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.

Orientation is complete and after five fun filled days of learning, meeting new friends, and getting prepared the 58 Participants in this year’s programs have travelled to their host communities. In the Canadian Program the 42 youth have travelled in pairs to 17 host communities across British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia and began their volunteer work placements yesterday. In NYA Next the 16 Participants moved into Algonquin College residence on Friday, and have already been busy with many different activities, before beginning their training class in the Construction Trades this morning.

Make sure to check back here often to follow all of the Participants adventures as they will begin posting their blog updates soon!

Here are some photos from Orientation – check them out! All credit to our awesome volunteer Thorsten Gohl who spent the week with us taking photos at Orientation!

We have just finished merging all of our past participant blog posts to this site. Here you can now find past participants’ recounts of their experiences with NYA. We will also be posting continual updates here as we gear up for another exciting summer. Be sure to check in regularly to keep up to date with all things NYA!

Cora Rabisca (front row, far right) with most of the international group, Group Leaders, and Staff at the airport.

My international trip was to Guatemala. It was my first time leaving Canada, being so far away from home, and not able to call, but I had internet access so I could still keep in touch with my family and friends back home. The whole international group left on June 25, 2015 and we arrived in Guatemala City. We stayed the night and met up with our Group Leader in Guatemala the next day. His name was Lucho and he spoke Spanish and English so he translated for us. He also knew the city and other villages well. The international team had to be split up into 2 groups there were 9 people on each team. Team A went to Totonicapán & Team Eh went to Tecpan to build homes with Habitat for Humanity. It was great and a blessing building a home for a family that needed it. We made the work go by faster.

We had activities each day and fun things too like going to the market and to a smoothie shop. We would have a day or two of rest in between workdays, but we always ended up doing something. We saw beautiful views, mountains, and lakes, and went for drives around the town we stayed in. We met people from different parts of the world. Most of the Mayan people I met were generally short, so for them I was big and tall. A group of women I met there assumed I had a husband and children until I told them my age. They were surprised. I asked them if I could take a photo with them. It was their first time seeing an ipod with a camera. All the women and their kids jumped in and had their picture taken with me.

Once we completed our first home building, we went to another location to build a second house. It was way up in the altitude, high up on the mountain. We walked down a steep hill. It was easy walking down but once we were done working we had to walk back up. It felt as if I had just walked a marathon. It was so hot; we applied sunscreen at least twice during the walk. We came back to our hotel and rested before supper. Two of my friends and I were laying down and chilling, when it sounded like someone knocking on the door, I yelled “COME IN!” then suddenly the whole hotel was shaking a little. The earthquake was happening right under out feet. My friend said “OK, just stay calm” but I ran out the door! I was panicking. The earthquake lasted for half a minute.

A few days later we went to the natural hot springs. We stayed in Totonicapán for 2 weeks. The third week, we reunited with the other group and spent a week together. The last day we said our goodbyes. We left Guatemala on August 15, 2015 and got to Ottawa at 12 midnight and the Staff came to meet us.

The international trip was great – it was an awesome experience. We had good Group Leaders and a one-of-a-kind Guatemalan Group Leader. I well NEVER forget this summer volunteer trip. The ride had its ups and downs, agreements and disagreements, crazy, funny, good, bad, sad, and happy moments. I have to say I had LOUD laughing moments, and other moments where I wanted to go home. But HAH look where I am NOW. I’ve made it back to Ottawa, Canada. We made it to Re-Orientation safe and sound. I am glad and happy we made it through the 3 weeks in Guatemala. Now it’s my time to go home and share my experiences and tell my stories to my family and peers.

