May 2011
53 posts
not ready to go…………
kali
May 14, 2011.
Written May 23, 2011.
I walked completely around the lodge last night after supper along the shore and up over the rocks. I had not done that since the snow left and I wanted to see what the area was like with no snow.
I was up early to finish my packing and to make sure that I have breakfast before our 8:15 departure time. Dave Olson flew in yesterday and tested the ice with...
May 13, 2011.
Written May 23, 2011.
Since I am writing this on May 23rd, I have only my notes to go by. I see that I have made a mistake since I am writing the past few days’ entries so long after we have come back home. What we did today, I have put as happening on May 11th!
Actually, on May 11th our lecture was a recap of what we had learned with Glen and Stephanie and some good...
May 12, 2011
This third last day of the field semester we are mentally moving on with our lives I think. We are all quite tired and anxious about the assignments and how we are departing on Saturday.
We think that we will be going out by helicopter – we will probably be ferried over to a nearby mine site by helicopter on Saturday. There is a landing strip where a Twin Otter on wheels can land and then we...
May 11, 2011.
While Glen and his children went to check the fish net and pull it out of the water, I stayed behind to complete my final Health course presentation. Stephen and Amanda, Tulita and Hayden are going out on the plane today. I will be sorry to see them go. The children play well with Melaw’s boys and Natalie. It is good to have different children coming and going throughout our stay...
May 10, 2011.
Glen and his family (I cannot remember if Amanda and Tulita went also) went out with Fred to check the fish nets. I am not sure who went with them but I am sure that one of them was Keenan. He is always willing to help do these little chores. I think that they only got 2 fish. They then watched Terese prepare them for drying.
We had an indoor lecture before lunch with Stephen...
May 9, 2011.
I went out this morning to reset the muskrat and beaver traps with Glen, Hayden, Keenan, Lesley, Kali and Fred. The weather has been quite warm. There is a lot of slush on the ice. Glen’s wife said that when she stepped off the plane yesterday the slush almost went over the tops of her boots. Another day and all the water will have drained off. I am getting pessimistic about the ice lasting...
May 8, 2011.
Today is Mother’s Day and our rest day. I have already posted the poem my daughter emailed me yesterday. I put up on the board for all to see this morning. And then Kali made all of us mothers a card. That was so nice of her. I think we are all missing our families right now. Only one more week left until we go home.
The ice is quite slushy and wet. But the snow is going. No flowers out...
May 7, 2011.
I have decided to do all the 5 courses here at Dechinta even though that was not my intention at the beginning. Because of that decision, I spent all of today working on the two presentation assignments for the Core course. I did the first presentation and then realized that it probably should be my second. So I asked Daniel to read it, knowing that I would be unable to read it aloud to the...
May 5th & 6th, 2011.
May 5th 2011:
We have decided that we need to have our sharing circles earlier in the evening as we are all tired if we wait till 9 pm. But then the mothers have to get their kids to bed … so it is a never ending dilemma. We had a good sharing circle about our school work with John B. in the morning. We talked about traditional medicines:
1. Spruce gum was a gift from...
May 4, 2011.
Today, John B. felt that he had to go back to his roots and his own story, to be able to bring his story forward to tell us about the things he remembered on his walk with Eli yesterday when we went to check the muskrat and beaver traps. Education never ends. You are always learning – even the elders. This way of teaching makes things so easy – stories and narratives are a wonderful method. I...
Sustainable Energy,,
Solutions for building Sustainable Tribal Economies-
1- Changing old appliances with better Renewable Energy appliances. Ex. Refrigerator, Washing machines Etc.
2- Using compact fluorescent light bulbs, low flow shower heads and turning down the heat in your home, workplace, business.
3- Transportation. Ex. Taking buses, walking, biking. Etc.
These are just a couple of easy ways to slow down...
Dechinta Heath Report!
Goodmorning Dechinta! Keenan Kakfwi speaking/writting„ Throught out this course we’ve learned many ways to be health out here„ even on top of all the great food the chef has been making„ One thing i would like to share is boiling spruce bows„ if you have a shore throat or your congested, you just need to boil up some spruce bows in a pot and breath in the steam. This...
