(CNN)The first time they met, they talked about animals.
Six-year-old Zul-Kifl Issah, in Tamale, Ghana, and 7-year-old Jonah McMillan, in Coldstream, British Columbia, Canada, listed the creatures who lived near them: hippos, lions and elephants for Zul-Kifl; and dogs, cats and a gecko for Jonah.
"You give them a place to sleep in your house!" Zul-Kifl marveled about Jonah's pets, while Jonah gasped that the beautiful creatures that populated his books roamed free in parts of Ghana.