The youth from the Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre were nothing short of lovely. With a mix of ages ranging from 6-16, these young people were so full of enthusiasm. Painting with many schools prior to this, I was used to lots and lots of kids art, but this group was a different level. The artistic ability was unparallelled and the connection between the older youth to the younger children was nothing short of amazing.

When I try to explain to the youth that the paintings that we are creating are more than just art on a wall and that there is a community connection created by the artwork they often have a tough time grasping this. When the youth from KIDSAFE came out to paint, they experienced this fully. As we were painting in the sweltering 35°c (or 95°f) that felt a lot hotter with the sun bouncing off of the south facing wall, a man walking by stopped to ask some of the kids what we were doing. I watched on as they explained that we are painting a mural to show how orcas and humans often share the waters around Vancouver and how we are wanting to show our love for them. The man nodded approvingly and stood at the bus stop talking on his phone. Moments later he came back and told the children how much he appreciated what they were doing and that he was sending them something. Moments later, a car came by with sandwiches, cookies and drinks for all 15 young painters.