May 2, 2011
Things we have accomplished and goals we have set here at Dechinta – in no particular order – from a list prepared - May 2, 2011 by our group for the Core Course project:
We now know:
1. The medicinal properties of:
· A tea made from unopened spruce bud cones;
· A tea made from the orange part of the birch bark;
· The urine in the bladder of the whitefish;
· ...
May 3, 2011
We are getting ready to say goodbye to Lois today. John B. has decided to stay till the end of the week. I am really glad because his stories, which he uses as illustrations to some of our community’s difficulties, are really helping us to see “what is happening here” and how we can make it better.
John B. was using his lecture this morning to illustrate that the structured regime of...
Health Dechinta Style!
Throughout this course I’ve learned many ways to live off the land to be strong and healthy„ One thing that was amazing to hear and to see was when the Elder gutted a fish after we caught it and he explained to the group that the Trouts heart is a strong heart and if you eat it while its still beating it’ll make your heart strong! Modeste (elder) also explained that he has a bad...
Renewable Energy
Renewable energy creates more jobs than fossil fuel enery per megawatt installed. The American solar energy society estimated that renewable energy & energy efficiency were responsible for 970 Billion dollars in industry revenues and 8.5 million jobs. Green jobs provide pathways out of poverty!
Better late then never!
Northern Climate Impacts„
-Melting of permafrost.
-Shore line erosion.
-Draining of lakes into the ocean.
-Shorter ice road seasons.
-Wildlife & Human impacts.
-Deforestation/Land use production.
The N.W.T spends 1 million dollars per year repairing roads and runways damaged by permafrost„ Polar Bears difficulty crossing melting ice„ People and Animals adapting to new...
Dechinta's last few days:(
“The Dene are fighting to gain recognition as a distinct group of people- with our own way of seeing things, our own life style, our own laws. It is a fight for self-determination, using our own system with which we have to survive till now” Said by George Barnaby… Amazing quote Glen Coulthard shared today.
Rock on Dechinta! Keenan Kakfwi
Something to think about,,
“Indigenous people’s are living in a different atmosphere the modern day people“„ we are clinging to the past and also history. Now we are being blamed due to wanting to live just like our history.
The states want us to change to Normal/Modern/Christian persons. “modernize” They say if we were to do these things we as an indigenous people would become better……. This must be a...
Hello Dechinta! Last week!
Today Glen Coulthard & Stephen Kakfwi came to Blachford to teach us a little bit about Self-Determination through land based schooling. So far in the course two weeks ago with Stephanie Iribacher-fox brought up something that caught my mind.
”The greatest need” in a community is housing!… What is happening today is that people get sick due to over capacity homes, people...
Yak'e ts'o ntla-lani, haniko ayil dai?!?
Another GGGRRrrreeaaAAT day!
The last couple of days were fun, its so different out here then living in western civilization„ were checking our little trap line everyday and just enjoying each other. Also learning about Self-Government and Landclaims„ its interesting how we’re all helping each other out, and joking around. Life in the bush is so free but super hard with work!...
News Report From Dechinta!
Ever good day!„ Listening to William Greenland Rocking out on Guitar!„ I recently finished my radio piece for CKLB. My piece on the radio is going to be about setting the net underneath the ice. It includes some stories told to me by the elders, if you want to hear more your just going to have to listen to CKLB.
Im having a blast out here!!! Beautiful day we’ve had and...
May 1, 2011
We were all up and out of the Lodge by 8:15 so that Frankie could begin her day-long work on the grey water tank. The staff has prepared a lovely looking soup/stew for our lunch which we hope to supplement with fish caught fresh from the net.
I began walking over to Eagle Island which is right near where the nets are set. It was a nice quiet walk for me. The snow on the ice...
yo you know how it is out in the land !
So basically my time out here has been like a roller coster going up and down, we had breakdowns, meltdowns and just any kind of downs there is, but we also had our great moments, we talked, we hanged, we trapped, we learnt, we installed, we did stuff you couldn’t do out in the bush, we have access to the internet so we can keep in touch with the outside world, we ate muskrat tails, checked...
Dechinta News!!
Forgot to post this yesterday„ On our cloudy morning there was a Beautiful Eagle flying around the front of the lodge! Good way to start off the day.
Anyways today the group caught 2 new Muskrats. I was able to skin 1 of them! Woooooh„ Also the plane from lastnight got weathered out and our Radio team from CKLB got delayed till this afternoon. We are up and running smoothly„ the...
