Aiyana Demers' Story
My journey to Costa Rica with a group of Indigenous students and leaders will stay with me for my lifetime. When I saw the email with the opportunity I felt very excited and privileged to have access to such an opportunity. I never thought I would be chosen to actually get to go. After hearing I was one of the chosen interviewees, I was elated. I found out I got the opportunity on a day that my best friend passed away. It felt like her gift to me to continue living life to the fullest.
There were many parts of this learning experience that were impactful but one of them that is most treasured to me are the connections I made with other Indigenous students and leaders across Canada. I am grateful to have this connection for those of us in Eastern Canada because we will see eachother again soon, but I am also amazed by the new friends I have across the country. I got to share one of their first ever beading experiences. I showed one of the other NSCC students how I bead flowers deep in the jungle one afternoon while drinking pour over coffee and freshly fried and salted plantains. Her flower was beautiful.
Something that felt incredible was being able to talk about my Indigenous experience with others who actually understood it. I didn't have to explain myself, or justify anything. They all just knew because of who we are and who our ancestors were. This made my soul feel like it has wings and I feel lighter coming back. People have noted that I am different upon my return. I know that I’m more me. I will be eternally grateful to GLP and NSCC for this experience and to everyone that was on it together making it what it was. Some comical parts that are easily understood and enjoyed by all are that I got to eat a live termite with our local guide and translator and it was a purely enjoyable and shockingly delicious experience. They are, in fact, full of protein. I also accidentally lost my glasses in the ocean because of an iguana. I’ll leave it at that.
In our time in Boruca, the Indigenous community in the mountainous jungle in Costa Rica, we were taken in with such openness and willingness to share, teach, learn, and accept. A few of the moments we were graced with were learning about the Cacao Ceremony and creation process, the artistic side of their culture involving mask making and the history behind it, and 2 elders sharing some stories, rituals, and history and learning about dreams and their God, Sibu, as well as the great snake that speaks with thunder. Honestly I could never put into words those feelings or the experience of being on that land, but some moments that I will try to share are as follows. You’d never guess what a daily walk through the jungle will do for you.
Four days of moccasins, not barring you from the earth, but connecting you to it, rooting you, grounding you. Your body, tired but fueled by something you couldn’t place at first, later realizing it's your ancestors both pushing and pulling you one foot in front of the other. You can feel them smiling. Such a gift. Cold water washing your past away and leaving you cleansed.
The energy of the wisdom the Boruca elders and community members imparted upon us stays as a blanket and a protective barrier long after their words have fallen to silence back to the earth because the spirit of their message pierced through to your heart. Knowing the shared connective experience of Indigenous peoples extends far past the expanse of what Western influence calls Canada. We all hold the same colonized and oppressive trauma, the same resilience, the same stories and teachings, the same pride in our culture, and beliefs in community. We are all one. We are all here. Grandmother is smiling. The life I have, that she never could.
This experience was a reminder of “ground up” for me. We learned to work with our hands to create every meal. Everything comes from the ground. All food starts with a hand planting it with care and tending to it with gentleness and love. When it grows you offer it back to nature and take what you need, wasting nothing. Every meal was cooked over a hand built fire and the food and ingredients were carried, sometimes for kilometers. We supported each other through this natural experience. We learned, we healed, we grieved, we exchanged gifts and thanks even through language barriers. Love, gratitude, energy - these things need no translator. The essence of being human was an intrinsic part of our shared experience.
Again, there are no words that I could use to describe this experience in full. What I can tell you is that it changed me and that I will eternally have a part of me left behind in Boruca, replaced with a new part of me I found there. My ancestors were waiting for me to find it, and now they look on as I figure out what to do with it.
As you can see, this journey had a profound impact on me, and I’d like to take some time to share some learning opportunities I had scholastically as well. I am an American Sign Language (ASL)/English Interpreting student and when we were on this trip we had GLP partners, Dayana and Brandon, as our local guides and translators. It was an amazing observation experience for me to see translation and interpretation live in practice. I took the chance to watch and learn as much as possible as well as each of them gave me some of their time to ask specific translation questions about their work and their processes. I am very grateful for their care and knowledge in answering my questions and I was able to learn from them and relate it back to my courses and the interpreting models we have been given and what our process looks like going from a spoken language modality to a signed language modality.
It was interesting to hear feedback on spoken to spoken modalities and the differences between that inherently being more consecutive interpreting as opposed to simultaneous but I was able to discuss a simultaneous experience with Brandon and learn from his thoughts on that. We also delved into memory capacities and how to strengthen those and advice on how to prioritize when working receptively. I was also able to take an opportunity to interpret to myself into ASL on our bus rides when we were learning information varying from being about Costa Rica to safety protocols, to what we were doing that day, and anything in between. I also got to flex my language brain by practicing as much Spanish as possible.
It felt important to me to include all of these aspects in my blog because this experience was fully immersive. It was healing and educational for my mind, body, and soul, for my past, my present, and my future.
I will finish by saying thank you to everyone involved, which feels as though it will never be enough to convey the depths of my gratitude nor the benefit this experience had on me.
Hay hay. Wela’lin. Muchas Gracias. Thank you.