Canada World Youth

I am Khaled, and I have experience in translation and communication in four languages: Arabic, English, French, and Berber. These skills allow me to communicate effectively with individuals from different...Read more

I am Khaled, and I have experience in translation and communication in four languages: Arabic, English, French, and Berber. These skills allow me to communicate effectively with individuals from different backgrounds and cultures, making me a strong candidate to support diverse communities. In addition, I have strong teamwork skills and problem-solving ability, which I have gained through my previous volunteer work and my experience of interacting with people from different environments. Through this experience, I hope to contribute my time and skills to support the community, while developing my personal and professional skills. I aspire to learn from others, and gain new insights into how volunteerism affects individuals and communities, helping me in the future to provide greater support in this area. The qualities that I think characterize me are flexibility, commitment, and positivity. I think these qualities will help me succeed in this program, and adapt to any challenges or responsibilities I may face. If you need to modify or add certain details, let me know and I will help you improve them!

CWY's reputation as an organization is highly overrated. I spent spent three months in Bolivia and three months in Quebec and the whole thing was a disorganized mess and frankly,...Read more

CWY's reputation as an organization is highly overrated. I spent spent three months in Bolivia and three months in Quebec and the whole thing was a disorganized mess and frankly, a waste of time. My supervisors were "removed" after the Bolivian phase and we weren't given an explanation as of why, and they were replaced by an authoritative supervisor who imposed a rule that wouldn't let us leave our house without permission - not sure how a reasonable human being can do that to people in their 20s. Any sense of independence and freedom you have developed as an adult is stripped during this program.

On top of that, there was a general consensus in my group that we were not needed at our volunteer placements, as we spent a lot of time sitting down doing nothing. In terms of the mandatory weekly educational activity days that each participant prepares, presenters would come up with activities just to kill time, since having to present and keep an audience for 6 hours is ridiculous. It was also really disappointing that our travel in Bolivia was very limited and we saw very little of the country.

On the plus side, if you ask tell them you want to learn a language, this could be a great opportunity to be immersed in an area that speaks that language, but that does not make up for all of the program's faults. If you want to travel or volunteer your time, there are many other opportunities that you should be considering instead.

This past Feburary I went on the pilot year of the International Aboriginal Youth Internship Program (IAYIP) with Canada World Youth. I spent 4 months in Esteli, Nicaragua. I worked...Read more

This past Feburary I went on the pilot year of the International Aboriginal Youth Internship Program (IAYIP) with Canada World Youth. I spent 4 months in Esteli, Nicaragua. I worked as an administrative assistant with the host organization "FUNARTE".

Within the country I stayed with the lovely Lopez, and Perez family. Along the way I learned how to speak spanish within 1 month, and I was able to participate in many projects and community events.

Through Canada World Youth, I learned so much about another country/ culture/ and alot about myself. Even though I was beaten down to the ground at times, they were always there to help me get back up and keep going. I believe my experience happened the way it did for a reason, I thank the Creator everyday for it.

Everyone should volunteer with them :D

I spent 5 months as a youth participant with Canada World Youth and I can honestly say that this was an experience filled time full of skill building, challenge, and...Read more

I spent 5 months as a youth participant with Canada World Youth and I can honestly say that this was an experience filled time full of skill building, challenge, and personal and community success. <br /><br />
<br /><br />
The CWY program that I participated in was in 2008 where I spent 2.5 months in Honduras doing volunteer work and community development and I spent 2.5 months in a rural community in Ontario, Canada. We were a group of 18 youth, 9 Canadians from all across the country and 9 youth from Honduras. At the beginning of the program each Canadian was paired up with a Honduran youth; our counterpart for the remainder of the experience. Each pair of youth lived in host families in Canada and overseas and through this experience of living and working with people from another culture, language, and worldview, we learned about these 2 regions of the world in a very deep way. <br /><br />
<br /><br />
Throughout our time we did volunteer work in the community and learned about specific topics relevant to social justice and working for a better world. Since my background was in Education, I taught English at a local school while I was in Honduras for a few days a week and we organized community events to fundraise and engage youth in that community. <br /><br />
<br /><br />
I began my CWY experience as a young teacher wanting to see the world and help others. Upon completion of this program, I was left with a feeling of inspiration and desire to continue working with other youth to build solidarity, find solutions, and create change. The skills I learned with CWY include: intercultural effectiveness, gender equity analysis, communications skills, French, Spanish, project management, events planning, non-formal education tools, facilitation, conflict resolution, and the list goes on ...<br /><br />
<br /><br />
Since my CWY program as a volunteer in 2008, I have worked as a Project Supervisor (leading 2 groups of youth to Nicaragua) and I am still at the office today:)