Trip Report: Whitehorse, Yukon (Sept. 23-28, 2008)

What does a small community like Whitehorse offer?

What can you get in a small community like Whitehorse that you cannot get in Toronto? Well, a very warm sense of belonging exists. The territory itself is 30,000 with 23,000 living in the capital. In addition, you get encouragement for being an artist no matter what level of talent you possess.

The first few days I integrated myself into community activities and hang outs by spending a lot of time at BYTE (Bringing Youth Towards Equality), a youth organization that encourages youth initiatives in the community. They are well known by the community, including amongst teachers. Julie Diyen, our Yukon Youth Engagement Coordinator is FANTASTIC.

Interestingly, there is a growing arts movement in Whitehorse and I spent a lot of time at the local Baked Café hangout where people of ALL artistic abilities came out to perform. It just goes to show that art is necessary to the spiritual health of a community and can grow anywhere.

I also went to the Victoria Faulkner Centre, a space for women. I met a representative from rabble.ca and Jessica Yee, the founder of a sexual health network for Indigenous Youth.

10 hours of workshop training for 14 motivated Whitehorse youth

Facilitation is a lot like teaching.

They both fall under the category of education. The similarities? Sometimes I feel like I am learning (struggling) as I am supposed to be facilitating. For example, I’m not sure if I’ve reached the audience or hit them with the right message. I constantly find myself going back and re-examining what I did, and planning and revising activities so that I can make it better and clearer for next time. I guess that’s the teacher in me.

The tensions that I grapple with are between facilitating and teaching. The differences? I definitely do not do any disciplining. However, like teaching I feel like I am still guiding people into a direction. There still has to be an overall goal. The word teaching traditionally denotes directive learning as opposed to learner directed. However in modern times, teachers, especially those in adult education are encouraged to take on teaching that is in line with the definition of facilitation. I guess for myself, teaching and facilitating are more alike than different because I feel like it still aims to highlight the multiple paths in which to attain knowledge.

In the first session I had on September 27th with 13 BYTE youth facilitators, I asked them what they thought their youth community needs were, and the successes and challenges to youth participation in Yukon.

For the findings, go to projects.takingitglobal.org/BYTE_FT (under Documents).

The importance of intergenerational activities and dialogue was brought up.

The Yukon youth of today
Are like the Yukon miners of yesterday
Toiling for adventure in the freezing cold
Mining and pining for hoped to be gold
For goals which remain a talked about dream
A myth a reality which may not be what it seems
A sense of struggle raise questions to surface
Where is our place? Where is our purpose?
What happens when the emptiness strike
And there is no treasure
Only coals and the like?
Today the youth battle obstacles
Such as isolation, race, gender and class debacles
They are streaming down the Yukon water
A path of wondrous resource or apathetic slaughter?
About staying afloat on the changing currents
What is going to be the savior, the salvation, deterrent?
Perhaps a sense of community
Where everyone is equal with opportunity
It is hard to say only one thing I know
Is that youth must determine
Where they want to go

Transformative Learning

On the second day, we did 7 hours of training which included a TakingITGlobal workshop, the Right to Be Heard, a quick overview of Millennium Development Goals, and finally a discussion on Anti Oppression.

It was a transformative process to be able to do anti oppression training with 13 people who had virtually been strangers a few days ago. We went through the process of challenging our own assumptions, oppressions, and biases. I think identifying other people’s biases is easy, but examining the factors that oppress ourselves, or what we use to oppress others and having the safe space to address these is therapeutic. And sometimes oppressive factors are not as obvious as classifying it into racism, sexism or classism. I had never felt so close to a group of strangers as I had after that session.

The last 20 minutes was spent lightening the mood with a group hug, and a chain laughing exercise.

I can only describe the entire trip as transformative – as the power of people to connect with one another and engage each other through educational, open dialogue is a feeling that I cannot properly describe.

When I grow older
I will be stronger
They'll call me freedom
Just like a waving flag

-K'Naan

I have just arrived back in Toronto after a wonderful, crazy, busy and mind stretching week at the 4th World Youth Congress in Quebec City.

