DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE
Swords and lightsabers are two of the things pool noodles can become in the hands of children when they use their imaginations.

Jillian Nanavaty with Play Around the World and Tyrell Nadli joke around with some pool noodles in the Deh Gah School gym in Fort Providence during a free-play session last month. Through the program, Nanavaty and Ben Contenti have spent three months promoting free, unstructured play for youth in the hamlet. - photo courtesy of Jillian Nanavaty

Two volunteers have spent three months in Fort Providence encouraging the use of imagination, creativity and freedom in play. Jillian Nanavaty and Ben Contenti are students at the University of Alberta and participants in Play Around the World.

The program, which is run by the university’s faculty of physical education, was first offered in Thailand in 2001. The program promotes the value of play and shares the benefits of play and recreation with underserved populations.

Students volunteer to run the program in communities and receive credits for doing so. The goal is to broaden students' worldviews while they live and learn in a different culture, said Nanavaty.

Fort Providence is the only community in Canada where Play Around the World is offered. The university currently has two teams in Thailand and one in Cambodia in addition to Nanavaty and Contenti in Fort Providence.

The project was tested in the hamlet for five weeks last year to make sure it was a good fit before the full three-month program was implemented.

"It's been good. The people here are so welcoming and inviting," said Nanavaty who arrived May 3 and will be leaving July 27.

"It's a great feeling to have the community behind you in providing play for students."

Nanavaty and Contenti have been promoting play in a variety of ways throughout their three months in the hamlet. When the two first arrived, school was still in session. They played a lot with students after school in the playground and were also invited to run more organized games during physical education classes.

The two have also been running free-play sessions in the school's gym on an almost daily basis. Nanavaty and Contenti put a variety of equipment into the gym and allow the children to play however they liked as long as they are being safe.

Children need free, unstructured play, she said.

"It gives them the freedom to be creative and do what they want," Nanavaty said.

"It's amazing to see what they do."

Children don't often get the opportunity to have unstructured play. When they are in a gym it is usually for structured games with rules, she said.

"We hope we've provided kids with the opportunity to come to a safe place and be free to kind of be a kid," said Nanavaty.

Nanavaty said her time in Fort Providence has also been a learning experience for her. From Vancouver, this was her first time in the NWT and the smallest community she has lived in.

Nanavaty, who's in a five-year physical education and education BA degree, said her view of education has also completely evolved because of her time at Deh Gah School.

The university is expected to offer Play Around the World in Fort Providence again next summer. The program adds to the recreation opportunities available for youth in the community, said Nicholas Richard, the hamlet's recreation co-ordinator.

"I think they bring a different perspective from some of the other community opportunities," he said.