Canada World Youth

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 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 personal and community success. <br /><br />
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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 />
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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 />
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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 />
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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:)

Canada World Youth was one of the most enriching experiences of my life, so much so that I did it twice. I did the Mini-YLA program in Peru and the 6 month YLA exchange program in South Africa and the Sunshine Coast, BC. I wanted to travel a path that was not one of a tourist; I wanted to embrace new cultures, taste new foods, learn new languages, meet new people and challenge my perspective. I wanted to grow into a better person, a stronger leader.

The best part of my experience was the relationships that I built with my team, my counterpart and my host family. I learned the most from them and we are still very close despite distance. Essentially the program is what you make of it, which includes overcoming challenges. My team was able to put together a documentary of our journey, write a book and much more. I ache for the sunny days in Cape Town and waking up in the Andes everyday. I never took it for granted, and would gladly do it again if I could.