. In the stands were thousands of young people, brought together—as Samantha would learn—by the actions they had taken to help the local and global community.
When Ashley Murphy took the stage—a young woman born with HIV—and told the audience about the discrimination she had faced growing up, Samantha was captivated. She listened attentively as Ashley spoke about how she refused to give in to exclusion, committing instead to raising awareness around the pandemic.
“She showed me courage,” Samantha says. “It made me realize that I could do things too, if I just stopped doubting myself.”
On the ride back from WE Day, she was already envisioning how she could give back to her community. That night, with a burst of excitement, she wrote down a plan to create care packages for people living on the street. She titled it, “Gifts for the Homeless.”
In Winnipeg, more than 1,700 people are homeless—76 per cent of these people are Indigenous. Homelessness is one of the lasting impacts of the residential school system, which was active in Canada over much of the last century.
At the top of her list of things to include in each package was sage, an herb used for cleansing the soul from pain and negativity. “Because people don’t have their culture and their healing practices, it’s hard to cope,” she explains. “I wanted to show them compassion and kindness, to let them know that I understand their struggles.”
With some hesitation, Samantha brought her proposal to the WE Schools co-ordinator at the Adult Education Centre. To her surprise, the school immediately mobilized to donate $250, enough for 50 care packages.
“I have my teacher to thank for helping me make my vision come true. It wouldn’t have been possible without her,” she says.
A few weeks later, Samantha made her way toward the Siloam Mission in the city’s North End. The drop-in hadn’t yet opened for the evening. She approached a woman who was standing alone, leaning up against the brick wall with her eyes closed. She touched her lightly on the shoulder to offer the gift.
The woman rummaged through the bag and glanced up at Samantha in surprise. In her hand was the small pouch of sage. Her eyes were moist and bright.
At that moment, Samantha was confident she was on the right path.
Now in the final stretch toward her high school diploma, she continues to advocate for the homeless, speaking at community events, while growing her care package initiative by mobilizing students and teachers to donate used backpacks and school supplies.
“I had never thought of volunteering before WE Schools,” says Samantha. “But now I feel like I’m at home in my community for the first time.”