Hobbema youth off to Mexico

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Hobbema's Alaynee Littlechild is on her way to see the world.

The 18-year-old has been accepted in the Canada World Youth rural development exchange program.

Each year, the program selects several youths to be part of the cultural and work exchange. This year the program will take 10 Canadian participants to Mexico.

"I'll be going to Cuernovaca," said Littlechild. The Mexican city is just south of Mexico City.

The energetic student, who has just wrapped up her first year at the University of Alberta in the education program and hopes to major in special education, said she will learn a lot from the exchange.

She senses there will be a lot of similarities between her home town of Hobbema and the Mexican destination.

"Our cultures and community are so similar," she said. That could ease the transition for her.

"I don't think I'll have too much of a culture shock," she said.

In Mexico, Littlechild will be exposed to the culture of the region, take on a work experience program, and, of course, speak the language.

"I know some Spanish already," she said, but admitted she is going to have to learn more in a hurry.

"We have to know conversational Spanish by September."

Before the group takes off to Mexico, they experience living in another Canadian community first.

Canada World Youth participants from Mexico will be paired up with the Canadians and they will spend two months in Wetaskiwin.

Although Hobbema to Wetaskiwin is only a 15-minute drive, Littlechild is equally excited about going there.

"Living and working in Wetaskiwin, getting a full experience of my neighbors will be very interesting," Littlechild said.

After the two month stay in Wetaskiwin, Littlechild and the rest of the participants head south of the border.

Making the experience even more rewarding is Littlechild's own culture.

"I'm the only Native person selected from Western Canada for this," said the excited teen. "Being with the other students in my group, it will get people to know more about Native culture as well as sharing with Mexico."

Littlechild has to raise almost $3,500 from within her community. She has started with the fund-raising, and is hoping to have the money collected by the end of summer.

In the organization's 26 years of operating, Canada World Youth has sent Canadian participants to Latin America, Africa, Asia and parts of Eastern Europe.

Regional director for Canada World Youth Linda Rubuliak said the experience Littlechild will receive is invaluable.

"Our main goal is to build employable skills in all of our participants," she said.

Littlechild will gain important experience in building cross-cultural skills, group skills and linguistic skills. She will also have a better understanding of how communities function, how to assess community needs and how to work to meet those needs.

Being Aboriginal is also going to present some opportunities for Littlechild, Rubuliak said.

"It's very, very significant in terms of this exchange because they are going to Mexico. There is a huge portion of that [Mexican] population that is Aboriginal and there's a whole sense of the people's Aboriginal roots."

The whole experience will stay with the participants throughout their lives, Rubuliak said.