I wanted to write as the thoughts are fresh in my mind. It's hard to sum into a few words what I want to say, as there are a flurry of emotions which are crowding my ability to describe clearly everything that I saw and experienced. All I know is that these youth conferences always leave me feeling revitalized, re-energized and positive about the changes which our youth want to make in the world. So often we are jaded by this ideal and desire to "change the world". People think that this is a naive way of thinking and it is reserved for the young minds who do not know better.

Well, you know what? If these thoughts to better our world are considered naive, then I am not ashamed to say that I am naive. I would rather be put into this category of so called youth who know no better, then to be jaded, conservative and take no action to at least TRY and achieve the unity and peace which the living beings in our world deserve.

I had the privilege to meet hundreds of youth from over 100 countries, including Ghana, Spain, Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Brazil, the US, Canada, Kenya and Benin. The pool of talents, passion and drive which surrounded me for a week made me feel blessed to be where I am.

Thank you to all at the World Youth Congress who re-validated the view that changing the world is not naive, but indeed a reality which many others strive for.

live and love,
Mai

Some of you may already know about this, but I thought I'd share anyway. I received an email from our local environmental organization today that seemed like a really great opportunity for young people who are passionate about the environment. The UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) is apparently developing a youth network in North America. They're looking for 16-20 university students from the U.S. and Canada to take part in UNEP's new Kick the Carbon Habit Education Campaign, who would be invited to attend a conference in the fall of 2008 and work together to launch this campaign around North America with the help of UNEP.

The application deadline is July 28 (soon!). If you have any questions, the contact is unepyouth.na@gmail.com. I don't think it's possible to attach stuff to TIGblogs, but if anyone is interested, let me know, I can forward you the email and the application form!

-------------Information form cut and paste from attachment in email---------------------------------
KICK THE CARBON HABIT EDUCATION CAMPAIGN YOUTH NETWORK

Are you interested in being part of a new environmental youth network in North America?

If so, the United Nations Environment Programme is now accepting applications from dynamic youth who would like to be part of its new Kick the Carbon Habit Education Campaign Youth Network.

UNEP recognizes education as a key part of understanding and mitigating climate change. This campaign will help empower and educate youth and the general public on ways to conserve resources. In collaboration with UNEP, representatives of the youth network will play an active role in spreading this educational effort around the country.

UNEP’s goal with the Kick the Carbon Habit Education Campaign is to set in motion an ongoing effort by university students to educate their communities about methods of conservation in a world where natural resources are becoming increasingly scarce. As the network grows, representatives will create a self-sustaining network of youth leaders around the country.

Sixteen to 20 youth from around the U.S. and Canada will be selected for the 2008-2009 school year to launch the Campaign. The aim of this nation-wide campaign is to increase awareness of resource conservation, and will be led by university and high school students who will use educational events to reach out to their communities. Three audiences will be specifically targeted: children ages 8-14, youth ages 14-22, and the general community. University and high school students will engage these audiences in events such as a resource conservation fair at an elementary school or handing out eco-friendly bulbs to homeowners around a university campus.

Youth Network representatives will play a unique role in this campaign, as they will not only be the direct connection to UNEP, they will also be the distributors of the campaign “start-up kit.” The campaign will kick-off with a conference in November, where this pioneer group will learn how to reach out to solicit new involvement in the campaign and distribute “The Kit”. They will liaise with UNEP and with each other to develop strategies for the growth of the campaign, write and distribute a monthly e-newsletter to update volunteers on activities taking place within the network, and play a leadership role in deciding future goals of the network.

This campaign is new, but not unique in its efforts to educate the public about climate change. Youth who have had experience in organizing grassroots activities or other educational campaigns are encouraged to apply; however, such previous experience is not necessary.

Back to Ottawa, getting into the swing of studying full time this summer (which means procrastinating by all means necessary instead of working on an essay that's due in 2 days that I have barely begun).

