The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 30, 1999 - BI

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/ INSIDE
- COMMUNITY

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EVENTS B2

| SPEAKING OUT.
SARAH de LEEUW

Remember the
small things

ave you ever noticed that small
people can teach us big things?
A friend of mine has two
daughlers, one blue eyed, one
brown eyed, both with big ideas.

Let’s call the oldest girl ‘M’, primarily
because J can never spell her name the
same way twice.

She asks her mum profound questions,
things like ‘‘Where are the trains
washed?’’, ‘“How come there so many
people killed on the radio?" and ‘*How
come only some kitty-cats are mcan?’’

Then there’s the fact that smal! things,
when put together, can create powerful
forces.

On the Wednesday night of the floods, I
drave out Queensway wilh ‘M’’s mum.

The sky was turning orange, and the
sound of the river rushing under the old
bridge was deafening. We talked about how
unstoppable the water seemed, how we
couldn’t imagine anything big enough to be
an obstacle to those muddy torrents with
standing waves and whole trees churning
down them.

The need for tolerance, respect, sup-
port, and acceptance ts a huge issue.
That we all live together on this giobe,
and differences need to be valued and
supported,

When we gol to the trailer park, the warm
evening breeze was filled with a charged
activity. Lines of people were situated
along the river, people passing small white
bags of sand to each other, hands moving
like a choreographed dance,

Against the backdrop of the Skeena river,
those amazing voluntecrs seemed very
small indeed. The sandbags seemed cven
smaller, The seemingly small bags and
hands, though, were busy creating walls
that would detour the force of the Skeena.

Just the other day [ got an c-mail from a
woman I used to work with who now lives
in Vancouver, It was a quick e-mail with
not much text. It was an c-mail about small
things, using small numbers. The point it
made, though, couldn’t have been bigger.

If we could shrink the carth’s population,
read the e-mail, to a village of precisely 100
people, with all the existing human rations
remaining the same, this is what the popula-
tion demographics would look like. ©

There would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans,
14 ‘‘villagers’’ from the Western Hemi-
sphere, both north and south, and 8 Afri-
cans. Fifty-two people would be female,
and 48 would be male,

People of colour would comprise 70 per
cent of the population, 30 per cent would be
white, There would be 70 non-Christians
and 30 Christians,

Eighty-nine —villagers would be
heterosexual, 11 people in the village
would be homosexual,

Six people in this village population
would possess 59% of all the wealth, and
all six would be from the United States.
Eighty villagers would tive in substandard
housing, 70 would be unable to read, 50
would suffer from malnutrition.

Oaly one person (yes only onc!) would
have a college education, and just one per-
son would own a computer.

Viewed in this light, broken down io the
example of one tiny village, the small can
leach us something great. That the need for
tolerance, respect, support, and acceptance
is a huge issue. Thal we all live together on
ihis globe, and differences necd to be
valued and supporied,

By remembering these small things, and
working together to change the flow of his-
tory, perbaps one day smali people like ‘M’
will no longer have to wonder about
profound thoughts such as ‘“How come
there so many people killed on the radio?*’

SECTION B
ALEX HAMILTON
638-7283

‘Matriarch : was cornerstone
of Kitsumkalum village

WELL-KNOWN
MATRIARCH and Tsim-
shian elder Vera Henry died
at Mills- Memorial Hospital
June 22 of cancer. She was
74.

Henry, born at Port Es--
Sington cannery, was given
the Tsimshian’ name ° Xbi-
shuundt {meaning half sum-
mer) when she was four
years old.

She spent much of her
younger years travelling up
and down the Skcena River
in a canoe fishing, hunting,
trapping and trading with
her father,

_As she grew up, First Na-
tions culture remained an in-
tegral part of her life. Ac-
cording to ber daughters,
her annual] schedule
revolved around food har-.
vesling.

At the slart of the year,
she would harvest oolichan
for grease; in spring she col-
lect seaweed; early summer
she canned, smoked and
salted salmon; July and Au-
gusi were spent collecting
berries and fruit; in fall she
harvested shellfish, and in
winter she hunted deer and
moose,

Henry graduated from the

NECHI Institule in Calgary,

where she toak the native

alcohol and drug’ program,
and worked many years as a
communily health represen-
tative in the coastal village
of Lax Kw’allaams.  —

As“a health worker, she
travelled around the north-
west helping people and
giving workshops.

“She was always very
busy,”’ said her daughter
Sharon Bryant. ‘‘She never
said ‘ne’ to work helping
people — wheuever she got
a phone call she was gone.’”

Henry and her husband
Charles didn’t move to Kit-
sumkalunn village —unti?
1987, where she enjayed her
retirement,

In her golden years, Henry
was dedicated to reviving
Tsimshian culture at Kit-
sumkalum.

She considered cultural
teachings vital to pass on
and encouraged peaple to
leam all native languages,
not just Smalaypax.

Henry was instrumental in
erecting two totem poles in
front. of the Kitsumkalum
hall and: was a director of
the treaty negoliation board.

