Behind the Scenes of Samsung’s Corporate Social Responsibility Activities in Brazil, South Africa, and Vietnam

Samsung Tomorrow recently went over some of Samsung’s Corporate Social Responsibility activities in Brazil, South Africa, and Vietnam. While shooting the video, the team came upon some funny stories so today, we’d like to take you behind the scenes.

Brazil: According to Micaeli, ‘learning is like fishing’

Micaeli had never attended school until she was 16, which is when the Amazon Community Center in Brazil was established. But ever since Samsung helped set up the Center, she has been able to learn more than ever as her passion for learning grew and grew. She now dreams of becoming a biologist.

Because her house is far from school, Micaeli lives at a dorm in the Community Center during the week. On weekends, she rows her way home and comes back for Monday. When we asked her why she goes through so much trouble, she answered “I want a better life for my family.”

Her parents taught her how to fish so that she can supply for herself day by day. Now as she learns more and more with the help of technology, Micaeli refers to her education like this: “The canoe is like the classroom, and the silent river is like the people, quiet. The fishing rod is like my notebook that helps me learn.”

South Africa: Lefa’s new house, built literally brick by brick!

If you’ve been following our recent posts, you probably remember Lefa – a bright, vivacious young student in Capetown South Africa who learns in Samsung’s Solar Powered Internet School. But as we were talking to her, she had another interesting story to share, and it’s about how her family got a new house.

Lefa’s father works as a truck driver at construction sites, and he started bringing discarded bricks home from work. Lefa’s mother began to clean and collect these bricks. They saved for their house – literally brick by brick – and finally, after 7 years, Lefa’s family was able to build their new house. It’s now quite extraordinary, complete with bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room and a small garden.

It seems that Lefa probably inherited her positive, diligent, no-nonsense attitude from her parents! Lefa’s parents show love, passion and sacrifice for their family. We are hopeful that Lefa’s future will get better and better – for a good reason.

Vietnam: Wait, who’s the star?!

Do you remember Tham, who we introduced in the last episode? We had fun while filming at Tham’s school, too. One of our photographers, a tall man with a beard and moustache, gave quite an impression to the innocent children. While he was there to film the stars, the students in Vietnam, to the students, he was the star. Children, not used to seeing foreigners around, even asked him for autographs! Yeah I know, it’s always about being cool, phew!

Samsung is where there is need, to inspire the future and expand the minds of young people like Micaeli, Lefa and Tham. By helping them fulfill their dreams through technology, we at Samsung believe that little by little, we’re contributing to making the future for the whole world richer.