Iqaluit (July 21/03) - Saimata Manning, 22, has been chasing kids around Iqaluit since the beginning of July. She said she loves her job and is glad to have a chance to work with the capital's youngest generation.

Saimata Manning is a supervisor for the Sprouts program in Iqaluit. She's surrounded by kids from 8:30 in the morning to 4 p.m. each day. - Christine Kay/NNSL photo

Her title is supervisor of a program managed by the Qikiqtani Inuit Association called Sprouts. There are four other supervisors and together they look after more than 30 children each day.

"My favourite part of the job is watching after the kids. They've got a lot of ideas and they're very creative," said Manning.

Sprouts is a free childcare program for children and their parents.

Manning said the list of activities for Sprouts is endless. But what she's looking forward to the most is a trip to the causeway. She said they will set up a tent and dress the kids up in traditional clothing. An elder will be on hand to show the children exactly how the articles were made.

"It gives the kids a chance in the summer to meet new kids. We keep them up and running. They don't just sit at home with nowhere to go," she explained.

Manning's history of working with children is long. It started when she worked as a child protection worker for health and social services in Cape Dorset. Manning worked to make the lives of children in the community better. She also introduced Cape Dorset to programs like Brownies and Girl Guides.

Cape Dorset is the community where Manning grew up. When she finished high school, she enroled in Nunavut Sivuniksavut in Ottawa. Her class went on a trip to Sydney, Australia in 1999. After graduation from NS had come and gone, Manning moved to Montreal and spent a couple of years there.

After years of travelling and being away from Nunavut, she's back in territory and living in Iqaluit. Her goal is to make a difference for her people and to help Nunavut become everything it has the potential to become.

"I want to be someone well-known in the North and speak the reality of how we are living. I want to go into politics - not right now but in a few years maybe," said Manning.

For now, she said working with the children is a good start since they are the future of Nunavut.

"I'm not rushing myself, not at all," she said.

Manning plans on staying in Iqaluit and making the capital city her home.