spjournal.com: Opinion

EDITORIAL

Educating our roots

Journal Staff

In the past week, good news stories are coming out of our aboriginal communities, chief among them the fact that Kehewin Cree Nation school principal, Linda Gadwa, was chosen, along with 32 other principals, to receive a Canada’s Outstanding Principal Award in 2010. As those in the community have pointed out, it’s an honour for any principal, but it’s doubly an honour for Gadwa, the only aboriginal to receive the award.

Having aboriginal teachers and principals, or for that matter, having any committed and passionate aboriginal professionals working in the reserve communities, is a great thing for the aboriginal children of the community, who can see what they too can achieve if they put their minds to it.

Among the reasons for Gadwa’s nomination for the award is her emphasis on the Cree language and culture. Her view is that culture needs to be integrated in what’s happening with the school, which is true. Rooting children in a strong sense of pride of their real culture and traditions will empower them and help them find the meaning in getting an education as a means to achieve success.

This is something true of everyone, not just aboriginals: those who hunt, fish and trap their foods, light fires for heat, camp, garden, etc. are connecting with their ancestral history as humans, and finding fulfillment in doing so. For Aboriginal Peoples, who so recently and so rapidly lost their traditional way of life, it makes even more sense to try and find a way to reconnect them with the history and traditions that the absence of would leave a void to be filled with other, less productive pursuits.

The same process is happening at the Mannawanis Native Friendship Centre, where the staff are supporting people as they work through addictions, while at the same time, offering food and programming that help heal old wounds and help aboriginals reclaim their roots.

Mannawanis staff are seeing people come in to the centre looking to give back to the community, to contribute, and finding hope in doing so – all good signs for the future.

OUR VIEWS

Battling the spring flu bug

Janice Huser
Chit Chat

For our little family, the month of March certainly came in like a lion this year, as all three of us, plus a few members of our extended family, had the opportunity to spend a weekend at home, sleeping off a wicked stomach flu.

I think our health problems began the weekend prior, when we took a trip to my brother’s place, where my one-year-old niece was celebrating her first birthday, and was given the gift of a stomach flu the night before her big party.

But, not having suffered from the flu in quite a few years, I was feeling quite brave and convinced my husband that we should still make the trip to the city, since first birthdays only come once in a lifetime.

Come early the following week, I found myself awake at 2 a.m. cleaning up my two-and-a-half-year-old, after he got sick in the middle of the night. By 3 a.m. we were back in bed, only to be up again 10 minutes later, again cleaning the sheets, and making another full load of stinky towels.

Finally, we got to sleep, with me dreading the mess I had to clean up in the morning. When morning did come just a few hours later, my mother-in-law came over to help clean up the mess while I made my way to work for a few hours. While I was at work, my son got sick again at home, this time all over his Granny, which we would discover would not be a good thing for her, as she too would succumb to the flu after being infected by my son’s nasty germs.

By the end of the week, my son would still be showing some signs of the flu, but nothing too serious. It seemed as if at least his health was on the mend, which would be a good thing, because he wouldn’t have very energetic parents for the next few days, as I would be knocked down by the bug first, then, a couple days later, my husband would find himself in bed with the flu also.

I will admit I am not a good sick person. I complain – a lot. But after being sick for a few days, my husband and I were amazed at how independent and resourceful someone that weighs just over 30 pounds can be. One morning, my son managed to get himself a bun off the counter, out of a Ziplock bag, all by himself. He even tried to close up the bag after getting his snack, to keep the rest of the buns fresh for later.

Later on, he managed to turn the TV on all by himself. Thankfully, it was already tuned to a cartoon channel, which he was quite happy watching.

After about a week of suffering, a container of laundry detergent used up, quite a few boxes of Jell-O eaten, and a few bottles of Powerade drank, our family has hopefully come out of this flu with stronger immune systems, that will hopefully let us enjoy the rest of the month, which should in our case, now go out like a lamb.