Cora Rabisca

(From left to right) Brian Kimiksana, Cora Rabisca, Liveena Toonoo and Jeff Antoniak at their worksite

For my research topic, I had done “Traditional Roles of Women in Guatemala”. I observed the women with as much curiosity as they had of us women doing construction. I noticed they seemed shocked of us to do “men’s work”, they stared and seemed to wonder what in the world we are doing to do such things as we were 6 out of 9 women within our team. While I would be very curious as to what they did in and around the house. I really noticed the woman walking back and force within the houses. Cleaning their pots and such, sweeping, and cooking.  While all in between their work, they’d peak out, stare and have hushed conversations. While us 6 women would all wonder what they thought of us. After the 2^nd or 3^rd day, (which was the day we all sang to Taylor Swift and danced around) they seemed to adjust to us being there, and would smile a lot more, and obviously giggled when we’d sing and dance. One young girl even gave me a bracelet while I was working on chiselling the cement, which probably made my whole trip. We even managed to have a conversation with them (with Lucho translating of course), and they asked us questions.  Asking us if we’re married, have children, ask how old we are, and some other questions, with all the answers being no, they were very shocked. We all laughed in that moment, considering the kind lady we were building the house for was only 21 with a child, and most of us were close to that age more or less. I didn’t know what to expect in Guatemala, especially seeing women amaak a baby in their style of amautik, balancing objects on their head daily, and breast feeding in public. The women are very beautiful and strong, which very much so reminded me of my Inuit culture. Considering girls and women in Guatemala, and the Inuit women back in the day, were taught how to sew, cook, clean and take care of children also at a young age, in order to gain wife and mothering skills.

Group Leader William Sandy (left) with Mickey Iqaqrialu (right).

We arrived in Guatemala at midnight and took some time to settle in and rest. The next afternoon, Luchofigo, one of the Team Leaders, came to get us at the hotel and then we drove for an hour and a half from Guatemala City to Antigua. Luchofigo showed us around Antigua and there was festival we got to enjoy as we walked around. We then drove 1 hour to our host community in Tecpán, Guatemala where we had an open ceremony to meet the volunteers and masons from Habitat of Humanity. We greeted them and told them our names and where we are from.

On August 27th, we started to work at Santa Cruz near Tecpán, Guatemala, which is about a 15-30 minute drive from our hotel. On our first day of work, the masons taught us how to do rebar and make concrete. Ronnie, one of our Habitat for Humanity leaders, showed us around Tecpán. We worked for the next couple of weeks on our house-building project. Then on our last day in Tecpán, we got a special treat of hamburgers and fries at the restaurant! One day later, we drove to Panajachel Solola, Guatemala but we stopped at an outdoor market to stretch our bodies and take a group picture with a beautiful volcano behind us. We were the first to arrive to the hotel, and then Team Turbo met up with us. We then walked around Panajachel and went to explore a nearby lake. The next day we went to work and made a smokeless stove in Panajachel. It took us 5 hours, but the next time we made one, it only took 2 hours.

We went on a boat ride from Panajachel to San Juan La Laguna, which took about 30-45 minutes. Once we arrived, we went to a ladies clothing store to learn how they made clothes from yarn dyed from plants and fruit. We bought some clothing for ourselves and our families. We also went on a coffee tour. We took a boat back to Panajachel and took a group vote of what to do, and most of us chose to go to the market. Finally our last day in Panajachel came and we drove back to Antigua, where we got to hike 8km up a volcano and roast marshmallows in the dry lava! We had a blast. We said our goodbyes to Luchofigo and Ronnie. That night, there was lightning and thunderstorms. One of our Group Leaders, Chelsea, told us to go inside because it was getting dangerous outside. In the morning, there was a mini earthquake. We travelled to Guatemala City to catch our flight back to Ottawa. The NYA Staff met us at the airport. We finally smelled nice, cold, fresh air! I spent my last few days with my International Program family, but I had to leave Re-Orientation early for a medical appointment in Iqaluit. Two days later, I flew home to Arctic Bay after 2 months of being away! Thank you for reading my blog.

Team Turbo working on a house in Guatemala

My name is Brian Robert Kimiksana and my nickname is Bushman or Bush. I’m from Fort McPherson, NWT. I was an NYA participant in 2010 with the Canadian Phase, where my host buddy was Jacob Peffer from Inuvik, NWT and my host family was Dean and Dolores Scott. My volunteer placement was with the YMCA and I was volunteering with a summer camp for children. I was really fun.

Now I’m completing the International Phase. We began in Ottawa for four weeks. We were first at McSkimming Camp for Orientation learning what we were going to do in Guatemala. We split into two groups – the “EH team” and “Team Turbo”. I was in Team Turbo. We met are group leaders who are awesome, random, nice, funny and one of a kind. The next 3 weeks we spent at Algonquin College where we completed construction class. We had a great teacher. We all finished a doghouse in one week. The highlight was our graduation ceremony.

