A man who lead by example and will be missed by many.
For Sam Ling Gibson, teaching – whether to children, students or friends – was about setting an example. So on Saturday mornings there were no excuses. Following a week of teaching and regardless of the weekend’s activities, he would take the bus to the poor southern outskirts of Bogotá. At Casa Taller, the community project for children and adults in which he played a central role, resources were scarce. So he taught what he knew – cooking, street art, woodwork – which was also what he had taught himself. In YouTube videos he encouraged the children to notice the beauty of their surroundings and to think of a bright future. When they turned the camera on him he declared – Geordie accent softened by a decade of Andean living – a love for Colombia and its people. Few foreigners went further to prove it through action.
