Hi my name is Suupi Idlout and I’m from Resolute NU and I am in Ottawa right now for NYA Next after waiting two years, this group of 2022 is the first group to attend after the lockdown by covid. To be truly honest with you guys I didn’t think I would be here right now but I am and I’m proud of myself. The Participants all work well with each other, we are from Nunavut and NWT. 

We got here July 6, 2022, and everyone else came in really late, they must have been so tired. We are staying at Algonquin Residence; it is my first time staying in college dorms. So far, it’s nice, the residence building is huge it has more room than people in Resolute. There is so much walking and time management. We have to figure when to leave to reach our destination on time.  

We all are going construction class as a group and we made dog houses and we are donating it to humane society and we volunteering at different places. I volunteered at the Ottawa Mission soup kitchen and at Riverkeeper.  Others volunteered at Bottle Works and Furry Tales. At The Mission there are different things that you can help with, but I helped bagging non-perishables groceries for people in need and others helped in the kitchen like opening canned goods and cutting veggies. With Riverkeeper we went to Centrepointe Park to pick up garbage to prevent microplastics in water.  

I was excited for construction and all the activities, but I had to isolate for a week. I didn’t get the chance to build the whole dog house, but I put on shingles/roofing and I loved that. I missed out on swim to survive and going to the beach and I wanted to be in the water but a few days before we went, I caught covid. I had cabin fever by the time I was done isolating and the first thing we had free time, I went to see my dad and my sister. Another time we went to the beach just to watch volleyball and there was a concert there and I had a great time.