Boy's faith feeds starving villagers with fish...

The winner of the Portia's Song Competition was chosen because of its message – and after contacting the winner we learned there was even more to the winning story than met the eye...

When Tami Carr first heard the original Portia’s Song, she thought that the song’s powerful message of love and hope could actually have been written for the people of Cusuna, a forgotten village of about 6,000 in Honduras, that her church had been supporting, and felt she wanted to do something more to highlight their plight. She considered making a film to enter into the competition to raise awareness of the needs of Cusuna, but, due to a shortage of funds the church had no plans to visit the village, so making a film seemed out of the question.

That was until her son, Sean, felt challenged by God to respond to a message he’d heard about the low standards society expects from young people. He promptly told his mom that he was convinced they must go to Cusuna and they must make the video and use it to raise awareness and funds and to demonstrate that youngsters can make a difference in the world.

Sean said, “I felt God was asking me to ‘do a hard thing’ for him and I decided to be obedient!” This persuaded Tami to go for it and find a way to get to Cusuna with Sean to make the video. For the song itself, Sean played piano and his friends Kathryn (13) and Sarah (9) added the vocals.

He and his friends also organised a Shoe Drive to collect about 800lbs (360kgs) of shoes to give to the people in Cusuna!

As well as a shortage of footwear, insufficient protein and unclean water are significant problems in Cusuna, resulting in malnutrition, illness, and even death. As well as helping establish clean drinking water the Cusuna Mission, run by Tami’s church – Bridgeway in Tampa, Florida - is planning to establish a fish farm, providing the protein needed for a healthy diet.

“The £10,000 prize money is exactly what we need to complete setting up the fish farm,” said Tami. “And the people of Cusuna will also be trained to maintain, develop and expand the fish farm, giving employment to many and providing a lasting legacy.”

You can read the Judges comments here, about the other winners here or view the £10,000 prize-winning video below and all the entries by clicking this link.

Portia's song original video

What about Love? is about the power of a love which changes the world, and is from the album of the same name, available from www.friendsandheroes.com/songs