But, I just found out that I got accepted into a project in Togo in August! C'est pour travailler avec des étudiants primaires et secondaires dans un village rural qui s'appelle Kouma Adame. Je suis super contente là, ce sera ma première fois en Afrique. Je suis actuellement en train de suivre un cours de vie politique en Afrique, qui est très intéressant, mais bon, les articles academiques sont guère comparables à une expérience sur le terrain. J'ai super hâte!

In other less exciting news, I came to the realization yesterday following my first jazz class that I am a terrible dancer.

Youth Leadership

Youth make up 50% of the world's population - so why shouldn't we have a place in this world? Why shouldn't we be leaders? You don't need to be a motivational speaker, a loud personality, or good looking. You simply need to be. Motivated.
Here are three workshops I attended which prove that youth are taking the steps to inspire, inform and involve themselves in their communities today.

March 28 - Canadian Association for Community Living
Workshop: Poverty and Intellectual Disability
1 in 5 people living in poverty have a disability. We aim to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, including reducing poverty. This cannot be achieved if we compartmentalize and segregate People Living with Disabilities as a separate entity. The creation of policies, strategies, and initiatives should include PWDs, as poverty and disability are undeniably correlated.

March 29 - Town Youth Partnerships Strategy
Workshop: ICTs for social change
Information, Communication and Technology can be used for social change. Youth spend on average 8 hours on the internet. At TYPS conference, over 200 youth from across Canada who participated, worked or ran youth centers came to St. George, ON. Their energy that youth were indeed involved and active in their communities was exciting. Representatives from Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Saskatchewan, BC and Nunavut were present.

April 9 - Project MADE
Networking and Capacity Building
Youth leadership - 7 youth came to the TIG office to learn more about TIG and CLC, and how partnerships and collaborations could happen to strengthen youth leadership within two communities: Toronto and Accra, Ghana. Muneeb and Aurora presented awesomely and we are excited for the May 8 TIG training session at the head office!

Just saw a documentary as a part of the 5th Human Rights Watch Film Festival in Toronto on abandoned children living with HIV/AIDS in Romania and their foster parents.
Before the screening, a lady from CANFAR (Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research) gave a short speech, and she mentioned something that might be interesting to fellow Canadian youths who are interested in HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns. CANFAR runs a program called Have a Heart, which is organized in conjunction with high schools across Canada in all provinces and territories. CANFAR provides to schools HIV/AIDS materials to raise awareness and also supplies to create "heart o'grams" for fundraising, which goes specifically towards youth-related HIV/AIDS research. Sounds pretty cool: I just checked out the website, and apparently the registration for 2008 has closed, but there's always next year!
Have a Heart link here!

Woohoo! The TIG impact survey is now available in العربية ! We're on a roll here :)

Thanks to Tala and everyone on the Arabic translation team!

Just in time for International Mother Language Day too :)

Pesquisa de Impacto de Membro do TakingITGlobal!

Muito Obrigado por completar essa pesquisa!

Ottawa
Population: 750 000
Ottawa is my hometown, so I approached it with an insider perspective. Ottawa itself faces judgments from its larger counterparts (e.g., Toronto). It’s a large city in some eyes, and a place with little to offer to others. I think the governmental focus of the city makes people wonder what the youth are up to.

Well, needless to say there is a lot of youth activism in the form of politics. All one has to do is look at Parliament, and there are always a large group of young people gathered demonstrating, working, or simply experiencing.

However, Ottawa is comprised of a lot of suburbs and young people in Suburbia land wonder where they can direct their energies because they face a dual dilemma. The dilemma is comprised of being from a city where youth cannot feel connected to one another like Thunder Bay because it’s big, and at the same still lacking the high youth activism which its Toronto counterpart offers.

I met with Nikki Allison, the Youth Engagement Coordinator and Kyle Simunovic, the Ontario Online Community Connector at Bridgehead (a fair-trade coffee shop) to discuss team communications. I also visited Ottawa’s NGOs such as the Canadian Climate Youth Coalition, UNESCO, CODE, Amnesty International, and a CLC advisor from Heritage Canada.

