(an Inuit village in Nunavik, the northern most part of Quebec)
Anna Cherniak
I wish to express great thanks to the Mission Team and our Graceview congregation for helping the Inuit children of Iguarsivik School in the village of Puvirnituq. I had taught there for 10 years. A good number of those years were made easier and considerably more fun for the students through the wonderful ‘gifts’ sent up to Iguarsivik School from Graceview Presbyterian Church via the Mission Team. These ‘gifts’ came in the form of school supplies and food that kept the children in school and learning.
The children benefited from such great supplies as workbooks, pencils and erasers, scissors, pencil crayons, coloured markers and beautiful boxes to keep all writing and colouring materials together in one place. These boxes had printed on them, “DONATED BY GRACEVIEW PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH”, so the students got to know about our church. As there were several colours of boxes, the children got to choose their favourite colour and were very proud of their box, taking care to look after it. Each box had a sticker on it, for their name, that was removed at the end of the school year, before washing, and was used the following year for the next group of students. Every time the children received something from the Mission Team, I let them know it was from our church and gave them a little lesson about Jesus. All supplies were shared with other classrooms so children throughout the school benefited.
The Mission Team also sent up various art supplies that allowed for different experiences in creating some very nice artworks. Many of the children were quite artistic and imaginative. They came up with some lovely pieces that were displayed both in the classroom and the hallway. Several children from other classes and grades would stop to admire them on their way to their classrooms and during recess breaks. We even did corking, working with wool and corkers, to make pot holders for their mothers as a gift for Mother’s Day. The students enjoyed it so much that they would always be busy corking when they finished their work. When I was going to school, corkers were made from empty spools of thread with four nails hammered into them, sticking up from the wood. We would wrap the wool around the nails, then lift it over the nails to eventually produce a long round tail of wool that came through the bottom hole of the spool. Some of you may know corking under a different name.
Other supplies were used in reading, math, science and geography classes. Sadly, one year we had a large number of suicides in the village. So, to keep the children together socially, to prevent them from feelings of isolation, the Mission Team provided the means for the students to watch popular movies appropriate for their age group in our school. The movies were shown after school and on weekends. That kept the children off the streets and together. It was a very effective strategy that really did help the students. Thank you Mission Team for thinking of the students!
Many of the children came to school hungry so again the Mission Team came up with a great answer—peanut butter and crackers. The children came to school looking forward to their breakfast. That helped with attendance. Sometimes, if we had some time at the end of the day, my students would look forward to making butter. We would have two groups of children sitting on the floor in circles that would compete with each other to see which could make it the fastest. They would shake the jars vigorously ten times and pass it on to the next person. Once made, they would eagerly line up to get the butter spread on crackers. They enjoyed it even more because they made it themselves.
The Mission Team at Graceview has, over the years, done a wonderful job of helping the students stay in school, learn and socialize in a peaceful and happy way. I am sure the students will carry good memories of their school days as they go on in life. I wish to thank, with great appreciation, the efforts and contributions of the members of Graceview Presbyterian Church. Since my retirement from teaching in Puvirnituq, the government and Inuit support organizations have stepped up and taken a broader responsibility for the students of Puvirnituq. Now the Mission Team is placing its support for children in other parts of the world, namely Guatemala, Kenya, Malawi and other countries where it is felt there is a great need for help. Thank you to all who support God’s work, through Graceview and the Mission Team, for the children.
Plan to be present on Mission Awareness Sunday, May 3, when the service will be run by the Mission Team and will include a very interesting speaker.