As part of QPID (Queen's Project on International Development), each cooperant pair write a midsummer report to inform our donors and alumni of the progress of the projects. It details our observations about the community, what we've learned, and some of our experiences. Here's what Patrick and I wrote:
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After more than a month in Baker Lake, Nunavut, the 2000-people town that seemed at first glance tattered and muddy has now become our home away from home. The community is well-bonded like a large extended family, yet it welcomed us southerners with open arms. The local Inuks are very inviting - we’ve been brought to family barbeques out on the land and taken to island cabins by Kamutiqs (wooden sleigh). It seems that every kid in town knows our names. We receive many waves and greetings, even hugs, in the streets and in the grocery store.
At camp, we’re keeping the kids busy with team-building games, gym time, craft, snack, and lots and lots of reading and writing activities. The Inuit kids are overflowing with enthusiasm for almost every single activity, especially the active ones. They even have a blast running laps! Most kids have difficulty with reading larger texts, grammar and syntax, and writing a cohesive story. While almost everyone lives in a general state of poverty, it is still readily apparent which kids come from more positive and nurturing families. These are the kids that are more confident in reading aloud, and have access to books, papers, and writing utensils at home. But unlike down South, there isn’t as much of a stigma associated with poverty – thus the communities are much more inclusive and everyone works to support those who have the least.
With our evening youth camps, we had the opportunity to glimpse into the lives of the Baker Lake youths. They ask very personal and sometimes inappropriate questions. However we have come to believe that this is not out of rudeness, but rather out of the lack of stringency around privacy due to the strong community bonds. The youths are also heavily influenced by southern pop culture – this can be seen in their clothing, choices of music, and the need for the latest technology such as iPhones and iPods. I also met one of the best teenage beat-boxers I know during my time here.
The locals can be generally categorized into two types: reserved yet warm, and loud and chatty. One thing that seems to carry across the population is a general laid-back attitude. Family and children are top priority, while other Southern values such as education, home-building, and financial planning are not as prominent. The cause of the high unemployment is not the lack of opportunities; in fact many government positions take months to fill. But rather it is the lack of opportunities that local people have enough education and qualifications to take on. The introduction of the mines provided many labour jobs which benefited the community, but on the other hand it introduced a lot of new problems as well. Firstly, miners live and work on site for two weeks at a time, leaving little time for spending with their children and families. Secondly, people that once lived in extreme poverty were suddenly thrown all this cash. With money-saving as a foreign concept, these people give their children excessive allowances and unnecessarily spend money on the latest fads.
In general, low education and skills and an acceptance of the poor social conditions have made many people feel limited in their chances for success in life. There is little outward violence, but what does exist is directed towards family members. High rates of suicide, depression, and a feeling of purposelessness are the biggest adversaries facing the people of Baker Lake.
Despite the many problems we see in the community, Baker Lake is one of the most welcoming and lively towns we have ever encountered. It is perhaps the only place I’ve been to where I feel absolutely safe walking home late at night. The sheer energy and curiosity we see in the kids at camp has many times renewed our hope for this community.
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Question - why would money saving be a foreign concept to people who are impoverished and who need to "scrimp and pinch to make ends meet"?
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent question Yan. I do have to point out that what we wrote in this report was based on our observations during the past month and a half. We are in no way experts on the complexities of this community, and our views are limited and unavoidably biased.
ReplyDeleteBut my thoughts are that when you throw a lot of money at people that once lived from paycheque to paycheque. They want to purchase all the luxuries that they were never able to afford before, they want to give their children hefty allowances so to give them a "better" childhood than they once had, and they want to spend all the money as they earn it since that's what they've always done. It's like giving a hungry man a feast, he will eat until he is sick.
That explanation makes sense. Quite the opposite from Chinese culture, though. It's very fascinating though how different cultures are from each other and how distinctly each responds to similar circumstances, eh?
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