My Canada World Youth Program is over. Thank you so much to all who donated and helped me out along the way :)
katimavik: www.katimavik.org
canada world youth: www.cwy-jcm.com
in which i visit ottawa with my host mom
angie volunteers at a cafe
canada world youth in quebec!
another thrilling tale of my travels
these are a few of my favorite things about volunteering at the zoo :)
monkeys in the zoo get a hold of some trash. interesting what they do with it.
A Day in the Life of a CWY Volunteer In Bolivia
7:00am Woken by my faithful watch alarm beeping from the bedpost. Out of bed and into my shoes. I am scolded if I have bear feet in the house because of all the dirt on the floor. At first I wanted nothing more than to feel the cold stone floor beneath my feet, but one day I found a giant centipede crawling on my bedroom floor and now I don’t mind shoes so much.
7:07 dressed in my work clothes and washing my face in the bathroom. The house is cool in the morning and I enjoy it because I know it will be unbearably hot by lunchtime.
7:10 There is a rooster I have never seen before crowing outside the kitchen window. The walls around our house are quite high so I’m pretty sure it didn’t fly in by accident. This means I will be eating Mr Rooster for dinner. Mr Rooster scratches happily in the grass as Chulina the Siamese cat watches wide-eyed from the window-sill.
7:12 “buenas dias” as I enter the dining room. The 3 daughters trample downstairs with their backpacks and school uniforms. Everyone sits around the table and watches TV as they eat.
7:15 breakfasts usally consist of tea or hot chocolate and white bread. Today we have oatmeal and I am in heaven. In Bolivia we eat a lot of meat and white rice, I am missing veggies. My family has gotten used to me adding a banana to my breakfast but they still think I am wierd if I come home and eat a raw carrot.
7:21 The reporter on TV is talking about the March of the Indigenous People. Many groups of Indigenous people live in Parks and reserves, living closely with the native plants and animals and honouring their connection with nature. There is one Reserve in particular through which the government wishes to build a road. Highly concerned with the habitat destruction and further development this would bring to their reserve, the local people are protesting with a march.
Now, this is no half-hearted traipse up and down the street; there are 1,600 Indigenous people and their leaders representing 30 different tribes who live in their ancestral homeland within this reserve and together they are marching 500 kilometres from their home in the jungle to the Government Headquarters in the cold mountain city of La Paz, to speak with the Bolivian President, Evo Morales. The March has taken 25 days so far, everyone going by foot and camping by the roadside at night, and they will have to march for another month before reaching the capital. I am full of admiration for the effort these people have put into environmental responsibility, and I have great hope that their pleas be answered. Evo Morales is the first Indigenous President that Bolivia has had and he has already done good work to protect the environment. I send positive thoughts towards the Marchers and their purpose.
7:50 put on my sunglasses and head out the door. I bring my sunglasses with me everywhere I go, day or night, not for the sun but to protect my eyes from the sand that is whipped up by the frequent gusts of wind. It’s early but the sun is already hot, and the day will only get hotter. On my 10 minute walk to work I pass large gated houses with guard dogs lounging by the fence, orange trees, papaya trees, and hundreds of colourful flowers.
the Canada World Youth participants each have a differant volunteer job around the city that they do 3 days a week. I get to volunteer at the Santa Cruz Municipal Zoo!!! the zoo features differant animals of South America. I love my job here!
