Friday, September 7, 2012

Sometimes Adventure Gives You a Surprise

       I was 23 years old in 1963 and at loose ends in my life. I had taught four years and had decided to leave the position I had. If I was going to stay teaching I had to get back to University and finish a degree. I wasn't ready for that. I was half heartedly looking for another position. I really didn't know what I wanted to do.

     Then I saw an ad in the paper "Teach in Canada's North land." I thought , "This sounds interesting." I applied . I got an interview and a week later they offered me a position. I thought, "What do I have to lose?" The position was 1650 km (1000miles) further north of what I had been thinking. 

     I thought this would be great adventure hunting, fishing, airplanes, boats and new people. Off I went. I found even more than what I imagined. Bonus! There were lots of girls who were unattached. They were adventure seekers too. What fun! One of them latched on to me for some reason and she wouldn't let go. 

    After three years I was ready to go back and finish my degree.

    I wasn't finished with adventure and neither was my wife. We found a position in a small isolated settlement. Again lots of the outdoor stuff. There were 180 Inuit and 12 others. Our transportation was by small bush plane only. There was a six week break in service in spring and fall for changing from skis to floats or floats to skis. So six weeks with out mail.

    Things went well until one Sunday morning when there was a knock on the door. My wife was the nurse and we were used to calls at any hour of the day or night. One of the elders was there and in his very limited English asked my wife to come. Pita said, " Alisi's baby not good." My wife asked him , "Was the baby sick?". He just said ,"Not good."

    My wife went down and found that the toddler was dead. From my wife's nursing back ground she had some experience with people dieing but she wasn't prepared for what she saw. The toddler had been murdered in a brutal way. 

     My wife came back to the house and then we conferenced with the provincial administrator. We called the police 450km (300 miles) away on a short wave radio with very poor transmission. The police told us the airplanes had gone south five days ago but he would try to find an airplane to get to our settlement. He also told us what to do. We were to pick up the body and put it in a cardboard box and keep it in the storage shed. We were to write up a description of the injuries and write a statement as  to what we found at the site.Fortunately it was early Oct. and cool.

    This was one thing that I hadn't thought about when I was seeking adventure. It was a sobering experience.

     The police came in five days later and took the body and the mother. It was a very stressful ten days in my adventure.

23 comments:

  1. oh, my. no way to plan for or anticipate something like that. terrible.

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    1. You're right. It happens out of the blue.

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  2. 1963 eh! You into the frozen zone of Canada at 23 years of age - me off to PNG - age 20 years.
    You in isolation from blizzards etc, me in isolation from tropical storms and when I was in my final year there at Pindiu (1969) in the Morobe highlands from the clouds coming down. Yep, I for one know what you are talking about.
    Then I set sail (by plane) via Manila, Taipei and Tokoyo (stayed at all places for R & R) for a new career at Medicine Hat, Alberta -I never got there - I started to freeze from Taipei - well after 6 years of the tropics, what did I know of the cold??? Zilch!
    Ah those were the days of youthful exurberance, we did it. Regretably I am riddled with ceberal malaria in my system from PNG. Never can this be removed. Just stays dormant and can erupt when it feels like it. 49 years ago!
    Today perfectly young males and females who refuse to work and expect government handouts, how times have changed?
    My blood boils - great history lesson,Red, hopefully some of the younger generation read your blog?
    Cheers
    Colin (Brisbane.Australia)
    Ps: Hope you enjoy seeing me in that e-mail I sent or have you fainted?? ha ha.

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    1. A real bummer that you picked up malaria which really bothers you the rest of your life.
      What a coincidence about our adventures!

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  3. How terrible. I don't suppose you ever get over an experience like that.

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    1. Well, you do get over it as you are following the procedure for handling a case like that. However, I never forget it.

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  4. What a sad tale, but very sobering for you, I'm sure. Sometimes we wonder how we coped with certain things, but our youthful selves were probably more resilient, don't you think?

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    1. yes we were more resilient. I had written the authorities that Alisi should be evaluated as she was definitely unstable but it didn't get anywhere. If I was older things may have happened.

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  5. That would have been horrible! How sad...sometimes the human condition is really hard to comprehend!

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    1. Alisi was very unstable and there wasn't much set up to evaluate or treat her.

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  6. How awful, Red. That's something I don't think I ever want to see or have to deal with. You told the story well. I'm sorry you had to see that.

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    1. I don't want to deal with it again. I do think of people who look after these events as part of their job.
      It certainly connects you to other tragedies

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  7. Awful experience I can't imagine being faced. Did you get to know what had happened?

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    1. Looking at the scene it was obvious what had happened . The mother had killed her child. Mother came back to the settlement within a year with not much treatment and punishment was not appropriate at all in this case.

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  8. Such a thing happening never leaves your mind, you retell it like it was yesterday. Poor little child.

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  9. I've lived my entire life in the length of a football field...Sometimes wonder what takes a person off so far...like you say, adventure I guess...Too bad that mother could not take off on an adventure and leave the child with someone else...so sad for all of that family...

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  10. It's one of those days that you remember the whole day...like it was Sunday morning.

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  11. Such a sad experience Red. I think if I'd been in your shoes (especially your wife's) I would have wanted to leave right away. I can't imagine carrying that vision around in my head.
    Can't imagine the mindset that enabled Alisi to do what she did. Very very sad.

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  12. My wife had nurses training and experience and so was in some ways much more prepared to deal with the situation.
    Mental illness is a terrible thing. Alisi was not diagnosed and had not treatment whatsoever.

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  13. What an adventure. It sounds like a bad incident all around..mental illness is everywhere it seems. Poor baby..so sad:(

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  14. Your story had me hooked from the beginning. The tragedy is, of course Alisi and her child. In many ways life has improved to understand metal illness better, she was in dire need of help. And the child...oh so sad.

    Red, have you ever thought of writing a book about your adventures in the north?


    Linda
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
    http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com

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  15. You do have adventures. I love your stories, happy, funny or sad.
    Thank you for writing them down!
    Cheers from Cottage Country!

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  16. A very sad story. You and your wife are very brave.

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