There is a lot of motivation to become more active in the community. Turn towards Parliament Hill and on the political front it is impressive. Turn towards individuals and there are a lot of young people saying, “yeah, we want to change the world … but how?” Turn towards the NGOs and there is a lot of mobilization and initiatives. Ottawa needs to be more effective in youth collaborations and partnerships, so that youth know where to go to feel a sense of community.

Montreal
Population: 1 000 000
I spent only a day in Montreal meeting with Ilyes El Ouarzadi, the Quebec Online Community Connector, Yassir El Ouarzadi, the Montreal Youth Engagement Coordinator, and Sessi Hankourin the Francophone Engagement Coordinator. Nikki Allison joined me, and we practiced our French in a meeting to discuss youth engagement. There were many interesting observations made by the team. A lot of French youth attracted to our site are from other countries, and there are very few French Canadians who use the TIG site. We had to examine the reasons for this, as well as the reality that French organizations are reluctant to partner with Anglophone organizations because resources in French are often not available. It was wonderful to meet with the Quebec team, and although TIG has improved on its French initiatives, there is a lot more work to do as an organization if we seriously want to engage French youth and address the language divide.

Timmins
Population: 42 000
I definitely found Timmins’ energy from its youth. I met the Timmins Team Youth Engagement Coordinators Staci Kentish, Lynne Lessard and Philip Fry. They are extremely active in their community on various engagement levels such as government. Lynne and Phil are involved in the Ontario Young Liberals, while Staci works for an MP from the NDP. Their connections have aided in the incredible youth engagement done in a short amount of time.

In one month, the team has done a Guide to Action workshop and are in the midst of organizing a Climate Change workshop for high school students, as well as an awareness booth at The Joker, a youth hang out and the Timmins Square Mall. I also had the chance to see the library where the March Break Change That Clicks program will take place for 5 days. Another exciting accomplishment is the partnership of Staci’s MP with a Guide to Action workshop. They aim to target Attawapiskat youth (a nearby reserve). In addition, there will be a largely publicized youth forum, supported by the MP in April.

Once more, I was revved by the small town as it is conducive to recruiting a lot of interest for youth activism in a limited amount of time. When there is initiative and leadership from the youth, the community provides little obstacles for success. The young people of Timmins offer their environment an incredible amount of revitalization and life, and they are enthusiastic about getting involved in their community.

Hey everyone,

The TakingITGlobal Member Impact Survey is out!!! Exclamation marks galore!!!

If you have a few minutes, please go fill out the survey to let us know whether TIG has had an impact on your life!

Thanks in advance for your comments and feedback!

It's been a while (wow, more than a decade now that I think about it) since I've celebrated Chinese New Year with my whole extended family, but I remember it being lots of fun. I miss the noise, the laughter, the extreme heat and lack of air because there would be 100 people crammed into a room, and the food. Definitely the food. Copious amounts of everything delicious.

This year on the eve of the lunar new year, I celebrated starving student style - I had originally planned to attempt to cook, but after realizing that I actually needed ingredients other than salt, nutella, and pasta sauce to make something vaguely edible, I opted for a meal of chips and grapes instead, and stared at the snowstorm outside as I ate. (Yep - I sure know how to party.)

Have a great lunar new year, everyone.


**Afterthought**
I really hope that most of the migrant workers in China were able to make it home for the Spring Festival this year, despite the freak snowstorms (climate change anyone?). I can't imagine what it must be like to be separated from your loved ones for most of the year and to have the one fleeting occasion to spend with your family ruined. Best of luck to anyone who's still trying to get home.

This is an appropriate moment to start my blog's life on TIG. It is the night I am inspired to write. Where my muse peeks out of the corners, twinkles its eye, and whispers words of life into my ear.

The entry itself comes from inspiration. The world of technology has taken me to new heights and allowed for me to grasp a new knowledege which can only be seen as revolutionary. Today's youth are taking up its arms in the form of cybermetal. When used correctly, the empowerment we feel through the creation of our own universe is mind boggling.

