Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Mar 15/02) - Derek Erasmus remembers stepping off the plane in Sri Lanka, his shirt clinging to him from the stifling humidity.

"You could smell the jungle ... which I grew to love," he said.

Around him were numerous soldiers, armoured cars and gun turrets, as militant rebels are a constant threat in the small country off the southern tip of India.

"It was different for me to see so many men standing around with AK-47s (assault rifles) that I couldn't communicate with," Erasmus recalled.

On the other side of the world, Felix Isiah had entered an airport in Uruguay and was greeted by handshakes, hugs and kisses from strangers. He noticed people lighting up cigarettes in a carefree manner and later tossing their cigarette butts on the floor.

"A lot of things were really relaxed (as far as) rules and regulations in Uruguay," Isiah said.

Erasmus and Isiah went on six-month journeys as part of Canada World Youth, a non-government organization established in 1971. Isiah's excursion was largely an agricultural exchange. He worked on a ranch in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan for three months before departing for Libertad, Uruguay. In South America, he learned some Spanish and helped tend to his host family's dairy farm. Being a family with close bonds and of modest wealth, they had basic farm machinery as well as a washing machine and dish washer.

Isiah plowed the fields, transported grain, fixed fences and buildings and maintained the equipment.

"Sometimes we'd be shovelling crap all afternoon. Man, that was horrible," he laughed.

Erasmus spent three months in Invermere, B.C. working at a museum, an employment office, a forestry office and performing volunteer work. Upon arriving in Sri Lanka, he spent a month manufacturing clay pots by hand with his host family, which included digging for the clay. Then he taught English at a government Muslim junior school for the next two months. The experience taught him a great deal about Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, all practised in densely-populated Sri Lanka.

Erasmus also learned about the Sri Lankan caste system, which determines a person's lifetime social status. He also saw how women were treated as less than equal.

"After a while you start accepting the limits for what they are ... then you see things through a different cultural context when you come back to Canada," he said.

Erasmus started off each morning by walking to the family's well to take a bucket bath and hand-wash his clothes. "It was really interesting being in a country where I was a visible minority," he said. "You're automatically considered to be rich."

That was not the case. Erasmus was provided with a monthly allowance of 2,000 rupees, while Isiah received approximately 270 pesos each month -- about $30 Canadian per month.

Although they lived a meagre existence, they received a true taste of the local culture. "In six months I made friends as close as the lifetime friends I have now," he said.