Sama
Shodjai

Sama Shodjai is a high school graduate, currently on a year of service at the Baha’i World Centre in Haifa, Israel. Sama’s family moved to South America to serve the community as Baha’i pioneers when Sama was very young. After having spent nine years of her life in South America, she identifies strongly with the lively Latin culture; service and art have become active elements in her daily life. Sama has been involved in teaching Baha’i Children’s Classes over the past five years, as well as animating Junior Youth Empowerment Groups, and facilitating and participating in the Ruhi Institute series of courses. She also had the unique opportunity to volunteer as a literacy teacher in Guyana in the summer of 2010. Sama has been pursuing the arts alongside her service activities; she enjoys playing the drums and putting excerpts from the Baha’i Writings to music, as well as working with modeling clay to create miniature gardens – a type of art that she was inspired to begin after visiting the Baha’i gardens in Haifa in 2006. Sama plans on returning to Vancouver, her current hometown, after her time at the Baha’i World Centre and starting her studies in architecture and landscape design.