erat The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 7, 2001 - BT TERRACE STANDARD. ; INSIDE COMMUNITY EVENTS B2 SECTION B Around Town SHE’s open A NEW drop in centre for young women held its grand opening over the weekend. The March 3 launch party included snacks, tie- dying, and a movie. The centre, called Strong Healthy Equals, or SHE, ts located in the basement at the Terrace Women’s Resource Centre at 4542 Park Ave. It’s open Saturday and Thursday afternoons. SHE is Terrace’s newest addition to re- sources available to young women and offers a Safe, relaxed hang-out for girls who want to share ideas and conversation, or are in need of | support and information, For details, call 638- 0228. Babies and Hep B STARTING THIS month, the North West Community Health Services Society is making’ the Hepatitis B vaccine available to babies two months of age or older. The vaccine will be given at the same time as other routine childhood immunizations. He- patitis B is a virus that attacks the liver. It can cause permanent liver damage, scarring and eanicer, It’s spread through direct contact with blood - and body fluids, Babies and children who con- tract Hepatitis B don’t usually become ill until they’re older, but are more likely than adults . to develop a chronic infection. Immunization is the best way to protect : your child, says Margaret McKelvie, a public -health nursing administrator. For information ’ call the North West Health Unit at 638-2200. Eyes in the air - IF YOU like reading maps and flying in small planes, then you may be just the sor! of person- local air search and rescue volunteers are looking for. The Terrace and Kitimat area Civil Air - Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) is - planning spotter and navigator training in pre- paration for flight practice exercises — and seal searches for missing aircraft or people. "Bach year the group needs new volunteers to act as spotters or navigators, as well as ex- pericnced pilots. All that’s required for spotting is good eye- sight (corrected vision is quite alright), a heal- * thy, helpful attitude, and a few hours of train- ‘ing. Then you can be up in the air, flying with pilots. The same applies to navigators. co) Terrace’s air search and rescue volunteers . typically use local aircraft for practices and searches. Sometimes they assist in air sear- ches conducted by Canadian Armed Forces squadron 442 out of CFB Comox with the Buf- falo aircraft. “CASARA is a national association with set rules and standards that operates under the Provincial Emergency Program. A pre-training meeting is planned for March 10 at the North West Community Health Services building at 9am. For information call Peter at 635-4476. There’s also a meeting scheduled for Kitimat residents March 14 at 7 p.m. at the Kitimat Air Park. Celebrate with dessert © WOMEN ages 14 and up are heartily inviled to celebrate International Women’s Day to- morrow (March 8) with a potluck dessert evening at the Coast Inn of the West. Organizers are planning a great line-up of entertainment, a fabulous speaker, and door: prizes. Please bring a dessert (including a list of ingredients in case of allergies) and expect to have a great time. The festivities begin at 6:30 p.m. Child care subsidies are available if you pre-register by calling the Terrace Women’s Resource Centre at 638-0228. Eco poet reads tonight KEN BELFORD, author of Pathways into the Moun- :tains, presents an evening of poetry at the Terrace Art Gallery tonight. A Smithers-based writer and puide-outfitter, Bel- ford offers a truly northern perspective on environ- mental issues. His poems look at both sides of the preservation- development equation, and his internal struggle to balance environ- mental concerns with his own survival. _An Byening with Ken Belford begins at 7 - p.m. in the art gallery, located in the lower level of the Terrace Public Library. Ken Belford OMMUN [TY =: How the healing begins By JENNIFER LANG LOUISA SMITH has walked through the sacred fire clear through to the other side. And she’s now helping other residential school abuse victims embark on that same painful but necessary journey themselves. “Healing is an inside job. and nobody can do it but the self — with the guidance of someone. who's been there,” says Smith, coordinatar and counsellor for the Northwest Band Social Worker's new residential abuse survivor — program. It’s hard to imagine Smith, now a married, middle-aged woman with her own adult child- ren, as 4 frightened not-quite-six- year-old Haisla girl. When her father died, she and her older brother and sister were taken from their mother’s home at Kemano village to the United Church-run Port Alberni residen- tial school. Because of their ages, the si- blings were housed in separate dorms from the start. It was terrifying. “T didn’t know where my sister was,” she says, recalling that first night. “I remember standing at the top of the stairs and crying for my mother in my language.” A matron — the first white woman Smith had ever seen — spoke to her in unfamiliar English. Smith’s memory of those days comes in glimpses and snippets: She remembers having her head banged repeatedly against a wall by a matron whe told her: “You stupid little Indian, don't you ever talk back to me.” Smith was nearly 10 when she was returned home. - The harrowing experience changed her life forever. She dir- ected her anger at her mother, at herself, and at her native culture. “IT was. just a brat,” Smith re- calls. Her mother would threaten to send her back when she misbe- haved. Smith now understands -her mother couldn’t have known the abuse she'd suffered at Port Al- berni. The children never spoke about it. Smith now heads up a team of counsellors who are trained to deal with the effects of residential school abuse. LOUISA, SMITH says survivors and their families need help. Those effects include problems like drug and alcohol addiction, depression, physical and sexual abuse, family violence and even suicide. “Everybody's affected, multi generational.” I's Smith uses