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Malaak Compton-Rock's "Journey for Change" program, which allowed
children from The Salvation Army community center in Bushwick, Brooklyn
to travel to Johannesburg, South Africa and participate in volunteer
and cultural activities will be featured on CNN on Thursday, July 23 as
part of the "Black in America 2" documentary series.
The program was designed to provide a life-changing experience to
at-risk youth in Bushwick. The 30children who went to South Africa were
paired with thirty college-aged young adults who served as mentors, to
guide them during the journey in servicing the small towns of Diepsloot
and Soweto, where every household lives in poverty. Here they provided
assistance and friendship to orphaned and vulnerable children in
schools and granny-led households - homes where grandmothers care for
grandchildren as a result of their own children dying from AIDS.
CNN
special correspondent and host, Soledad O'Brien traveled with
Compton-Rock and the participants during their two week journey in
South Africa, documenting and reporting on the children's daily visits
to the towns to volunteer in Salvation Army service centers, schools,
clinics, and orphanages. A behind the scenes article by O'Brien gives a sense of how these 30 young children are able and
willing to change someone's life and become "global ambassadors." As
ambassadors, the children were required to share their experiences with
family, friends and neighbors through writing, photographs and even
blogging. The participant's blog postings are available here.
The
documentary is a part of CNN's "Black in America 2: Solutions"
documentary series which will air on Thursday, July 23 at 8 and 11 p.m.
(ET). Black in America premiered in 2008, documenting the facts and
stereotypes of being black in the United States.