What a WebeWeek!

Saturday, August 2, 2008
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=webequie+ontario&ie=UTF8&ll=52.976426,-87.356286&spn=0.006809,0.018132&z=16&iwloc=addr

I arrived in Webequie (pronounced WEH-beh-quay) on July 28th via Wasaya airlines, where my 2 teammates and I were the only ones on the small 12-seater plane. We waited at the airport about half an hour, getting ourselves accustomed to the black flies that are worse here than they are in Kingfisher, and then were picked up by our fourth teammate, a local counsellor who was in training with us. It was great seeing him again, and it’s nice working with someone who knows the community more intimately.

Our first week has been filled with a lot of getting-to-know the community activities, and not much camp planning and prep. We had about 9 hours of registration in the Northern Store lobby (Northern is basically the Superstore of the North), and have about 25 kids registered from that. We’ve fallen in love with the “lower” prices here, which are still about twice what it would be in southern Ontario, but it’s a little bit less than KFL, which is nice. Being in Webequie is very different from Kingfisher, since it’s about twice the size (around 1000 people). It’s more spread out, has a much larger Band Hall, and there are a lot more people here that are highschool aged, since the school goes K-12.
Last week there was a holiday that I’d never heard of before – Treaty Day! It’s a bit of a joke, but still gave rise to a big community afternoon. This is the day where everyone on the reserve receives money from the government – a full $4 each! I could comment on this further, but I feel like it speaks for itself.

On Treaty Day I helped at a fish fry (yay for lots of free food!) and had my first bannock burger, which is basically a heart attack that you can hold. Fry bread with a burger and cheese – I’m surprised McDonald’s hasn’t tried it out yet. We also took part in a number of contests, from Pilot eating (hard crackers that are about 2” by 2”) to backward shoe kicking and hot potato to canoe races! I ended up making $25, which was then spent on Bingo cards for that night’s Bingo game! Along with a number of community members being there, a YMCA canoeing camp group was also at the events. They had finished 25 days of canoeing, but their travels were being cut short due to time constraints, so they spent part of the day with us instead, and were flown out this weekend.

On Thursday we went square dancing, where my teammates and I earned more money, and had an insanely fun time! It was interesting dancing with no caller to say what moves you were doing; I’m still not positive how people knew what was next. We also took that opportunity to ask the best dancers there to come in and do some jigging with the campers, so fun times are ahead! Friday we went out, the 4 counselors together, to do some fishing. Or rather, we meant to go fishing, but about 45 minutes into the trip the motor hit a rock, breaking the propeller. The next 5 hours or so were spent attempting to fix it, giving up, and paddling back using the rescue oars and a makeshift sail from a tarp and 2 logs. It was rather hilarious, and fun, despite arriving back fishless at 1am. Saturday (last night) was a volleyball tournament, and despite the fact that the team I was in came in dead last, I discovered that I’m not at incompetent as I thought! Always a nice discovery. :)

Sometime soon we’ll have to actually start planning camp – luckily we have an extra day, since Monday is Civic Holiday!

Well, that’s all for the moment! I’ll be back with more when there’s a bit of camp behind me.

-V