240 days

I have been away for 8 months now and I wanted to share with you some of my experiences. Travelling and working in countries so different from my own has changed the way I see myself and the world. I have done things that I did not think I was capable of. I have experienced things that I can not put into words. I have been challenged and become stronger. I have questioned everything I believe in and the things that are important to me. I have learnt that there are many ways of seeing the world.

Countries visted

Canada, Cuba, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru.

Highlights

• Working with children

I have had the oppertunity to work with some awesome kids in Nicaragua and Ecuador. This has been a highlight for so many reasons. I have been able to experience and learn a new culture through the eyes of a child. I have also worked with fun, inspiring people from all over the world. 

• Exploring the worlds wonders

On this trip I have climbed volcanoes and reached peaks of over 5000 meters. I have dived under the sea with sharks, turtles and millions of fish. I have experienced the bitter cold of Canadian Winter (and the beauty that accompanies it) and the heat of the desert. A definate highlight was camping on volcano Acatanango and watching a nearby volcano erupt through the night. The Amazon and the Galapogos were also amazing. I have treked to ancient cities and waterfalls. I have been pushed physically, but been rewarded by how incredible beautiful nature can be.

• Exploring different cultures

Travelling has opened my eyes to different ways of seeing the world. I have experienced different languages, customs, traditions, dress, music . I have also questioned my own believes and what makes me both different and unique from the people I meet

• meeting amazing people

I have met the most amazing people on my travels and have shared so many amazing experiences.

• different types of transport

Travel is always an adventure

The more difficult parts

• Always saying goodye and living out of a back pack

It feels like I am always saying goodbye to people that I grow close to and leaving places that I have grown to love. Everything I own fits in my back pack. While this is liberating, at times I feel like a tree without roots

• The bus crash

I was in a bus crash in Honduras. he bus rolled several times before landing on its side. It was 11pm a night in one of the most dangerous cities in the world. 

• Missing friends, family and the comforts from home

Hot showers, familiar food and my mothers hugs. Also missing important moments like my niece being born and her first year of life. 

• The suckiness

Sometimes things just suck and it feels like there is not much you can do to change it. The fact that you are teaching a class of children that do not have a classroom. Or the 2, 3 and 4 years old that you meet at the park who look after eachother because there mothers are selling mandarins on the highway. The fact that some of the children I work with will go to bed hungry or live in homes made of scrap metal.

Borneo

Brunei, Sarawak and Sabah, Borneo 

Rainforest World Music Festival

Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo  

I can feel the electricity in the air. An energy that connects me with travellers from far and wide who have ventured to Borneo to see the Rainforest World Music Festival. The venue is magic. A cultural village about an hour out of Kuching, Sarawak. The rainforest does not disappoint. We are rewarded for our journey with a magic sunset on the ocean, rainbows across the mountain ranges and of course rain. The electricity builds as we enter the village and make our way towards the stage. I am joined from my new friends from across the globe and we have come to see the music of the world. The night was an incredible night of cultures and drinking. We heard  music from the Iban of Borneo and gypsies from France. A colombian band shared there Latino rhythms and  Aboriginal Australian's shared there dream time symphonies.  It was a magical night.

Streets of Blood

Kigali, Rwanda

It is difficult to comprehend that not so long ago this country was home to one of the most heinous genocides in history. As I look into the smiling faces of the local people I am amazed by their resilience. It is remarkable how this country has begun to recover after such horror. How now Hutu and Tutsi can walk down the street together with their hands held in friendship. I imagine what I would be witnessing if I were to be walking through the same streets in 1994. I imagine the street's stained in blood, the rivers flowing red, the terror and the screams. 

The Rwandan Genocide was a genocidal mass slaughter that took place in 1994 in the East African state of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days (from the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira on April 6 through mid-July) over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate.Estimates of the death toll have ranged from 500,000–1,000,000, or as much as 20% of the country's total population. It was the culmination of longstanding ethnic competition and tensions between the minority Tutsi, who had controlled power for centuries, and the majority Hutu peoples, who had come to power in the rebellion of 1959–62.

During my time in Rwanda I visited a church where over a 100 000 people were murdered. Terrified  Tutsi's sought refuge in the church where they thought they would be protected. But in the end it made them easy pray and no one was spared. Inside the church lie the clothing of the massacred. The blood soaked clothing has gone stale and brown with time. The walls were stained in blood spatter and light shone into the church through bullet holes and grenade craters. I was then led into an underground cellar. Inside lay the bones of the the 100 000 killed. The skulls and bones laid neatly in rows that line the walls from the floor to the roof. The skulls gave evidence to the heinous ways in which both men, women and children were victim to. Bullet wounds, Some died of bullet wounds and shrapnel from explosives, others were machetes to death. 

It is hard to comprehend how people can be capable of committing such atrocities. Unfortunately the Rwandan genocide is not an isolated occurrence. There have been many cases of genocide in history and many other travesties have occurred. Visiting places like the church in Rwanda and the Killing Fields in Cambodia fills me with such mixed emotions. I am horrified and saddened by the brutality. But I am also inspired by the stories of heroism, bravery and resilience. I try to hold on to the good that exists in humanity and it seems the people of Rwanda are now trying to do the same. 

The Search for the Mountain Gorilla's

Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda

I have to pinch myself for a second as the experience is so surreal. I am in the the middle of the jungle that borders Rwanda. Uganda and The Democratic Republic of Congo. We are trekking up and down the mountains in search of a family of Silver-back Gorilla's. There are three men with rifles to protect us from wild animals and more men with machetes clearing a path through the jungle. The climb is tough but we have been told the family or Gorilla's is only two hours away. We climb and we slip, but finally we arrive at the spot in the jungle where the family is hanging out.

It is an incredible moment when we see the large male gorilla resting in the bush. He looks over at us with curiosity. Our guide attempts to communicate with the Gorilla using a series of grunts and chesty growls. He asks for permission for us to approach the family. The Gorilla responds with a heavy grunt which I was told meant welcome and we moved closer. Just as we were becoming comfortable the Gorilla decided we needed to be reminded that he was the one in charge. With one swift movement he grabbed the tracker and pushed him to the ground. He moved his face close to the men's body. In fact I though he was going to bite it off for a second. Then he gave my fellow traveler a friendly cuff across the head. My heart was beating hard in my chest. But the Gorilla made his point and then he moved a side and began eating. We were then able to meet the others members of the family. We were introduced to a cheeky teenager, a curious baby and several other family members. There were approximately 20 Mountain Gorilla's in the family.. After spending an hour with the family we said our goodbyes and set of for a long trek back to the village. It was a profound experience and a definite highlight 

Remarkable Journey's

Kampala, Uganda