James and Robert out on the lake

Hey it’s James here – I am from Rankin Inlet, NU and I was placed in Bobcaygeon, Ontario. My work placement is at Duncan’s Auto Service. My host parents are Scott Livie and Beth Gilroy and they have 2 children named Robbie (7) and Findley (4), and they own a cat named Agatha. I have learnt a lot about repairing vehicles and ways to take care of them properly. My supervisor is Duane Black and I work with him, Chad and Rob at my work placement. So far I’ve been to a Blue Jays game with my host family – the Jays won the game. I’ve also been tubing with my host family and my host father’s brother on both Golden lake and Catchacoma lake.

I went for a walk around Toronto, where we went to an aboriginal pavilion and participated in the activities that they were demonstrating. I’ve also went to the Pan Am games with my friend for the first time and it was great. I got to see Serena Ryder, Pitbull and Kanye West perform at the closing ceremony. After that we went to go see the fireworks display outside of the Rogers Center where the fireworks were going off on top of the CN tower – it was amazing!

Hello everyone,

My name is Angus Hiqiniq, I am from Gjoa Haven, Nunavut. I was a participant with Northern Youth Abroad in 2009 as part of the Canadian Phase where I was placed in Yorkton/Theodore, Saskatchewan. My work placement was at Logan Stevens Construction. I enjoyed it a lot. I made a lot of friends and stayed with wonderful people that I called family for 6 weeks. I am now taking part in the International Phase, where I will be travelling to Guatemala for the next 3 weeks to build houses for locals in the country. I am very excited and pleased to be participating this year with a bunch of great participants and great group leaders, as well. We stayed in Ottawa for 4 weeks, the first of which we stayed at a camp called Macskimming where we spent time talking about and learning what we will be doing in Guatemala. Then the next three weeks we stayed at Algonquin college taking construction classes where we were able to build some picture frames and some dog houses. The time here in Ottawa flew by quickly.

Northern Youth Abroad is a great program and I recommend it to all who are eligible to apply. It is a great opportunity to make new friends and allows you to travel outside of your home community and also out of Canada. Personally, I don’t want to stop here, I want to become a group leader or a facilitator. Not only because you get to make new friends, but because they will become your family.

Thank you for taking your time to read my blog.

Angus Hiqiniq
Gjoa Haven, Nunavut
2015 International Participant.

Rock on and keep on keeping on.

It is me Devin and I have interesting news for this post. I am happy to say I am enjoying my time here on Salt Spring Island. I have amazing co-workers and work with the most amazing children at the kid’s camp. I have been helping my host parent Corey to tear down a wall and do some home renovations. I have also been helping him with line-ups and coaching the slow pitch team. Alexander and I have been keeping busy with our work, and when not working, we have been helping out as much as we can. I have met amazing people here. To my surprise I have met other Inuit here, as well as two people who have been a principal and a teacher in my home community. I am meeting people who have been and stayed in remote communities in the north for their jobs.

I have also been getting to spend time with Rosalind, Fraser and their family. Chelsea (another NYA participant) came for one night to Salt Spring, and so Rosalind asked if I wanted to have supper at their home. They have welcomed me into their home, fed me and conversed with me about the elders, and reminisced about the past.

And that is me, Mr. Bruce with my report on Salt Spring.

When I first came to Ottawa for Orientation I immediately noticed the cultural differences. The buildings are huge and very well structured. I have a whole new idea of how busy and how much is always going on with all the people in a big city. I was amazed at what can be accomplished. I couldn’t have imagined how big this city is; even though I know for others it didn’t seem big.

Here is a picture from Orientation, when we were all just starting to meet each other – both Canadian and International participants. The picture is of our Orientation camp site in Ottawa.

I have met so many people with so many different cultures. The NYA staff and facilitators have worked so hard to get us to where we are. With this program you don’t just do volunteering! You gain experience socializing, working, and managing your own responsibilities – with support and help from the NYA staff, your host family, your host buddy, and family back home.

I suggest anyone that who is looking to have a great experience should sign up for this program, it has helped me a lot.

Raymond and Ethan

My host family are great. They have a son who is really funny and fun to get along with, as well as a daughter who went to dancing camp, which is awesome. My host parents Letitia and John are great. They also have five cats, that are quiet, and a big beautiful house.

I love it working for the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. It is a great job. My co-workers are very funny and easy to get along with. I’ve found that it can be hard to live in the south, trying to find your way around a new city, making sure you take the right bus to work or wherever you’re trying to go. I got lost the third day and ended up in Halifax – haha. But things are good know, I’ve learnt my way around.

I would like to live down here sometime in the future. It’s a very beautiful and big place. I find that the culture is very different here. There are many different people from what seems to be a lot of different places, which is great to see.

