Cultural camp popularity high

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The Lloydminster Friendship Center is a "happening" kind of place these days.

There is a brand new sense of vitality, energy and enthusiasm in the atmosphere, no small part of which can be attributed to new staff Lawrence Gervais, Kelly Zacharias and Rhonda Smith, and their innovative programming for Aboriginal youth in the border city.

Record numbers of teens are finding their way to the centre.

The summer highlight of the new Youth Outreach Program for 18 students from Lloydminster, Onion Lake First Nation and Kitscoty, was a three day trip to the Wolfchild Cultural Camp, northwest of Edmonton, near Morinville.

Facilitated by respected teachers and spiritual advisors William Blake and Carola Cunningham, the camp was set up in a tipi village located on 27 acres of preserved natural land complete with lake and forest setting.

It was "getting up early with the sun and going to bed by sunset" that proved to be the greatest challenge, along with "washing their faces in an ice cold lake," explained counsellor Rhonda Smith.

The students ranged from 10 to 17 years old.

"We were all responsible for raising our own tipis, and to test ourselves, we had a tipi challenge, males against the females. I was surprised at the time it takes to learn the skill. It doesn't just happen. We learned to make "four directions soup", help create a feast of Native and Metis foods and gathered lots of berries," said Smith.

The girls helped prepare a feast of "hearty traditional foods," while the boys gathered wood, tended fires and built a sweatlodge.

The youngest member, Rylan Daniels, said that he found the sweatlodge to be "hot, but not too hot-a good experience."

Thirteen-year-old Charlene Wright found the "woman's teaching to be very enlightening.

"The camp was fun and I learned more about our culture than I had learned even from my mom. The traditional food was good and it took the women a long time to make it. The sweatlodge was hard but it felt good to be in there, I felt different when I came out. When the teacher said that women had more power than guys, I thought it was cool, to be important for giving birth and bringing life," said Wright.

The male students learned Cree survival skills.

"We hauled a lot of wood, cut down a lot of willows and learned from Willie how to build a sweatlodge and put up a tipi," said Cory Dillon.

In the male versus female tipi challenge, the girls beat the guys hands down.

The champion tipi builder turned out to be Michelle Daniels.

"I learned pretty quickly how to raise a lodge, and even with way more boys than girls, we still beat them at putting up the tipis," said Daniels.

This trip should set the stage for future expeditions that emphasize hands-on learning of traditional culture and survival skills.

"The impact of the new Youth Outreach Program on the youth in the community is that it is a very productive vehicle for inplementing and maintaining the cultural component of the service guidelines mandated by the Ribstone Child and Family Services Authority and urban multipurpose youth center in a transfer agreement with the National Association of Friendship Centres," said LNFC Director Lauwrence Gervais.

"It was a very good experience for our youth and hopefully we will have the funding for more camps next summer," added Gervais.