John from John's Island asked me where I was taking you next. I told him , "Back to the same place."
For my newer readers a brief explanation on the background of these posts. I was a teacher and spent 1967-69 in the small Arctic community of Wakeham Bay, Quebec. There were 188 Inuit and 10 white guys. I was a teacher , principal and local administrator. They were all very interesting positions but very challenging and a lot of work and time. . The community was 1200 miles north of Montreal , Quebec. There were no roads to this community and no regular air schedules. We went 6 or 7 weeks at a time without mail.
I had a 14 year old boy as a regular paid interpreter. the Micro Manager was eager to do nursing there but there was no position. She got $50.00 per month to do health care and there really was full time work. She didn't have an interpreter but between her limited inuktitut and their limited English they got along. When there was a serious case she got Lukasi to be her interpreter.
This post is really about Lukasi. There was nobody finer that Lukasi. He was 18 years old at the time. I don't know where he picked up his English. In this video he is talking about petroglyphs which were found a few miles away. It's the only place in the north with petroglyphs.
While we were there a well known photographer came to photograph the petroglyphs. Fred Breummer came and stayed in my house for 8 days. Those 8 days should have counted for at least 5 university credits. We talked late into the night about his experiences. Fred had had a tremendous amount of northern experience. I think Fred wrote about 25 books. Most of them featuring his photography. Fred did a major article on the petrogyphs.
I found this video of Lukasi discussing the petroglyphs. youtube.com/watch?v=TJSolwDrxbo Sorry I can not the video link on the blog.
I tried to watch the video but it says it is unavailable. :-(
ReplyDeleteJust get on you tube and type in Lukassie Wakeham Bay. It starts out My Name is Lukasie. I hope you find it.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJSolwDrXbo
ReplyDeleteis the full address(you are missing the first part). I was able to watch and it was very interesting. Lukassie's English is very good.
Thanks for putting up with me and not knowing how to do links.
DeleteMaybe the video, being Canadian, isn't available outside Canada? That happens with some American videos - they can't be viewed outside the U.S. Being in Nova Scotia, I could view it okay.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting how the Inuit felt the petroglyphs weren't important because there were so many of them at one time. Thanks for the video, Red. Does the Micro Manager remember any of the language?
She remembers a bit. Same with me. Funny one though when I talked Inuktit the kids would laugh and say I talked like a baby.
DeleteI can well imagine that time spent with Fred Breummer was memorable. He produced numerous books as you mention, some of which still show up at second hand book shops and thrift stores.
ReplyDeleteHe was a great photographer. He lived on the land with Inuit for 6 months at a time.
DeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteYou do have some nice memories. I will go and find the you tube video on Lukasi. Enjoy your day, have a happy week ahead.
I lived outside the box.
DeleteI watched the video. It was fascinating.
ReplyDeleteLuke was very wise when it came to the knowledge of Inuit culture. His mother was a great carver and knew their traditions.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/embed/TJSolwDrXbo
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteI found the video too. Fascinating.
ReplyDeleteYears ago Lukasi was featured in an article about how they went under the ice to gather mussles. I went with his Dad once.
DeleteYou have a fascinating past, and I am pleased to learn (and watch) some of it.
ReplyDeleteWhen you are in YouTube, there is Share option just below the video on the right. Click and a box opens with the link. It gives you the option to copy. Just click the word, Copy. You don't have to highlight it first. Just click copy. Then you paste it directly into your post.
Thank you so much. this instruction is all I needed. You recognized what I couldn't do.
DeleteSuch an interesting video. Thank you for posting this
ReplyDeleteThey were very interesting people. I got to live and experience different culture.
DeleteFascinating stuff! I found Lukasi's video fascinating and wanted to see if I could find any of Fred Bruemmer's photos of the masks. A little bit of searching on Google led me to an article about Kangiqsujuaq, which is apparently another name for Wakeham Bay. There I found a link to yet another article that talks about the Qajartalik petroglyph site, near Wakeham. In that article you can see pictures of some of the masks. Interesting! Here are a couple of links to check out, if you wish.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangiqsujuaq
http://www.avataq.qc.ca/en/content/view/full/338
Thanks John. Breummer had an article published in a magazine about the petroglyphs however I don't remember what magazine.
DeleteThis video is very interesting. You and the Micro Manager have sure had a lot of amazing experiences in your lifetime!
ReplyDeleteFor a small part of our life we lived right outside of the box.
DeleteFascinating. You have such interesting experiences to remember. How wise you were to choose to have these adventures when you were young! Thanks for sharing these videos.
ReplyDeleteIt was very , very hard to leave.
DeleteFor me the video was "unavailable" but I think I found the same one anyway at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJSolwDrXbo I would like to have seen one or two of those masks that Lukasi was talking about. Have you got any pictures of them Red?
ReplyDeleteYou have some incredible memories. I always enjoy your posts!
ReplyDeleteSounded like a wonderful experience for you and the Micro Manager. I couldn't get the video link either and would like to thank Yorkshire Pudding as the one she used took me to Lukasi's video. Very, very interesting. I have also included the link below.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJSolwDrXbo
He must have been a very interesting man with lots of memories!
ReplyDeleteyou had kind of adventurous life back then dear Red
ReplyDeleteone man with three positions wow sounds challenging !
i wish i can see the video