Tokyo or Bust, help me Travel!

Chad Whitford Start Date: Aug 5, 2024 - End Date: Feb 4, 2025
  • Tokyo, Japan

My Travel Story

by: Chad Whitford Start Date: Aug 5, 2024 - End Date: Feb 4, 2025
My name is Chad Whitford, a mature nêhiyaw student from Beaver Lake Cree Nation. After years of working since I was 13, I went back to school to learn about my culture and language. I've just finished my degree this March 2024, and I had planned an adventure to reward my three years of hard work – exploring the neon towers of Tokyo!

My journey hasn't been easy. I poured my savings into education, due to on-reserve and off-reserve politics, working as a nêhiyawak syllabic teaching assistant and selling paintings. Then, disaster struck. Flames tore through our apartment. My partner, our miniature dachshund Tamagotchi, and I escaped, but smoke and water ruined everything. Just when we thought we could recover some goods, we learned about the asbestos... another crushing expense.

We moved in with my mother, then found a temporary apartment... only for the pipes to burst in -45 Canadian weather! No heat and a wet apartment for a week, our insurance wouldn't cover a hotel since our original claim was still open.  My partner moved back to Ontario for her work with Tamagotchi while I stayed here to finish my schooling. It's been blow after blow, but I refuse to give up.

Through my university work, I've been lucky. The city where I’m from and my university have funded camera equipment so I could record and edit interviews with fluent nêhiyawak elders, sharing their knowledge on social media. This is the last blow, all my camera equipment and my partner's Apple products were stolen! We tracked down the burglars thanks to the GPS in the Apple products. We left everything in the hands of the police, but there's been nothing but roadblocks. So our insurance claim has been on hold for 5 months now.

I would have loved to of vlogged in or done some fun videos in Tokyo, or at least created a digital memory. I've been keeping positive throughout all these bumps. I'm still making art, and still working while dreaming of Tokyo's neon streets and delicious foods.

This trip is more than a vacation. It's a celebration of overcoming hardship, of reaching for goals no matter what.  If you can spare even a little, it would mean the world. Thank you!
  • Tokyo, Japan

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