Hi, my name is Angela Ootoovak, and I’m from Pond Inlet, Nunavut. I’m a participant in the Northern Youth Abroad Canadian Program. I applied because I found it interesting and wanted to gain work experience, learn how to live in the world without my family around, and experience what the south is like.

My workplacement is in North Bay, Ontario, at the North Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre. I’m really loving it, because I used to work on a Youth Committee running programs and working with kids, and it feels the same. I’m looking forward to using this experience in the future, because I love working with youth and doing all different kinds of programs. I’ve even done a program that brought family, youth, and elders together for an 80’s dance off! I’m also looking forward to being with my friends at re-orientation, because we’ll have soo much fun talking about what we did this summer and being together again!!

My host parents are Alisdair and Rhea. They have 3 beautiful girls and 2 dogs, and I really love all of them, they’re such a welcoming and loving host family. They always have fun things to do in our free time, like going to the malls, the movie theater, swimming, and to parks.

My first 3 weeks in North Bay have been interesting, fun, and a little scary. It’s a big change going from a population of 1,800 to 50,000. Living here is interesting: beautiful trees everywhere, birds, and kind people. Everyone and everything is welcoming, and I feel comfortable here with my host family and my buddy.

It’s an honor to experience the south, make new friends, and gain work experience. I’m looking forward to being with my friends again, but I’m not ready to leave my host family to go home. We made a lot of fun memories and I’ll never forget them.

I’m so grateful to experience all of this, because NYA made it HAPPEN and chose me as a participant!