Page 32 - Moose Deer Point First Nation

Helen brings me an ash basket, made at a recent learning games. She spills some samples across
workshop. Her basket is beautiful. She pulls a the table for me. I can see how much work she
smaller basket off a shelf. “These,” she tells me, has put into teaching, building these wonderful
handing me the smaller birch basket rimmed resources from scratch.
with sweet grass, “We sold for a buck and
We don’t want to take up too much of her time.
quarter.” She talks about what they were sold for
in stores – much more than that. She feels used. As we begin to leave, we talk again about those
As she says this, her voice is not so soft, but flat rubber boots kids used to have. Helen recalls her
and matter of fact. sister-in-law’s boots and tells me about special
leather-top boots, pointing out they must have
Our conversation turns back to the language
been so much warmer than rubber.
that they all used to speak, but is being lost. Her
hands have made many resources for teaching As we descend down the steps, I think about
the language—countless word cards and how much more I learned than what I came for.

Cards created to teach community children about language.

30 Moose Deer Point First Nation

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