Inspired by the elders gathering that happened last week in Prince George, one of the city's inner city service providers is tapping into the knowledge of senior citizens.
A series of elder speakers are forming at Hadih House, an oasis of aboriginal knowledge in the VLA neighbourhood of the city. The first will be in the spotlight this afternoon.
"We invited a grandparent to come in and tell the story of how she had to go through the process of getting custody of her grandkids. It worked for her, but she ran into parts that were difficult and restrictive, so she is going to talk about that whole experience," said Hadih House co-ordinator Amanda Prince.
Two other elders have stepped forward to provide language lessons there. One will teach conversational Dakelh-Carrier, the other will create signage all around the facility giving the traditional and English translations for various items.
"In a small town up in the far north they only had three people left who spoke the original language, so they applied for funding to change all the signs in town to include the traditional translation and they also instructed the school teachers in the original language," said Prince. "The whole village now speaks the language again."
She was once a fluent speaker of the Carrier language during her childhood in the Nak'azdli First Nation at Fort St. James. Over the years she has lost that comprehension.
"I only know basic words and phrases anymore, not conversational Carrier. I know when they're making fun of me, though," she said. "One of the biggest problems is not in the teaching of the words for different things, it is learning full sentence structure. So we want to give youth a chance to try out conversations with someone who can teach that full version of the language."
There are 54 official First Nations in northern B.C., said grand chief Ed John during the 37th Elders Gathering this week. Only one, the Lheidli T'enneh people, are based in Prince George, but dozens of others in the surrounding area have many residents in Prince George. Prince said this makes it all the more challenging for elders based in the home territories to converse with the youth population going to school or jobs in Prince George.
"We are trying to build up an elder hub here at Hadih House, so we can connect with the youth here," she said. "One idea we have is using Skype to connect people here and back home for language lessons."
It's something that was done by Google, linking remote aboriginal communities in the Amazon jungle with urban-based members so language could be spoken, customs imparted, relationships maintained, and all kinds of information exchanged face-to-face using the latest computer communication systems.
To raise money for workshops, materials, teaching tools and elders outreach, Hadih House youth will be holding a hotdog sale and car wash on July 20 at their 2105 Pine St. address.
The first elder guest speaker today will begin her conversation at 3 p.m., with bannock and tea available at 2:30. It is free to attend, all are welcome, and child-minding can be provided with prior notification. Call 250 563 7976 or email [email protected] for more information.