Our Guatemala experience has been fun and awesome, but really busy with work and activities. The first day was pretty good, we learnt how to build a house. By then end of the first week we have complete our first house. We also visited hot springs, a toy making shop, a volcano and went to the market.

Angus, Dakota, Valerie, Mickey, Jaylene, Jamesie and Tim visiting a Mayan Ruin

Hey everyone, Angus here again. I’m here to talk to you about my trip to Guatemala this summer.

My research blog is about the housing in Guatemala. They aren’t the same as the houses here in Canada. Most houses in Guatemala are made completely from concrete. Also the inside of the houses in Guatemala are like a maze. You have to make so many turns to get to the bathroom, or you can just go straight to it from the door. Most houses in Guatemala have the straight roof where you can have a patio on your roof top.

In Guatemala you have very limited water because most of it isn’t sanitized. We in Canada have to appreciate what we have and what we have access to and should respect the land. People around the world are fighting for what we have, while we keep wanting more.

Any who, during my trip in Guatemala my group and I had a great time. Sure we had our ups and downs but we fought through the whole summer. We met a wonderful couple whom we made the house for. Walter, the man who is visually impaired and his wife, I believe that her name is Martha. The company we partnered with in Guatemala is called “Habitat for Humanity”. They help a lot of families whom are having trouble with housing in the country of Guatemala. Over the years they have helped make 75,000 homes to families in need.

After traveling to this beautiful place I have learnt to appreciate what I have in my community of Gjoa Haven, NU and it makes be believe that we as a country can make a better living then we already have. We should be able to help out each other as much as possible.

During the program it is a struggle being far away from home for a long time but at the end of the program you feel a whole lot of pride and excitement for yourself and your family.

One of my highlights during our trip was hiking up the Pacaya Volcano, which was an 8km hike – 4km up and 4km back down. Another highlight was having a bbq and pool party with a bunch of school children. Seeing all the smiles on their faces brightened my day.

If you plan on applying for Northern Youth Abroad I 100% recommend it to those who are eligible.

Thank you for taking time to read my blog.

Angus Hiqiniq, Gjoa Haven,

Hi peeps, my blog is just a tad late, so I guess it better be great. First of all, camp was hilarious. As he promised me last year, Shane returned as our facilitator, despite his extremely busy schedule. Our travel day, which actually felt decades long, I unfortunately couldn’t sleep on any of the gazillion flights we took that night. We flew all night and quite a few of us did not sleep at all.

Anyways, our sleepy, grumpy meet and greets didn’t go too bad at all, only there were three of our group missing, thanks fog. We did a few sessions with Shane, ate great food, and looked at the Canadian Phase participants in “mock” pity. At our First Aid session, with Eric, we went over all the necessary topics, as well as any allergies anyone in the group may have. As it may be, one of us in the group is allergic to fish and seafood, and so carries a couple epi-pens. So when Eric asked what we should do if so-and-so has an allergic reaction, there are a few ‘stay calm’s and ‘call EMS’, but the loudest was, “STAB HIM WITH THE EPI-PEN”. Anyways, we ended up taking a ten minute break, because I couldn’t stop laughing – the first of many great laughs.

Then for our mini-group skits for the Canadian Phase guys, one of the other groups did a skit on getting lost while taking public transportation, they basically got on the wrong bus and finally got back hours later. Anyhow, me and Liveena – I split hot chocolate on her crystal white sweater during jeopardy night, we’ve been roommates ever since – as soon as we got our bus passes we decided we wanted to go get our nails done. Surprise! We got on the wrong bus and spent like an hour trying to get back in time for our first group meeting at Algonquin. This was all within the first week of our trip. At Algonquin we took Spanish lessons with Jackie, built dog houses with Craig, and learnt a lot about the college with Jon. And with such an inadequate word limit, there is no way I could ever express my gratitude towards the NYA staff, the volunteers, my mentor, and my amazing parents. There is so much more to tell, so many stories, and I’m already pushing my word limit, but thank you for reading my first and very late NYA blog.