Boris on placement at Algonquin College in Ottawa.

Hi, my name is Boris Eyakfwo, and I am from Gameti, NT. I did my Canadian phase in 2013, here I was placed in Hamilton, Ontario. This year I am now a participant for the NYA Next Program, so far during this program it has been amazing and I’ve been cherishing every moment I have spent here. I am really looking forward to see how my summer goes in Ottawa, I didn’t know what to expect when I first applied, but now that I’ve been accepted and experiencing this change, I’m loving it. This program has taught me how important my culture is to me, how I shall learn, and practice it in every day’s life, I am pushing myself to become a better leader and have shown it this summer day by day. I have recently done three drum dance demo’s in Ottawa for three different groups, I’ve taught others my culture and traditional values. It took me three years to accomplish that and NYA was one of the main reasons why I’ve gotten more passionate about my culture. During orientation it was great meeting new people, seeing some old faces and bonding with the other participants, I didn’t expect us to grow as a family, or to have this amazing support for one another, but we do. It was an unbelievable week at orientation, where I’ve come to realize I learned more about myself and what I was capable of doing, I just needed to break out of my shyness, but I am still working on it and hoping I won’t get shy by the end of this summer. Going to the Ottawa Champions baseball game was one of my favourite recreational actives here because I am a fan of baseball. When we first arrived at Algonquin College, it didn’t feel like home until I got settled in, being around people who I am comfortable with, and it made it easier to make myself at home. Once we started our carpentry class, I didn’t know what to expect or to like it, but I do and I know that it will soon help us in life, we also have recently gone camping at Fitzroy Park, where it felt like home, making the fire’s, and cooking some hamburgers on the land, along with going canoeing. I was very overwhelmed but also very grateful to go camping with my NYA family, I wish we could do more of that this summer, but so far we have done many great things and more to come. I’m very blessed to be here in Ottawa with great friends who are very supportive, I cannot thank the NYA staff enough for giving me The BEST Summer of my life, Masi Cho to everyone who has gotten me this far, I appreciate this opportunity in the best way possible.