Worth It

By Glen Asham

 

On November 7^th we attended a Sacred Water Pipe Ceremony at the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council Governance Centre in Fort Qu'Appelle.

 

 

The walk there was cold but worth it in the end.

 

 

The group of people that ran it was nice.

 

 

The Pipe ceremony was pretty cool. I appreciated them inviting us to attend.

Note. This picture was taken before the Pipe Ceremony began out of respect for the ceremony.

 

 

Then we got soup and bannock. It was lit.

 

 

 

The poem that was made from my heart and that will bring a tear to your eye because it’s the truth

by Michael Starr-Desnomie

When I was going to class to see what my teacher had planned I was walking to the junior computer lab. Mrs. Koops introduced me to a teacher who I had never met before in the school. Her name was Ms. Thomson (without a p). She looked new, but everyone is welcomed to Bert Fox.

I shook her hand and smiled, talked about our class and how I’m showing leadership, but mostly Mrs. Koops was saying great stuff about me that made me happy to hear. My teacher brought up my poem that I made on Orange Shirt Day and how it went when I was reading my poem. I choked up but stood my ground and Mrs. Koops tried to come take over for me, but it was my poem and I was going to read it all because it had my name on top so I said to my teacher, I’m reading all of it, but when I teared up at some points, she tried to come take over, but I just needed a second to try calm down and breath then I finished reading it all.

Before Ms. Thomson read my poem she asked me what my poem was called. I said, “Doing the Blanket Exercise on the Land Where All My People Lived.” When she was done reading it I looked at her and I could see her in tears, seeing tears that were rolling down her face. She said it’s beautiful and so true. I told her I didn’t use my mind, I wrote that from heart. She told me you do have a big heart. She was still tearing up so I hugged her, rubbed her back and comforted her, then after I was done hugging her she held my hand and told me, you are so gifted and explained to me that her mom went through the same thing, she went through residential schools but her mom never talks about it.

 

 

 

 

I kept on seeing tears rolling down her face. I wanted to give her a hug to make her feel much better. She said the nicest things to me that I will never forget. I will use those kind words that she said to me in my future and as a leader. I explained to her how I felt and what I thought about when I first did the blanket exercise. I explained to her that we all should be treated equally; we are all the same. It doesn’t matter about your color or what tribe you’re from, even how your culture is, we are all the same on the inside. We all bleed the same color, have the same feelings, we are all the same but we live differently. I give every single person Much Love & Respect. We are all family in my eyes. I’m always here for my family when they’re down so I can help them back up on their feet.

I told Ms. Thomson what my mom always said to me, become a leader not a follower or my little saying, throw me to the wolves and I will return the pack leader. It was amazing hearing all of my teachers say wonderful things about me, always making me smile and happy about myself, making me stay positive. When we were talking about what they think about my poem and I told Ms. Thomson that I went to the Saskatchewan School Board Association to read my poem that went viral across the world that I’m very proud of.

Miss Bev, Michael, Mrs. Koops and Ms. Thomson

One of my favorite teachers came by, Miss Bev. I gave her a hug as well. She’s the teacher that always gave me fudge when I went to all of my classes, and if I was good, but sometimes she forgot to make some for me, when I kept on going to class and being good, but I said to her I think I’m too sweet already, then Miss Bev smiled and gave me a hug and told me I am sweet. All of those teachers that I was talking to – Ms. Thomson, Miss Bev, Mrs. Koops -- made my day and I just felt great all day, well I always do. All of the teachers in Bert Fox are very proud of me and they supported me all the way. With their support they made me who I am and my mom as well, always believed in me and always there for me, to pick me back up, that’s what mother bears do, keep their cubs safe and believe in what they can become, a big strong leader. I’m very proud of myself on becoming a great leader, a voice for my people.

A Real Nice Talking Circle

by Kaleya McNab

 

This is the day when my classmates and I went to Mr. Mohan’s Native Studies 10 class to do the Kairos Blanket Exercise. His class was very good and listened. They all participated in the KBE, but some of them were shy to read their scrolls, but they still read. I was even shy to read the European parts, even though I did the KBE a bunch of times. I can get shy to read because I don’t want to misread the script or the scrolls. The KBE has a lot of information about the 60’s scoop and residential schools and also talks about how the Europeans brought diseases and smallpox that killed thousands of people and how the Europeans took over land. It is kind of harsh to read the European parts. We even have some people cry while trying to read their scrolls because of how harsh it is. When I first did the KBE I was the narrator with one of my classmates a couple times then I started doing the European parts. We all take turns doing the KBE. After the end of KBE we do a talking circle; we can say whatever comes to our minds; it can be anything, then after we are done doing a talking circle we all shake hands and we say thank you for inviting us and having us.

He's What You Call a Modern Day Hero

by Taish Desnomie

 

Mr. O'Soup and I talking about bullying issues.

 

He's what you call a modern day hero, a role model. He's probably my top role model over Rambo any day. He taught me a lot today. This I didn't know, he came from nothing, to being every kids' hero. We need more people like him. He taught me to follow my dreams, never give up, and to look forward.

Meeting Corey O'Soup, Saskatchewan's Advocate for Children and Youth, was a great experience because we are both in the same work. It gave me a lot of ideas. It gave me hope just to know that there is always a way to get past some of the problems in life.

