Fort Providence (Feb 25/05) - Three students who haven't yet set foot outside their own country will be travelling half-way around the world next year.

A.J. Nadli, Rachel Constant and Paul Buggins are three of 10 NWT students who have been selected as members of the NWT Youth Abroad program. They will travel to Ottawa in July for five weeks of volunteer work and will stay with host families. Then they will be heading to Botswana, Africa, for two months during the summer of 2006.

Buggins, 16, a student at Chief Sunrise school on the Hay River Reserve, has never travelled further away than Vancouver.

"I just wanted to try something new," he said. "I can't wait to get there."

Seventeen-year-old A.J. Nadli, who attends Deh Gah school in Fort Providence, hasn't ventured beyond Calgary.

"I just thought I'd check it out. I like travelling," he said of the NWT Youth Abroad Program.

"I get this excited feeling when I think about (going to Botswana). It will be awesome."

Rachel Constant, also a 17-year-old Deh Gah student, has been as far afield as Victoria, B.C. She said she's eager to learn about a different culture and meet new people.

"It should be cool, a good experience," she said.

The three pupils are just beginning their orientation in the program and, at this stage, they admit they know very little about Botswana. Nadli said he's expecting it will be a very hot and dry climate.

Constant said she thinks she has seen a picture of a village in the African nation and it was apparent that the inhabitants had very few possessions. She's looking forward to being able to help out there in whatever way she can, she added.

The students are responsible for a number of projects prior to departure. They must raise money for their trip, prepare a profile of their own community to present to others, perform local volunteer work and interview elders in their communities.

Maureen Rutten, a Deh Gah teacher who is acting as a Youth Abroad Program mentor for Nadli, said NWT Youth Abroad will be very enriching for the students.

"I think it's awesome," she said. "It will be life changing."