Final thoughts on Spain

July 14, 2008

Who would of thought that seven youth from Toronto Community Housing Corporation(TCHC) and The Institute at Havergal College would come together through the United Nations Association in Canada and form Youth 4 Water(Y4W).

Y4W is a youth advisory group that raises the awareness around water issues in Toronto and all of Canada. Bam! Eight months later Y4W is invited to Zaragoza, Spain to present at the Water and Sustainability Exposition - Expo Zaragoza 2008.

For 12 days (June 13 to June 24 2008) I traveled half way around the world to Spain to enlighten myself, tighten my relationship with the other members, create new experiences and absorb the Spanish culture.

Spain is everything and more than what I expected. It has a rich history, memorable Spanish artists like Picasso and Gaudi, mouth watering seafood and fruits, small cobble stoned streets, tiny cars, obsessive and wild soccer fans and of course great shopping!

Expo Zaragoza 2008 gave me the opportunity to learn more about water issues affecting the 100 countries that were present. I had the chance to meet representatives from around the world and ask direct questions about their country’s water situation. As for our presentation and screening of our video in the El Faro Pavilion, we received a big applause from the crowd and compliments and praise from the director of the Expo.

During our time in Barcelona I felt like the energizer bunny, I just kept going and going. Of course I had to see and feel everything, whether it meant waking up every morning at 10:30 for breakfast and walking for miles. Thanks to siesta (mid-day break) I was able to regain my energy for our nightly escapades and dinner. Thanks to our Spanish classes with our teacher Cecilia, I was able to test out the language with the locals. Which was helpful when asking for the washroom or ordering a cafe con leche.

This whole experience wouldn't have been possible without the funding and support provided by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), The United Nation Association in Canada, Toronto Community Housing Corporation, The Institute of Havergal College, tenant councils across Toronto, the Rathburn Area Youth Project, and other support groups.

I would like to thank our intelligent and witty project officer of UNA-Canada (Lauren Alcorn) who has worked an extensive amount of hours to organize and plan our whole trip from day one. Also, she impressed me with her crazy navigational and map skills to some how get us across Spain, and her ability to keep us in line for our next tasks/adventures that we decided.
Thanks Lauren!

Khary Collins our Regional Officer has worked with our group from the beginning to plan and organize this trip and was unable to come.
With his support and direction in our meetings he has helped me to successfully prepare for this trip. Thanks so much Khary, I wish you came!

One of our supporters from TCHC, Julet Allen also joined us. She was like our mother hen who was very strict but always looked out for us. Since she was very stern, it was a pleasure of mine to annoy her and make her laugh, which worked most of the time =)
She's also a great shopping partner! "Zara, Mango, Vera Moda which one???"
Thank you for gracing us with your lovely presence.

Keddone Dias from LAMP who works with the Rathburn Area Youth Project, also joined us in Spain from the 13th to 20th. Thank you, Keddone for helping me collect funds from the RAY youth council. It was pleasure having you on the trip. Thanks Keddone and RAY

I would like to extend my thanks to Malinda who helped us develop and produce the video that documented our work around water in Toronto. It has been a long process to capture all our moments and join us on our trips and meetings, but it was worth it and the video was amazing. Thanks again.

Lastly I would like to thank, our most recent addition to the group Melanie Sharpe, who is our communications project officer. With just one meeting she has helped us prepare a mission statement, answer questions from the media, and has helped put this blog together. Thanks for your hard work, Welcome to the Team!

Leann, Shire, Jae, Travis, Ahmzad and Christine it is a pleasure working with such a fun, intelligent, and mature group of people. We all possess different personalities and characteristics and it was amazing to see how we compliment each other and work well together. I'm so happy that I had the chance to meet each and everyone you, and I look forward to getting to know you guys better and working with you on our next adventure.

One chapter of Y4W is done and a new one has opened up! Get ready for a new and improved Y4W this summer and the rest of 2009.

- Pia Johnson