A few weeks back, I wrote a letter with my classmates to Fort Qu'Appelle Elementary Community School and my class and I delivered it directly to the principal. We showed Ms. Young-Lee, our principal, the letter before we took it over. She had some suggestions and we made edits. Here's what the beginning of the letter said:

"We, the class of oski-pimohtahtamwak otayisīniwiwaw, have been invited to present workshops throughout southern Saskatchewan, most often sharing the Kairos Blanket Exercise. We are developing our leadership potential and our response skills. Because we have lived through many difficult situations ourselves, we want to support students who are dealing with difficult life situations including bullying, racism, suicide, and poverty."

We met with three more people from the elementary school to make some plans, Mrs. Lowe, Miss Tami, and Mrs. Brooks (the new principal). We went for lunch a few times, played some soccer once, and Michael attended one after school program so far. We also prepared a PowerPoint to tell people who we are, and so far we've gone to over half of the classrooms. Every classroom visit takes about twenty minutes because we are talking and the kids are asking questions.

Going to the elementary school is pretty fun; you get to meet some of the new generation of kids. When you're really sitting there talking to them, they really have a chance to open up with their feelings and laugh. It's really cool. You don't get to see that every day. I think it's really great that they all get a chance to look up to older kids and have a voice.

 

Introducing ourselves in an elementary classroom

Meeting Corey was a great experience for me and my classmates. It was really great because he gave me and my classmates lots of insight on what the world is really like today, about youth and women, and people going missing. He really opened up our eyes. He showed us that we could change our own communities and others around us. This kind of work that I'm doing right now, I'm really committed to doing this -- and without my classmates, I wouldn't be doing any of this, and I wouldn't have the help. My respect and everything I do all goes to them because they're my backbone.

 

Being goofy

Saskatchewan's Advocate for Children and Youth Visits oski-pimohtahtamwak otayisīniwiwaw

 

Kaleya McNabb, Lacey Missens, Taish Desnomie, Mr. Corey O'Soup, Malynda Starr-Desnomie, Ms. Tami Janz-Sargees

 

Raimey Pasqua and Michael Starr-Desnomie

 

Mrs. Koops: What was most memorable about meeting Mr. O’Soup?

Michael: He brought some awesome cinnamon rolls. While I was listening to him and taking pictures, he gave me a couple of ideas that I want to do next with this little program. Try to join him as well, try to help kids feel more safe and more welcome. All kids need to go home safely, and they all need to be treated the same as they would be treated by family, loving one another, respecting one another, always being there for them. Bullying is not the way. When people are bullied it pushes them to the limits, even being suicidal. Even the book that he gave us has lots of information about we could do, what we could take action for. I like what he said, we could help him with this work. People will listen to younger people, we’re getting out there in the world. We need to let everybody know about this.

Michael enjoying the best cinnamon rolls ever.

Malynda: He shared with us that when an older person speaks, you hear what they say, but when a younger person speaks, we reflect on it more because we know what they mean. When you get someone your own age, you know they’ll understand. The older generation doesn’t really have the same problems as us.

Mr. O'Soup speaking to us in the classroom.

 

Taish: I think that each kid, each youth, teenager, pre-teen, kindergartener, should just get a piece of paper and write down what they’re feeling, where they are in their lives, where they are coming from, to reach out and talk to somebody, could be anybody, somebody close, mom, dad, teacher, or a friend, and try and find that help to overcome their fears of whatever’s bothering them, to find that courage inside of themselves to know that they’re not alone.

Taish exchanging ideas with Mr. O'Soup.

Mrs. Koops: What was inspiring about our meeting with Mr. O’Soup?

Michael: Everything. Everything that he said. As young leaders like us, we could do something about it because we’re family.

Discussions after we'd finished lunch.

 

Malynda: The whole time he was talking I was inspired and moved by what he was saying. That guy’s going to do some awesome things.

Malynda listening to every word.

 

Mrs. Koops: What are you taking away in your heart, as a youth, after the meeting?

Malynda: When he was talking about social work, I really want to go into social work after high school, he’s trying so hard to make the whole system better and not so twisted as it is right now. With him having the platform that he has, he can really make change in those areas so that makes me feel better and more confident in wanting to pursue Social Work.

Mr. O'Soup sharing his story with us in the classroom.

 

Mrs. Koops: What does it mean to you that he is the first Indigenous Child Advocate in Saskatchewan?

Malynda: Hearing his life story. How humble he is, and just overall how great of a human being he is, making history. I feel so much more uplifted as an Aboriginal person because I see what he’s trying so hard to do. I’m really excited to see where he’ll take us and all the positive affects he’ll have on this province and country. We shouldn’t be restricted that we can only get a certain level of job. He is raising the bar for us, like, we can do it.

Mr. O'Soup gave us all copies of the newly released

Shhh... LISTEN!! We have something to say! Youth Voices from the North

 

Taish said, "Will you sign mine."

 

Everyone else said, "I want mine signed, too."

 

Mr. O'Soup wrote, "Michael, where's my poem?"

Michael ran home and brought back a copy of his poem and gave it to Mr. O'Soup.