SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Two young women from Ndilo are a step closer to boarding a plane to Guatemala this summer on a volunteering mission.

Justina Black, left, and Jasmine Sangris show off the baked goods they stayed up until 1 a.m. the night before making for the garage sale fundraiser they held in Ndilo on Saturday. The girls are fundraising for a trip to Guatemala as part of the Northern Youth Abroad program. - Candace Thomson/NNSL photo

Justina Black, 19, and Jasmine Sangris, 18, are participating in the Northern Youth Abroad Program (NYAP) which takes Northern youth between the ages of 15 to 22 and sets them up for volunteer and work experience, as well as helping them earn high school credits, through trips to southern Canada and then abroad.

They held a fundraiser at the Ndilo community gym Saturday in hopes of raising money toward the $3,000 needed between them to make the trip to Guatemala, where they plan to go for six weeks over the summer.

As soon as the doors opened at 8 a.m., the community was there to support them, leading to the duo raising $300 toward their Guatemalan adventure.

"The morning was a rush and it's starting to slow down a little," said Black. "This is our first attempt at fundraising. This is just kind of our first round, just to get an idea of what's to come."

The duo said they plan to serve breakfast at another garage sale next month, and hold community events like children's sleepovers or a community movie night.

NYAP is split into two phases, with one national and one international trip. Black and Sangris have already completed phase one with trips last summer to Richmond, B.C., and Wolfville, N.S., respectively.

Each of the girls told Yellowknifer they experienced culture shock when they went south, even if they were paired with another Northern youth in the program.

"There are so many different ethnicities in Vancouver," Black said. "My host family was Filipino. I got to experience their culture. They took me to their traditional gatherings, and I got to go into the city to see all these different events happening."

"It was really different in Nova Scotia. I got asthma because the weather was so different and I came back here and it was so much better for my breathing," said Sangris.

Each of the women worked with children while in their postings, and Black said it helped her decide on her career path.

"I'm going to get my Bachelor of Education to be a teacher," she said.

Looking to the future, both Black and Sangris said they are looking forward to their trip to Guatemala because it will give them a chance to travel abroad and volunteer with a group of people they haven't met before, in a place they've never seen.