A Saddening Conversation

Me: So Kiddo, do you like school?

Kiddo: Yeah, school is fun.

Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Kiddo: I don’t know, maybe work at the mine? I heard they pay a lot of money.

Me: You know, you’re really smart. Make sure you stay in school, try to go to college or university if you can. Then, you can get even better jobs!

Kiddo: Better than working at a mine??

Me: Yeah! There are so many jobs you can do after you go to university or college, and you’re really smart so I know you can do it.

Kiddo: Do those jobs pay more than a thousand dollars?

Me: Way more than a thousand dollars!

Kiddo: Woah….

The kiddo in question was a 10-year-old camper that would pick up a book to read aloud whenever there was a break between activities. He was quiet, courteous, and soaked in information like a sponge. Being from a poorer family, he would always politely ask for seconds and thirds during snack time. The conversation occurred yesterday evening while we were skipping stones on the lakeshore, waiting for a community wedding feast to commence. I was deeply saddened when I realized that the kids here don’t dream of becoming an astronaut or scientist like my friends and I once did. With all police officers, most teachers and most nurses being Southerners, the Inuits chose between working with the government services, the grocery store, or the mines. Even though there is arguably enough job positions, the opportunities were truly limited.

The week was quite the roller coaster ride for the town. Wednesday saw yet another life lost to suicide, and Friday saw the union of a man to a woman. I unfortunately I missed both the funeral and the wedding ceremony. But I did get the chance to attend the wedding “feast” that occurred at the community hall and consisted of caribou stew, buns, rice, and mac ‘n cheese. As well, I participated in the games and square dance that followed. Being quite the dance enthusiast, I quickly jumped into a circle of locals getting their grooves on, only to realize that this wasn’t freestyle but a series of intricate promenades, turns, and partner-switches. I made quite a number of wrong moves, and ended up sweaty from head to toe. It was quite the dance party!

The camps have been going well, we’ve been incorporating a lot more concrete reading and writing exercises such as letter-writing, storytelling, and reading phonic books for the younger kids. We’ve also made efforts to make our snack program more filing (soup and bannock worked out great!), and nutritious (we’re starting to serve fresh fruits). The youth camps are going a lot better once we kept our cool for the first two weeks and earned the respect of the teens. It’s hard to believe that there’s only two more weeks of camp left! I’m truly going to miss this place when I’m gone!