I’ve went to the movies and to the mall here in Dartmouth. Ethan and I have went walking around the town, it was great even though we got lost for a bit, it was fun because we talked most of the time. I’m looking forward to doing a MMA or boxing class next week. Our host dad took Ethan and I for a ride to Halifax and showed us the Canadian fleet where there was huge boats that belong to the Canadian forces. I found it cool. We also drove through the neighbourhood with huge million dollar homes, with some good looking houses that were 3-4 stories high.

I’ve enjoyed this program and I’m looking forward to doing international in the future.

Chelsea and Mary

So far my experience as an NYA participant has been brilliant. My buddy Mary, from Sanikiluaq, and I were placed in Campbell River, BC. My host mother Debbie is so funny and such a welcoming person. She has a dog, a chocolate lab, named Buddy. So far, Debbie took my buddy and I to Victoria for the weekend and we actually had a chance to meet up with Chantel and Nikki. We had a great time with them. We went swimming and went to the Mayfair Mall. Also, when we were on our way back to Campbell River from Victoria Debbie took us to go zip lining. It was awesome. Mary and I have also went to Port Alberni and Tafino. When we were in Tafino we went to the Long Beach. It was so beautiful and so hot.

I work at Laichwiltach Family Life Society and lately I’ve been learning a lot about First Nations culture and I think it’s very interesting. At my work placement my responsibilities and duties are acting as a kid’s camp leader to make sure the kids are playing safe and being nice to each other. I get different kids every two weeks and now I’m on my second round.

My time in the south has been going so fast. I’m having so much fun at my work placement and learning a lot about First Nation culture. I have also met a few people that I can play basketball and just hangout with.

Chris and Dalton

My host buddy Dalton and I were placed in Bear River, Nova Scotia. I have really enjoyed my time here, as a participant with Northern Youth Abroad. My work placement is at the Fundy YMCA. It is in a little community called Cornwallis that is around 20km away from Bear River. At my work placement, I work with youth at the summer day camp program as one of the youth leaders. There are 3 other youth leaders and 1 youth coordinator. We play a lot of fun games with the youth such as grounders, water balloon fights, and other fun activities.

My host parent is Holly Meuse. She has been a host parent to 4 other NYA participants in the past. She also has 3 sons of her own. We also have a girl from Germany who is living with us.

We have also visited many other communities such as Digby, Yarmouth, Wolfville, and Annapolis Royal. While in Wolfville we visited Acadia University and spoke with a Professor about global warming. We have also spent time shopping and went to the Cineplex to see Antman and the Minions movie. Dalton and I have also gone to a theme park which had rides, games, and a haunted house.

Sandra, Alisha, Angela and Kyla together in London

My name is Angela from Igloolik and I was placed in London, Ontario with my buddy Sandra from Baker Lake. I am placed to volunteer at the Museum of Archeology where I am working with children as a counselor. I have learnt a lot of things about archeology, archeologists, myths and legends, dinosaurs, and fossils. We also do some outdoor games. My favourite is water day (we have balloon fights!) and Quest days.

I am enjoying my stay so far! My host family (or parents) Arlene and Gary are very nice, welcoming and funny. They make sure we are happy and all, which I appreciate very much. They don’t have any kids or pets. Arlene has a niece, her name is Sabrina and it turns out that she is my second cousin! What a fluke. Anyway, the highlights of this program to me, is that there are so much differences from where I live, such as, the temperature, food prices, distance, even personalities.  Yes, I do get homesick. Even a break from work, or just a little bit of sleeping in, but it eventually goes away. I am very lucky to be in this program where we are very well taken care of, and most importantly, we aren’t doing it alone. We have friends who are going through similar struggles and we are all helping each other through <3. It’s already week 3! One night, we were having Chinese food, we all opened our fortune cookies and mine was “The things you are doing will eventually pay off” or something like that. I was proud. It made me think of this program. And Sandra had “A person can’t get you off their mind” Haha!

Angela and Marcus

I am also having fun going to new places and doing new things. We get to choose our plans for after dinner, or during weekends. Credit to Arlene, she drives us anywhere. <3 This weekend, we went to a cottage and felt very much at home. The roads weren’t paved, decorated and there wasn’t so many cars passing by. I loved the little things in nature! And next weekend, my brother Marcus and his buddy Paul are coming to spend the weekend with us. So happy! We are planning to go to Canada’s Wonderland and go for crazy rides.

I am glad to be placed where I am. It’s good to be gaining experiences, leadership, work skills and having great support from friends.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone again at Re-O and just hearing how everyone’s summer went! I’m really enjoying “my summer” in London. I love this program.