Pubdate: Tue, 18 Nov 2003
Source: Peace River Record-Gazette (CN AB)
Copyright: 2003 Peace River Record-Gazette
Contact:  http://www.prrecordgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1232

MICE IN A MARIJUANA MAZE

Canada World Youth Volunteers Build Learning Labyrinth To Teach Kids Drugs 
Are A Trap

If Jeremy Burridge and Pawel Kuzniewski have their way, Peace River teens 
will soon feel like nothing more than a bunch of mice in a maze.

The Canada World Youth participants are putting the finishing touches on 
the maze they've been creating since September as part of their work 
placement program at AADAC.

Pawel, the Polish half of the team, wants teens to realize "their lives are 
in their own hands".

"Drugs and alcohol are not important to live their lives," he said.

"There are other ways to spend time productively."

Jeremy hails from Newfoundland, and is Pawel's exchange partner. He knows 
how hard it can be for teens to escape what he calls "the easy way out".

"It's not about never drinking. It's about doing it responsibly. In high 
school, people ask what others are doing on the weekend, and they say 
'drinking'. Is that it? That's doing nothing."

Jeremy wants the maze to suggest to young people "there's other things to 
do besides nothing".

The maze is just one project the two have been working on. Since their 
arrival in Peace River, they have been learning about native culture, 
co-ordinating activities such as a family day held at the Family Resource 
Centre, and have helped the Sagitawa Friendship Centre's Ground Level Youth 
with the haunted house put on Oct. 29 and 30.

It seems like a lot of work, but the two exchange workers are no strangers 
to the joys of volunteerism.

Jeremy has been involved in the Canadian program Katimavik, and Pawel has 
been a volunteer in his hometown of Olsztynek for six years. His current 
pet project is called the European Youth Club, an organization promoting 
Poland's joining of the European Union.

So far, Jeremy says, his experience with Canada World Youth has been 
nothing but positive, and he's looking forward to spending Christmas in 
Poland. "It's a good opportunity to travel, but it's a different kind of 
travelling," he said.

"It's not staying in a hotel where you only meet foreigners. You get to 
experience the lifestyle firsthand, get involved in the community, and give 
something back." "It's a good chance for people from Poland to learn more 
English," agrees Pawel.

The maze, at Fairview College's L.S. Phimester building on the east hill, 
is open until mid-December.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman