Go back

  Features



NNSL Photo/Graphic

NNSL Logo .
 Email this articleE-mail this story  Discuss this articleOrder a classified ad Print window Print this page

Fantastic learning experience

Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 28, 2008

HAY RIVER - A young woman from Hay River is getting ready for another adventure to see the world.

Petrena Field's destination this time will be Africa.

NNSL Photo/Graphic

Petrena Field from Hay River is planning to leave for Africa to work on development projects. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Before returning to Hay River more than six months ago, Field spent two-and-a-half years working on community development projects in Central and South America.

The work was not easy, she said. "But it was a fantastic learning experience."

Field said she travels because she loves experiencing different cultures.

Travelling and working on development projects broaden a person's perspective, she explained. "You learn a lot about life."

However, she said the best part is the connection made with everyone in a village.

"Of course, I love to help to create something that they would not otherwise have, but, in the end, it's about the bond you share with the people there," she said. "When it comes time to finish a project and leave, it's always emotional with the village."

In Central and South America, Field worked with an organization called Youth Challenge International.

She worked on four projects - three in Costa Rica and one in Guyana - first as a volunteer and then as a group leader.

In Guyana, she and others worked in the "extremely, extremely remote" mountain village of Paramakatoi, which is accessible only by plane.

"There's no such thing as electricity or running water," she said, adding the village's only contact with the outside world is by radio.

There, she worked with women and children, organized conferences on sanitation and helped with small business development.

In several villages in Costa Rica, Field helped build a community kitchen and an aqueduct, and worked on fixing up a school.

While in the jungles of Costa Rica, she would study Spanish at night on her own and speak it during the day.

Between projects, she backpacked around South America, visiting such countries as Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and Panama.

Field said she will be exploring Africa a little differently.

Instead of going to the continent with one organization, she will be travelling solo and working on various projects. She hasn't yet decided what the projects will be, but does know where she is going and has already booked hostels and other places to stay.

Field has contacts in Africa, both co-workers from development projects and friends from Canada.

"I know the people I'm going to see," she said, adding she hopes to work on projects in Tanzania and Ethiopia, particularly at orphanages.

As an experienced volunteer and group leader, she said it will be easy for her to work on a project.

"Mentally and physically, it's always a challenge, but it's always amazing," she said.

Field, who describes her age as twenty-something, will start her African journey at the beginning of March.

"I'm giving myself for sure six months," she said, although she said she planned to go back to South and Central America for three months.

Aside from working, she will backpack throughout Africa from South Africa to Egypt.

Some of Field's family and friends worry for her safety while travelling.

"Sometimes people think I'm crazy," she admitted.

However, she has never felt in danger and uses common sense when travelling. For example, she avoids particularly unstable or dangerous areas.

Field, who graduated from Diamond Jenness secondary school in 2000, said maybe someday she will go back to university and settle down in a career.

But for now, she said, "I'm really happy with what I'm doing."