Unpaid workers help in the classroom
Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services
Aklavik (Jan 26/01) - Lisa Stefani loves her job, and she's not even getting paid.
Since August, Stefani, of Vancouver, B.C., has volunteered at Moose Kerr school. She is taking part in Operation Beaver, hence all volunteers like her are called Beavers.
The program is co-ordinated by Frontiers Foundation, which recruits volunteers from across Canada and other countries and sends them to various places.
Stefani, who completed a university degree last year, is interested in becoming a teacher. She needs just one more year of university.
"I just heard about the organization through a friend back home," Stefani said.
"And (I) thought it'd be the perfect opportunity to get my feet wet, (to) see if I want to teach or not."
Stefani is a classroom assistant for Grade 2 and also tutors junior high students.
"I love it.
"I was originally supposed to go home in December for good, but I opted to stay on until the end of the school year," Stefani said.
"Aklavik's really a great community to work in. Everyone's really friendly here."
She said she doesn't even mind the colder weather.
"I thought I'd be a little bit more wimpier than I am, but I'm handling it pretty well."
Stefani even said that should she become a teacher, she'd be interested in returning to Aklavik.
Stefani is in a Beavers project that is being sponsored in part by the Beaufort-Delta Education Council.
A similar project involving six Beavers is under way in Inuvik.
Lois Harwood is helping to co-ordinate that.
Harwood explained that housing costs for Beavers is provided through sponsors. Beavers also receive some funds in the form of a food allowance, plus a stipend for pocket money.
"They don't get a wage per se," Harwood said.
"The volunteers commit to five months, and when they come up to five months, we hope they'll stay for 10," she said.
"We're just getting to the point now at the end of January where some of them are leaving."
This is the first year that Harwood has been involved in Operation Beaver, but said the project has been going on in the area for about four years.
