As soon as I arrived in Beaver I have done my best to jump right into getting to know the community. On the first evening my roommate Libby, who has been here in beaver for three weeks already, gave me a little tour of the area. Recently Beaver has gotten a lot of rain so the dirt roads have turned to mud and the mosquito's swarm in visible clouds. There are many little rivers and bridges making for a beautiful landscape.
I learned that due to residential schools Beaver has unfortunately lost a lot of knowledge about their culture and traditions, however they are taking strides in finding ways to bring it back. On my second day in Beaver I went to a meeting to bring Regalia making and traditional dancing back into the Beaver community. At this meeting we were served a dinner of Bannock and stew. Unfortunately I could not eat the bannock because I am allergic, but it is a traditional indigenous bread made of flour, baking powder, salt, milk and water and then baked or fried.
One of the next events I participated in was Elder's Bingo. In the Indigenous communities there is a great deal of respect for Elders and they are treated as knowledgeable and important members of society, rather than being seen as a burden. During Elders bingo the Elders play for household items such as baking dishes, outdoors equipment, cleaning supplies and toilet paper. While calling the bingo numbers it became quiet and I announced "There is a bingo coming up soon... I can smell it" at first everyone was very silent as they wondered if I really just said that, then the room burst into laughter. From then on the jokes about me 'smelling the Elders' began flying through the room and people would ask me to 'smell a bingo' in their direction so they could win. As I was calling I was careful to be loud and clear to ensure everyone could hear me. Apparently I was very effective because when we stopped for a break the Elders began to tease me by saying I could be the bingo caller in a cemetery because even the dead could hear me.
The following day I started into my duties working with the kids by assisting on an elementary school track field trip followed by an after school trip to the High Level swimming pool. The Beaver Band office has a bus of their own so all activities have transportation included. We had a list of kids' first names and I had my reservations as to how the bus driver would know exactly how to find every single kid, but she proved me completely wrong and even pointed to 5 different names and said "She went to Fort Vermilion" or "he's grocery shopping with his mom right now". All-in-all the day was a success and I am excited to continue to get to know the kids and community members better this summer.
