Play staged by children comes straight from the heart

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The Biblical quotation "And a little child shall lead them" has taken on a double meaning on the Big River Reserve in Saskatchewan.

When a group of Grade 3 to 7 students decided to speak against substance abuse and gambling, they wrote a play that spoke from the heart. The short piece was straight-forward and eloquent, garnering the group second place over 89 groups competing in the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations Student Drama Competition.

The students of Se Se Wah Hum school wrote their own play and choreographed the dance, rehearsing three times before presenting the piece to judges in April.

Using song and dance, the children in the play plead with family members to give up their addictions and join a powwow celebration. The central character, a young girl, is alone and depressed because her family members drink, do drugs, sniff gas or devote themselves to bingo. She wants them to go back to the old ways and be a family again but she feels helpless and lost. Her friend joins her and offers help. Together they go looking for their family members and try to call them into the dance.

"You look so stupid with plastic sticking to your face," they tell their glue-sniffing little brothers. "The Creator didn't make you like that."

At the bingo hall, a guilty mother tells the girls playing bingo was her friend's idea, and tells them to wait until her number is called.

But eventually, they all join the girls in a celebration powwow.

The play comes from the hearts of 12 children who knows how these things feel. Their sincerity and originality makes the play a winner in every way.

The players, who call themselves Desert Storm Warriors, hope their story will carry a message to their own friends and families.