her own astonishing . story to inspire others to take those first steps on a healing jour- ney that leads to self-respect and _ forgiveness. : “Forgiveness. i is not condoning what they did,” she says. Participants were given an overview of the residential school system to help them understand that what happened to their fami- lies were beyond their control. Residential schools, a system of institutions for native children, operated for more than a century, The system was devised by of- ficial! government. policy to assi- tailate native children by stripping »,,them of their: language and cul ture. ' “Ht is nota happy’ story,” “| remember standing at the top of the stairs and crying for my mother in my language.” The Northwest Band Sacial Workers Association is holding a series of community workshops for survivors and family members. About 50 people showed up to a recent workshop in Terrace. “There were people crying, just acknowledging their lost child- hood, and their lost families.” says. “The idea is to understand the past, not to dwell on the past.” To do that, people must get in touch with the core of their feel- ings to discover the “most hurtful components of the memories. “Some of them are soa ashamed of being native,” she adds. “It's part of their scripl, but we can re- write that script.” Tt taok Smith a long time to un- derstand how Port Alberni affected her, As the years passed, the hurt and anger buried deep inside her eventually manifested itself as de- _ bilitating physical pain located an her left side, near her heart. It felt like an open wound. She was prescribed painkillers and medication, some seven dif- ferent pills a day, and at one point ended up in a pain clinic at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. The turning point came in 1990, when Smith's daughter toak her to a workshop on emotional healing. The presenter’ s story was different, but certain details were the same. She realized her emotions had been frozen since she was a litile girl, preventing her from reaching out to her mother or her siblings. “That was the beginning of my healing journey,” she says, “[.was able to see what the residential school system did to a nation.” It took many years, and many painful steps through “the sacred fire” to come to terms with the past, She hopes the workshops will help transform the way people think. “We are worthy, intelligent human beings, who are worthy of the respect of others, including the self.” Participants who need further counselling have a number of op- tions. They can gain one-on-one counselling through the Northwest Band Social Workers Association. Others may need a special treatment program designed for people. who have been trauma- tized. by the residential schools. Meanwhile, individual and -class action lawsuits continue to progress as victims seek financial compensation and justice for what happened to them as children. “Tt doesn’t take away the pain. You've still got to work through it,” she says, “People need to be very aware that monetary compensation doesn't mean the hurt is going to go away,” For more information please contact the Northwest Band So- cial workers Association at 638- 0744 in Kitselas, at 626-8435 in Prince Rupert and 1-888-655-6533. ROSE WOLD, (pictured wearing a hat at leit) and Aileen Frank look at a birthday card signed by dozens of friends. Frank’s daugh- ter, Patricia (Tricia) White was also on hand tor the celebra- tion March 1 at the Happy Gang Centre, which was filled to bursting with well wishers. She makes this town ‘a better place’ Friends turn out to a big party for Aileen Frank By JENNIFER LANG ONE OF Terrace’s very first school teachers said she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and heartfelt wishes at her recent birthday party. Friends, former colleagues and even students, crowded into the Happy Gang Centre March |. to celebrate Aileen Frank's 87th birthday, regaling the guest of honour with cake, the Happy Birthday song, stories and many kind words. . Her table quickly filled up with . dozens of birthday cards and bou- -quets from friends attending the . celebration. “You make this community a better place in which to live,” said former colleague and friend Vesta Dougias. “Tt shows the amount of respect and admiration and love Aileen has found in the community,” city councitlor Olga Power said, call- ing the large turnout “a tribute to a wonderful lady.” Former stu- time she plays her own auto harp, purchased last year. “T think there’s many students with fond memories,” Christian- sen said, Frank, who remains a vital force as a volunteer, urrived in Terrace by boat from Victoria dur- ing the Depression to take her first teaching position in 1934, dent Darlene Keeping said she remem- Maimie Kerby, a “She was such a fan- Xalum school stu- tastic teacher.” dent at the time, remembers how bered Frank — playing the auto harp for her class at Cassie Hall Elementary School. “She was such a fantastic teacher,” Keeping said, adding. Frank was very caring with stu- dents. City councillor Lynne Christ iansen was also tatight by Frank, . and sdid she thinks of her every the young school teacher cut a striking, glamourous figure with her dark hair set in a _ fashionable wave, “As kids, we thought she was just beautiful, ” Kerby said. Young single men- were eager to check’ out the new school tea- cher, too. ‘Brothers Floyd and Wan Frank saw her across the street. Frank said, “Not bad, Not bad at alf!” according to a stary he would later tell Yvonne Moen, who or- ganized the birthday party “just because” for the former school teacher, The smitten young Floyd mar- tied Aileen Longworth in 1938. Their marriage is one of the long- est in Terrace, They have four children, 10 grandchildren, and three grand- daugisters, Daughter Patricia White said - her mother gave Floyd a black eye on their first date. “She threw a snowball at him,” said White, who doesn't live in Terrace but returns here each year to belebrate her mother’s birthday. “She's just a wonderful mother,” White beamed at’ the crowd,