Canada to Malawi

 

Canada to Malawi

It must be common for university students to experience what seems to be a perpetual oscillation between the feelings of excitement and anxiety as they enter the final weeks of their undergraduate degree. These feelings were amplified for me as I approached my final exams, inching closer and closer to completing my Marine Biology degree at Dalhousie University. The feelings of excitement were brought on by the thought of traveling and the possibility of beginning an exciting career in Marine Biology. The anxiety came from the looming uncertainty of post graduation life. Now that I think of it, the future is always uncertain but it must be in my nature as a science student to increase certainty or predict future events. There were so many questions to be answered and even more concerns. Where was I going to live? What kinds of jobs are available for recent graduates? What if it’s impossible to find a job like so many people claim? Etcetera, Etcetera.

 Thankfully, I have wonderful friends and family who sent me job listings, almost on a weekly basis.  There was one posting that really caught my interest because it would satisfy both my urges to travel internationally and work on a project related to aquaculture and fisheries. It was called the International Youth Internship Program (IYIP). The IYIP was looking for candidates to fill internship opportunities related to fisheries and aquaculture in developing countries. I applied for a position and was contacted for an interview within a week. My heart nearly skipped a beat when I opened an acceptance email from IYIP informing me that I was selected for an internship in the African country of Malawi. (I already have, but I really must thank those who acted as a reference, it really helped!)

I’ve now been in Malawi for about a week. Travelling to Malawi took all of 35 hours starting from St Johns, Newfoundland. There were stops in Toronto, London and Nairobi. The travel was uneventful, which I suppose when traveling is a good thing. I got to see a really cool crane-like bird on the Kenya airport runway! We also had to wait outside the plane in Kenya for about 15 minutes. The early morning sun was almost too much for me to handle so I tried hiding in Thomas’ (My new roommate and fellow intern) shadow. Once we boarded the plane the pilot apologized over the intercom for making the passengers wait outside in the cold morning. It was 24 degrees Celsius… Thomas and I couldn’t help but laugh as we sat there sweating from the heat.

More on Malawi next time, I want to write about the weeklong pre-departure training session in St Johns first. It must speak to the ability of the IYIP selection committee but I’ve never been part of a group that got along so well together as the 16 young Canadians selected to participate in the different internship positions around the world. Many of the selected Canadians already had prior international experience, allowing us to have informative discussions on the challenges and rewards of living and working in foreign countries.

The IYIP booked apartment style hotel rooms for the interns that were not residents of Newfoundland. We had a lot of fun exploring the scenic city of St Johns or otherwise hanging out in one of the apartment rooms. I always thought people exaggerated the thickness of a Newfoundland accents, I quickly realized it truly does exist and it really is that thick. I loved walking into the Tim Horton’s, early in the morning, to the blasting tunes of the Great Big Sea, the iconic Canadian East coast band. Newfoundland was basically everything I expected it to be and that was fantastic. During my brief visit I even got to try the famous iceberg beer from Quidi Vidi, as per my friend Josh’s recommendation. It was crisp and light, as you might expect from a beer produced from the purest waters, acquired from icebergs, frozen for thousands of years. If you don’t believe iceberg water makes a beer taste any better well at least you still get to drink it from a really cool dark blue bottle, the color of an iceberg.

A big group of us went out to George street for our final night in Newfoundland, I couldn’t believe that beers were only 1.75$ each.  This is unheard of in parts of Canada that I’ve lived in or visited! I don’t know how but that price was actually cheaper than buying the beer at a liquor store. Altogether, with the beautiful rugged wilderness, friendly people, cheap drinks and a strong aquaculture industry I think Newfoundland will be in the back of my mind as a potential place to live and work in the future. I also appreciated my visit with aunt Michelle and cousin Nathaniel who recently took up residence outside of St Johns. Now I understand why they were attracted to Newfoundland. I’m guessing that the price of beer was not a deciding factor in their move. I’ve never taken Michelle or Nathaniel as big beer drinkers. Nathaniel is far too classy for simple beers. He prefers to drink his beverages from wineglasses, as he demonstrated to me by pouring his ice-tea from a regular glass into something more to his taste. We danced patiently while waiting for our food to arrive at the very lovely restaurant. Thank you again Michelle, the food was fantastic and Nathaniel was entertaining as a dinner guest. 

I’ve already mentioned my roommate Thomas, but there were 16 other internships available for young Canadians to travel to countries including Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines and Barbados. I believe more positions will be posted on the Marine institutes website sometime in March or April. I would highly recommend anyone that recently graduated to apply for an internship with the IYIP. The IYIP will cover most of the costs related to the internship including vaccinations, medications, travel expenses and lodging expenses. You will even receive a modest monthly stipend to cover your cost of living during the period of your internship.  

That's all for now.

-Shaun

p.s. Sorry about having so few pictures it's difficult to upload anything with my internet connectivity.