Series 1, Episode 1

Benedicta and Jo

Born in France to Ghanian diplomat parents, Benedicta lived in many countries before settling in Australia with her father after her parents’ divorce. At 18, Benedicta was molested by one of her father’s colleagues and fell pregnant. Forced to give up her baby and thrown out of home, Benedicta found shelter in a convent.

Benedicta went on to become a model and an accomplished artist. She married and had two daughters who have inherited her creativity. Over the years Benedicta always searched for her son but only succeeded in finding out his adoptive mother had passed away when he was one year old.

Three years ago, her son Ben found Benedicta by typing her name into Google. An award winning photograph entitled "The Prayer" featuring Benedicta appeared. Coincidentally, Benedicta had just finished reading a booked entitled The Prayer when Ben called her for the first time.

Ben is now 25 and a big part of Benedicta’s life. Now separated from her husband, Bendicta says her life hasn’t been easy but she is incredibly philosophical.

Benedicta is keen to meet her neighbours as she’s new to the area and would like to share her story to show people that anything is possible.

Jo comes from a very big Italian family. He sees 15 of his cousins every day and sees his grandparents at least twice a week for their amazing cooking. Once a month the whole family get together for lunch and there’s 60-70 of them. They are very traditional in that they make all their tomato pasta sauces and antipastos.

As a child he was quite introvertedl. Nowadays he feels he has really grown as a person and believes his new found confidence comes from his passion of parkour.

Jo has been breakdancing for six years and got in to parkour three years ago. It is a form of moving art using the strength of human body to perform tricks, jumps and stunts. He trains every day and performs at least once a week. He also teaches breaking and parkour as well as working at an Italian bakery.

It's his dare devil attitude that frightens his mum, as naturally she is worried that he will hurt himself. That’s not enough to stop Jo though; he has dreams of becoming a stunt artist and making it big in Hollywood. In order to realise this dream, he has to do a stunt course at the Stunt Academy in Qld.

Jo has struck a deal with his dad: if he goes to TAFE and passes a personal training and business course then he’d pay for him to go to the stunt academy. Jo has just completed the course and is currently making an audition tape to submit to the college.

Jo would love to meet his neighbours to expel the myth that all kids who hang out in skate parks and jump off buildings are thugs. He has qualifications, a job and aspirations like anyone else.