I joined Creating Local Connections (CLC) Canada (http://projects.takingitglobal.org/clccanada) nearly four months ago as Communications and Ontario Project Manager. It began as a job that fulfilled an ideal - the vast space of internet communication, though powerful, still could not give me the full grasp of our youth's motivational stories.

As a city girl from the Capital, I am ignorant of the rest of Canada. How do Canadians in smaller settings define or identify themselves with our nation? I remained ignorant of the inspiration which a small town could give me until I went to Thunder Bay.

Let me first say that I have travelled overseas, and I left home in order to come back and see it in a new light. This was my first trip in-country which left me with the same learned awe which I got when I experience something breathtaking in another country. Too often, I have been struck by the generosity and big hearts of those who live in foreign countries.

It is about time that I become struck with awe at the wonders Canadians can offer.

In short, Thunder Bay, 120 000 strong, gave birth to a community full of action. I spent a fair bit of time at the Regional Multi Cultural Youth Center, where Pauline the Youth Engagement Coordinator worked from. I befriended a 10 year old tech savvy boy named Nathan, who put a smile on my face with his Karaoke and desire to help all the time. I respected Mofat, a Zimbabwe Canadian who had been living there for 30 years, and who had dedicated his life to letting youth create a space for themselves. I was joyed by the Anishnawbe people whom I met. They contradicted any stereotype of the "drunken/suicidal Indian" which covered the news. I was moved by a community who rallied together to watch a film made by local Thunder Bay film makers(http://thunderstone.jcmultimedia.com/). The quote "Our ancestors strived to live ... so why do our youth long to die?" pushed my heart into overdrive, and suddenly I realized that in Thunder Bay I had experienced epiphany.

Our Canadian youth rock.

To all of you who are jaded out there, let me tell you. The youth of this nation are moving mountains. I am so proud to be Canadian. I am so proud to be here, in this community, where among all the political and social injustices there is a movement stirring.

Listen. Carefully. you don't want to miss the rhythm of your own community. It's moving. I promise.

Today was my first day at TakingITGlobal, and I must admit, it was kind of overwhelming at times! I didn't realize that the website was so extensive, and I am really surprised and impressed at how generally well run it is. Looking forward to the rest of my time co-oping here!

In other news, still trying to adjust from the difference in time zones now that I'm back in Canada after my exchange in France. I keep wanting to go to bed at 8pm only to wake up at 5 in the morning.

Also, wow, Toronto is really huge. I got lost today trying to get from the metro station to home. Basically walked in the wrong direction, started suspecting I was doing so, turned around and walked back, started doubting whether I was wrong in the first place, did another U-turn.... and half an hour later, I'm still on the same street, about 10m away from the subway station.

World AIDS Day Breakfast

This morning I attended the World AIDS Day breakfast, held by Oxfam in support of two organizations: Voices of Positive Women, Blueprint for Action on Women and Girls in HIV/AIDS.

Toronto Mayor David Miller, Co-Founder of Blueprint Louise Binder (a trained lawyer living with HIV/AIDS) and Vancouverite author Wayson Choy spoke at the event. It was lovely to see so many people in Toronto who care about AIDS as a global pandemic, and there is a lot of activism which serves as motivation going on here.

I realized that the city cares, but there still is a lot of awareness and activist work to be done in other places which are not exposed to the wonderful resources we have here. On a sidenote, I am also the proud new bearer of a black and red beaded ribbon made by women in Zambia!

OCIC - International Development Week Steering Committee

It proved to be a fruitful meeting and collaboration among a variety of non for profit organizations in Toronto. Canadian Red Cross, World Literacy Canada, CLC TIG, Oxfam, were among some of the organizations present. I find the Ontario Council for International Cooperation is useful because it recognizes the need for NGOs with similar values and missions to work together. We are more effective in larger numbers, right?

So we planned a postcard project which involves sending out kits to 10 schools in Ontario. This arts based initiative aims to educate youth on the Millenium Development Goals, and OCIC wants display the postcards on TIG's global online gallery, as well as promote it in a French school through one of our CLC coordinators (either Timmons or Montreal). In addition, the meeting was a great opportunity to network with other organizations and share ideas.