Tana Silverland, a cyclist currently making her way across Canada, paid a visit to Horace Allen School on Tuesday, May 3rd to speak with students about her trip, and to teach them about SOS Children’s Villages.
The 38-year-old former U.K. resident recently achieved permanent resident status in Canada, and embarked on a two and a half year trek to become better acquainted with her new home and to spread the word about the children’s charity.
Beginning her journey in Whitehorse in June 2010, Silverland has spent the last 11 months making her way through the Yukon and B.C., stopping in each of the communities she passes through to discuss the work of SOS Children’s Villages, a charity which provides orphaned and abandoned children with new homes and family-based care.
The organization was started in Austria in 1949 and has since spread to 132 countries, currently providing care to 78,000 children and 15,000 young adults worldwide.
Silverland said she first became involved with SOS when she was living in England, after learning that the SOS UK head office was just down the street from where she worked.
“I was fortunate enough to have a good mother and good upbringing, so now I’m doing what I can to make sure all children can have the same positive start in life,” said Silverland. “SOS builds families and communities for the children it helps, providing not just a roof over their heads and food in their bellies, but also stable and loving relationships and someone to call ‘mom’.”
Since the start of her trip, Silverland says she has visited between 40 and 50 Canadian communities, including Surrey, B.C., the home of the only SOS village in Canada.