Hi everybody, to the people who are reading my blog! First off, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Joseph Koonoo. I am 17 years old, born in Iqaluit, but I was raised in the community of Pond Inlet, Nunavut. About 2 years ago, I started travelling frequently to the south after I heard about the Ayalik Fund (which is in partnership with Northern Youth Abroad now) and was a trainee in the tall ship expeditions, where we sailed from St. John’s, all the way up to the northern tip of Newfoundland, ST. Anthony. I am an outgoing person; I like to play a variety of sports, for example, hockey, volleyball, soccer, and much more. Also, not too long ago, I went to the Badminton Territorial tournament that was hosted in Iqaluit. I would like to pursue a career as a welder or a carpenter, as I am a hands-on individual.
The Northern Youth Abroad program is a Canadian charitable non-profit organization that provides travel education and volunteer opportunities for youth between the ages of 15 and 22 from Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. The first time I heard about this program was right around a year ago. One of my relatives was a participant in one of the core programs, the Northern Youth Abroad Canadian program, and the Northern Youth Abroad Next program; my cousin was a participant in the Canadian program last year and did a presentation in our school talking about how to apply to the program, how the program provides volunteer experience, and offers work-place experience. This year I was lucky enough to participate in the NYA Next program with the same cousin who participated in the NYA Canadian program. The Northern Youth Abroad Next program offers hands-on experience such as trades, volunteer work, and also extra credits if you are still in school.
On the day we travelled, once we arrived in Iqaluit, we met with a few of the participants from the Qikiqtani region. That day was really special to me, because I finally got to reunite with my biological father after so many years. We got to introduce ourselves to each other. After we got to the plane, it was nice sitting next to a person whom I am familiar with because I was sitting next to the person whom I played with in the regional hockey tournament that was being hosted in our community. We arrived in Ottawa at midnight, and we were exhausted from the 4-hour flight. The first night we arrived at the Algonquin College residence, the project leaders were very nice to every participant, and they carried our luggage to our dorms. We met each participant for the first time; it was pretty nerve-racking meeting one another.
The first week of the program, we went to the Local 71 union, and we were training for trades. The whole group split into 4 groups: one group did plumbing, the second group did soldering, the third group did crane management. The final group was only 2 people in the group and did arc welding. My favourite part of training for trades was when my cousin and I did welding because I had a refresher of the experience from a couple of years back, and I did MIG welding, which is quite different from arc welding. My second favourite part of trades training was when we did soldering because we had to work with fire, and I like to challenge myself physically and work with dangerous equipment such as propane torches. Then the other 2 (crane management and plumbing) were very interesting too, but they did not catch my interest as much as welding and soldering did, in my opinion. This activity with Local 71 really amplified my vision of having a career as a welder because the welding instructor had great answers to my many questions about where I could go to welding school, what types of welding there are, what specific type of welding I would prefer, and what the most affordable equipment is.
Overall, the whole experience of the program has been extraordinary, because the program has provided all of us understanding of what it is like to live an urban environment, how college life might go along, and getting all of us experience of work-placement and volunteer work so that our steps of applications can go way easier and have a higher chance of being hired to a job that we have an interest of. Even though the activities were so interesting, there were some points in the program that made me want to resign because of all of the assignments that had been put on us, and being so homesick because I was not familiar with the schedule and wanted to go back to my home, a place that I am more familiar with.
Although the stress was unbelievable, this program has changed my life in very unexpected ways, such as helping me push through an addiction of smoking (as of now, I stopped smoking a week ago or more), providing me with an understanding of how to push and thrive through tough times in my life, and created an unbreakable bond with each and every person in the whole group. If you are interested in applying to the program, I encourage you to apply and participate in the activities that would be shared with all, because I promise you that this program has changed my life in every possible way. I had the best moments with the whole group. They were unbelievably great and outstanding! I wish them all the best. And I am looking forward to finishing this program and heading back home, although each and every one of us will miss each other dearly. Thank you for your patience in reading my blog, and I hope that no one will ruin your day. Keep your head up when you’re going through tough times because those days will pass eventually, and will reminisce about those days because they will teach you strength and perseverance.