Her volunteer work in-
cluded ‘being’ an elder ad-
viser for the First Nations
Council of Women, and an
honourary elder for the

Kermode Frieadship
Society.
She also administered

numerous health workshops
for the courthouse, correc-
tional centre, victim’s as-
sistance and the local Build-
ing Healthier Babies pro-
gram.

In addition, she was a
matriarch of tie wolf clan,
which made her responsible
for wolf clan members, bes-
towing names, heading the
feasts and giving direction
to all those secking advice.

“Vera has made a
tremendous impact on Kit-
sumkalum from the day she
sel [ool bere,’’ said Diane
Collins, Kitsumkalum chief
councillor.

“I tly feel we've lost
one of the camerstones of
the community.”’

Asa matriarch, Henry was
called upon to represent the
Kilsumkalum band at count-
less ceremonies and public
events, .

“Vera always made time
and always had a smile and
hello for everyone,’? Collins
said. “She was somcone
you could always go to and
talk to.””

Her work included terms
on the Terrace and Area
Health Council, and the Kil-
sumkalum board of direc-
tors.

She served her community
as a member of the Salva-
fion Army: Church — she
helped plan and build a Sal-
vation Amy church in Port
Simpson —- and the Grace
United Church, where she

VERA HENRY was a ‘member of the Wolt clan, She is survived by her husband
Charles Henry, 12 children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

served on the women’s aux-
iliary for years.

She was also the driving
force in the completion of
the Lax Kw’asalams recrea-
tion centre by organizing all
the fundraising.

Although Henry’s dedica-
lion to the Tsimshian culture
will be dearly missed, Col-
lins said ber strength and
wisdom is reflected in her
children,

We have a lot of pillars
to rely on,”’ Collins said.

Henry is survived by her
husband Charles; 12. chil-
dren = Gloria arvey),
Frances (Geddes), Charles
Gulia),
George (Holly), Vera
(Vernon), Marlene (Brian),
Barbara = (Billy), James
(Roxey), Sharon (Darryl),
Janice (Irvin) and Emsley

Born to be newspaper editors

A GRADE 5 class at
Centennial Christian School
took on the challenging job
of producing a newspaper as
a@ way of combining what
they had iearned in their
language arls programs.

They were divided into
four groups by teacher
Sarah Aslin and given
guidelines to include vari-
ous kinds of news ‘stories,
editorials, ads and artwork.

The resull was The
Thanderbalt, Terrace
Twilight, The A+ News and
The Terrace Comet.

Studenls first wrote out .
rough drafis of their stories,

editorials and ads and thea
typed them out on school
computers.

They were then assembled
oulo newspaper pages with
the appropriate headings.

Students cither drew. their
own artwork or incorporated
graphic images from their

computers,
Readers found _ stories
about this past’ winter’s

heavy snowfalls, sporting
evenis, movie reviews and
editorials about the need for

a school cafeteria, One
editorial questioned — the
school policy about - not

being allowed to wear hats
in class.

Studeits said they found
the work chalicnging: be-
cause of the variety of skills
needed,

But they said working in

groups helped as students -

_ used each: their individual
strenglhs lo produce the

NICE WORK: Grade 5 students at Centennial Christian School are proud of the
‘newspapers they created. Students wrote news stories, editorials and produced
al] the artwork for thelr pages.

final results.

“Writing (he rough copy
was hard,’? said Mikayla
VandeVelde. ‘*But once that
was done, it came casier,”’

Justin Larson used his in-
terest ist computer gamics
and the -Inlemet lo produce
several articles.

“The? games are actually

real, [’ve pot them,’’ hie
said,

Nathan Petersen dis-
covered it.-was imporiant-to
have his group discuss what
should be included in their
newspapicr.

"Tt was good.to cooperale.
To let other people have

choices as to what - you
wani,’’ he said.

Elisha Brandenberg “said
she liked producing ‘draw.
ings.

“The first paper took a:

long lime, [ think the secand

one would be easier,” she

said.

Alfred (Connie),

{Annette}; sister Fredelia
and brother Herb; and 35
grandchildren, and many
great-grandchildren, nieces
and nephews,

Heury’s memorial service
was held on Friday, June 25,
and her funeral was on Sat-
urday, June 26 at Kitsum-
kalum Hall. Hundreds of
friends and family members
were in altendance,

Around
Town

Healing
workshop

offered

FRANCES Birdseil, nal-
ural health practitioner
of Viva Clinic, is offer-
ing a workshop on natu-
ral healing alternatives
Thursday, July 15 from
7-9 pm. al the Terrace
Public Library.

The workshop will ex-
plore alternative and
‘complementary ap-
proaches ta healing for
the body, mind and
spirit. The workshop is
free. Call the library for
nore information, 638-
8177,

For
seniors

FREE
classes are available to-
seniors at the Terrace
Publle Library.

Classes are available
Fridays from 10-11:30
am., 1-3. pan. and 3-
4:30 pam.

Classes run for. six
wecks starting on: July
16, 1999. Seniors will be
trained on using Word
‘Processsing, . programs,
CD-ROMS, and the In-
terneLCall the library to
register at 638- BI7T.

oe

computer