More than just an educational experience, Alma’s Andrew Grose had a chance to sample the true North on an exchange trip that had him learning about Inuit culture and building bridges between two very different communities.
While heading on an exchange to Nunavut with his class from Centre Wellington District High School, he was given the extra task of presenting a gift from a local church. A group of women from Alma United had sewn a special quilt for a “communities giving to communities” initiative and chose Grose, a novice quilter himself, as their ambassador to the North, he explained.
![Andrew Grose of Alma travelled to the great white north this spring to deliver a quilt to a Nunavut community from the Alma United Church. He presented it to the Inuit elders of Coral Harbour. [elena maystruk / the observer]](https://www.observerxtra.com/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/news-nunavut.jpg)
“When we got up there it was a really neat experience to show it to them. When I did, they were showing us all about their history, too,” Grose said.
Sixteen students and two teachers were received by the Inuit population during the exchange. It was a first for Grose, who had wanted to participate in the program for many years.
Locals introduced the students to traditional forms of entertainment such as drum dancing, and showed the students how older generations stayed warm in the cold climate.
“They had the old burners that they used to have inside igloos, and what they would use was seal fat and seaweed. They’d put that on a rock and they’d burn it,” Grose explained.
“They did drum dancing: they take a piece of hide and stretch it over a big piece of wood, I think it used to be bone, and they would have a wood handle on it and you’d be turning it as you hit the drum.”
Grose’s gift of the quilt came as a surprise to the community; only two people knew about the gift and gave Grose an assigned slot in the presentation. He presented the quilt to the community elder’s daughter.
“They thought it was great to be noticed, so to speak. Everything up there is really expensive and hard to get. They thought it was great to have another community give them something.”
The back of the quilt was lined with scenes of Inuit figures on a hunt. Grose believes it is now displayed in a community centre.
As for the rest of the trip, Grose said he took away a lot of knowledge. He and his classmates had a chance to live off the land when they travelled over frozen water onto an island to spend the night in igloos outside Coral Harbour on the Hudson Bay coast. Students had an opportunity to sample some native dishes like raw seal meat, caribou, arctic char, and some of the biggest game around: polar bear. Staying with an elder in the community also made an impression on the young man, as did a presentation involving the skinning of a caribou.
“When we were sitting in the cabin he would point to something on the wall and ask me what it was,” Grose said.
When asked about his favorite part of the trip, Grose couldn’t pick just one.
“I took away a lot of knowledge; it’s hard to say what, but little areas of the experience.”
