Making a difference: Adapted physical activity specialist Alexis Lemmex completes Caribbean volunteer internship

For sport enthusiast Alexis Lemmex, the past seven months living and working in the Caribbean was the experience of a lifetime.

On her recent placement as a Youth Development Officer for the Caribbean Healthy Lifestyle Project in Nevis, the Ottawa native kept busy as a facilitator for many programs throughout the Caribbean nation.

Lemmex, 23, volunteered through Commonwealth Games Canada’s Canadian Sport Leadership Corps internship program. The program uses sport to address social issues such as HIV/AIDS education, gender equality, and opportunities for people with a disability, in developing Commonwealth countries in Africa and the Caribbean.

“Sports and physical activity are a very important part of my life,” says Lemmex, a former varsity athlete with the X-Women hockey team at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Kinetics.

She also has a 2008 International Masters degree in Adapted Physical Activity – a joint degree from the University of Leuven in Belgium and the University of Limerick, Ireland, where she played varsity rugby. Lemmex is bilingual and graduated in 2003 on the honour roll from École Secondaire Publique De La Salle in Ottawa.

The Caribbean Healthy Lifestyle Project works to encourage personal development through sports for vulnerable populations, especially girls and women.

“The program taught the youth so much, and me as well,” says Lemmex. “I really feel we made a difference in the lives of these youth”.

In all her work and experience in the Caribbean, Lemmex counts her time working with a high school co-op program among her personal highlights, where she acted as a mentor and formed a significant bond with a young woman.

“I remember mentoring this one girl who wasn’t doing very well in school, but had the potential to, so the school placed her with me,” says Lemmex. “I took her on a hike and when we finished, she was so happy and had gained so much confidence and thought that if she could do that, she could do anything. Seeing her grow like that was amazing.”

While in Nevis, Lemmex also worked with Kicking AIDS Out!, an initiative that uses soccer as a way to facilitate HIV/AIDS education. Focused on high school youth 13 years of age and older, the project, in collaboration with the Nevis HIV/AIDS Unit, aims to empower and educate the community in the prevention of HIV/AIDS and works to promote healthy lifestyle choices. During Lemmex’s stay in Nevis, the program received media attention, much to her delight.

“We were featured in the news locally, which really helped to promote the program and get out our message of healthy lifestyle choices,” she says.

Lemmex also facilitated a Silent Silhouettes exhibition to raise awareness and eliminate violence against women. Combining art and advocacy, strategically placed life-size cardboard images are put into public spaces to encourage awareness and dialogue about the effects of domestic violence, usually including the name, age, and particular situation of the victims.

In April, Lemmex plans on returning to Nevis to continue her work with the Caribbean Healthy Lifestyle Project and will be aiding a doctor in running an exercise clinic.

“Working in the field with a doctor will be awesome and help me in my future plans to go to medical school,” she says.

Story courtesy Commonwealth Games Canada