Yesterday we were invited to the high school to visit with the elders. When we arrived we took the opportunity to visit the daycare that is held in the high school. This daycare is exceptional and like anywhere the children there were super cute! After our visit there we went to the art room where the elders were. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I soon realized that they go to the high school to teach and share traditional art with the students at the school. It was really awesome to watch them sew and bead, and to watch the interactions between the youth and the elders. The students were very interested in us and asked plenty of questions, which in turn allowed us to ask them questions. Many of them have mothers or aunts who continue to sew and do bead work, so they were excited to be also learning about it in school.
Later we went and visited the elders who teach carving to the youth. It was interesting that they are taught to carve without using modern tools and we were told it takes a long, long time to do this, compared to the modern tools now used.
After this we were invited to participate in the Inuktitut class where the students drummed, played games, and throat sang for us (a little bit). It was so engaging and fun! Some of the games were quite tricky and I was impressed with the physical ability some of it required. Terin and I want to attempt to learn to throat sing and visit them again and impress them with our skills...but we'll see!
Clip made by student
Seal bones used for games
Tiny mitten sewn by student
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