My name is Alma Itkilik from Baker Lake, Nunavut. I am an International participant. I have gone for my Canadian phase last summer 2009. My summer placement for this summer is in Maun, Botswana, Africa. Being an international participant is awesome! You get to travel to someplace where you wouldn’t ever believe where you actually are, until you’re really thinking about it. I’m having the greatest summer ever! The experiences I’m having will never be forgotten. The day after we arrived in Maun, we started work at BOFWA(Botswana Family Welfare Association) Which is a really good work place. All the people that we work with are friendly! We also work at WAR(Women Against Rape) and the ladies there are awesome!
My group and I first stopped in Paris for 12 hours. Which was so cool!! We got to go see the Eiffel Tower. While we were there, we’ve seen 4 guys doing an awesome hip hop dance and a lot of awesome other things. After Paris, we went to Johannesburg, South Africa. Being at their airport was very nice. It was something I thought I’d never see in Africa. Then after a few hours in Johannesburg, we went to Gaborone, Botswana and spent the weekend there. I enjoyed a lot of the things and the orientation we had there. We met a bunch of cool people in Gaborone. Africa is way more developed than I thought it would be. I’ve met so many people since we arrived in Maun. All the things that we have done here are awesome. The first weekend we were here, we traveled to Ghanzi. We stayed at The Trail Blazers for the weekend. It was so cool!! We got to see the San People do their dance and the next morning, we went for a walk with them. They had shown us what they used for medicine and materials with plants. The way they do their talks are with clicks which are so cool. They are so fun to hang around and listen to. The same afternoon, we went over to The Quarry. It is so gorgeous! I was very afraid to swim and thought I’d never jump in there, but I did! That was such a great weekend. The next weekend, we went to the Okavango Delta. We went for the mokoro ride and saw some giraffes, zebras, baboons and hippos. The weekend after that, we went to go play roller-skating hockey. The next day, we went on an overnight safari to the Moremi Game Reserve. We all enjoyed it so much! After lunch, we started heading out for the ride. It was so exciting to see elephants, more giraffes, baboons, impalas, antelopes, wildebeests, and all kinds of different birds. One of the neatest things that had happen was an elephant walking along the road, not in a good mood tried to come towards us and scare us, but it didn’t get too close. We sure did get pretty close to it though and got great shots of it. The following night, we had a very delicious dinner. We were all worried because of all the hyenas kept coming to the camp site. The next morning, we were going on another ride to see if we could find some lions and other animals that we haven’t seen. Just before we were heading back, we were informed about lions and cheetahs a few minutes away. That’s when the ride started getting very interesting. We saw about 6 lions and we got very close to them! It was totally amazing!! That really made my weekend and trip to Botswana. Before we saw the lions, we saw a cheetah waiting to eat an impala. On our way to the end of the ride, we also spotted another cheetah. We got so close to what we’ve been waiting to see. I loved and enjoyed everything about the safari. Now I’ve got the most amazing photos and videos to take home. It was so fun. It’s something that I thought I wouldn’t do here. We did so many things that I thought we wouldn’t do here. Being in Maun is totally awesome!! We have yet another couple weekends to do stuff and to see a lot of other animals and places. I wish to do another year of NYA. You get to live with other people from other places and just have tons of fun and get to really know them. NYA is one of the best things that have happened to me. It has made me stronger and more independent. It is one in a life time thing that has made a big difference in my life. All the great memories and all the people that I’ve met has made my summer fun!. One of the coolest places I stayed at for any summer. All the friendly people and the great environment made it special to me. I know I’ll totally miss Maun, Botswana, Africa and the people that I lived with and worked with. Hope you enjoyed my story about my summer in Africa!
It's so awsome Alma.. i like it like really much i so can't wait to write my blog about my experince and lots of things.. !
Posted by: Alannah Ikinilik | August 07, 2010 at 12:08 AM