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The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 29, 1995 - B1

TERRACE STANDARD }

INSIDE SECTION | B COMMUNITY CRIS LEYKAUF

EVENTS B2

REG HORNE

LJ a Winter longings THE SEASONS move along in Terrace. Not sa long ago, the edge between land and sky became more distinct as the white snow against a blue horizon replaced the grey rock covered in cloud. Winter is a pic- turesque time of year in Terrace.

However, a negative side came to me as ] was driving home one day and noticed the snow line beginning to move down the slopes. Suddenly I felt a surge of claustrophobia.

Living in a community with only one way ’ in and one way oul and having been bom- barded with avalanche stories, I began to envision myself trapped for the winter, like the main characters in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. (That’s an old musical about fourteen people trapped for the winter in an Oregon logging camp.)

Indeed, while walking around the mail, with this movie still in mind, the thought occurred to me that maybe skiing wasn’t the most popular winter sport in Terrace, as Thad been led to believe.

The 1991 Census counted 900 children under age five in the city and 27% of.the population under age 15. The Canadian average is only 21%. In contrast, less than 5% of the City population is over age 65, compared to 11% nationally.

Terrace is full of young people and young couples. According to my geography textbooks, these figures make Tertace a classic example of a frontier town.

Another aspect of the frontier town is a surplus of males. Fifty eight per cent of the population of Terrace is male, although only 49% of Canadians are males. Not all of these surplus men are single however.

Among my limited circle of friends are four men who have left much loved spouses elsewhere as part of their decision to take advantage of job opportunities in Terrace, Home ownership and employment commit- ments are the main reasons their wives stay behind,

HR Is the little things which sustain a relationship, the feeling of partnership, and the op- portunities for non-sexual in- timacy are as important as pas- sfon.

My friends all say that they miss the litule things of a relationship, the quiet conversations, doing things together, and having someone to share experiences with, including the beauly of the firs! snow on the mountains,

While all of these men have lived away from their spouses before, all agree that the only one growing rich from these experiences is the tele- phone company,

One is tempted to say, don’t try this at home, these are professional transient workers. Certainly, it strikes me that hidden in their long- ing is some good advice for married couples in general. It is the little things which sustain a re- lationship, the feeling of partnership, and the opportunities for non-sexual intimacy areas im- portant as passion.

As I am writing this, one of the men dropped by to tell me that his wife had finally sold their house, after a year on the market, and she would be coming out to Terrace shortly to rejoin him.

Meanwhile, the other three continue counting the days until they can be reunited with their families in various parts of the country, even if it means reducing the surplus of males in Ter- race for a few weeks,

This brings me back to the seasons, for spring officially began last week. For a person who en- Joys watching the world go by, it means new scenes and new adventures. The important parts of our history are the ones not yet made - or have I just been influenced by that old movie where they all lived happily ever after?

Dr. Reg Horne is a member of the University of Northern British Columbia, Faculty of Natu- ral Resources and Environmental Studies, bases in Terrace, ~

VOLUNTEERS OF THE YEAR AWARDS.

Deadline day i is Friday |

YOU'VE GOT to the end of this week to nominate someane you know for 1995's Volunteers of the Year awards.

Five more local volunteers were nominated last week, bringing the total number of nominees to eight so far.

Double nominations came in for Terrace Search and Rescue volunteer Dave Jephson.

Jephson is currently president of both Terrace Search and Res- eve and Terrace Water Search and Rescue.

Nominator Lisa Stella notes he received rescue, honour and bravery awards in 1994 for res- cues and searches carried out.

“Dave is also heavily involved with the Dive Team here in Ter- race,” says his other nominator, fire chief Randy Smith. “He

spends in excess of 10 hours a.

weck training, planning and fund- raising.”'

Longtime Breastfeeding Sup- port Group volunteer Pamela Straker was nominated by Denise Tupman,

Straker volunteers for two hours a day at Mills Memorial Hospital as a lactation consultant helping new mothers leam how to breastfeed their babies.

“The most amazing thing that Pamela does, however, is to en- courage any mother who needs

help to phone her day or night if uceded for help and encourage- ment."

“Although Pam would never believe it, many families here would agree that she deserves this local recognilion.”’

Niki Godfrey was nominated by Diane Caddy for her work on behalf of local women.

Godfrey has been a volunteer for more than a year with the Ter- race Women’s Resource Centre, taking on tasks from librarian to emcee at the latest International Women’s Day potluck,

“Niki has just started voluntecring at K’san House Society, where she’s heavily in-

volved it ‘stopping “violence against women,’ Caddy added,

Veteran Terace firefighter Wally Mantel was nominated by fire chisf Randy Smith.

A member of the depariment since 1959, Mantel volunteers eight hours a month for training and has been an active member on the rescue truck.

‘He holds the rank of Captain and has the respect of his fellow firefighters,’ Smith added.

Also nominated last week was Terrace Churches Food Bank volunteer Terri Mahoney.

Continued Page B10

LOOKING FOR JUSTICE —Roporter Lynne T Terbasket recently finding real justice for both the victims of sexual abuse and the played the role of mentor in helping a group of a teenage abusers. Lynne helped them produce a tape for their play Heal

aboriginal peer counselors. They've written a radio play about

Culture offers solutions

ing of the Wolf Child which will air in April,

Teens battle demons

NO ONE likes to talk about sexual abuse. No one likes to think it may be happening in their family. In small communities par- ticularly, it's difficult to publicly acknowledge. That’s why the courage of a local group of tcenage native peer counsellors is so remarkable.

Sexual abuse was one of the most important issues the group found themselves facing -when they formed just over a year ago. Because of a past history of sexu- al abuse in residential schools, many native communitics are plagued by an on-going cycle of abuse.

When the peer counselling group decided to try and stop the cycle of sexual abuse in their communilics, they chose to publicly acknowledge. the prob- Jem in the form of a radio play.

Healing of the Wolf Chiid will be broadcast by Northern Native Broadcasters in mid-April, The characters are all fictional, but could probably be found in any native communily.

“The play focuses om a young girl named Starena and her expe- rience of being abused,’’ says Lynne Terbasket, a reporter from Northem Native Broadcasting. ‘Tt talks abowt the. traditional styles of healing versus the con- temporary ways of dealing with abuse.”!

Terbaskel describes her role in the play as that of channeling the teens’ energy, and helping them write their script in the correct format for radio.

“But it’s their ideas, their writ-

ing and their play,’’ she stresses.

The teens didn’t want to talk about the play, because it touches so closely on issues they are deal- ing with as counsellors.

But the group did say- that they wrote the play to let people who have been molested know they are not alone, They also wanted to emphasize the important role traditional native healing pro- cesses can play in stopping the cycle of abuse,

“The play was their way and giving something back,” says Joanne Peters, of the Circle of Harmony Healing Society. She provides on-going support and guidance for the native peer counsellors, and says she is con- stantly amazed by the commit- ment and courage shown mv the

group.

“A lot of this crap comes from the residen- tial schools... and it’s

- got to be dealt with”

In the ‘play, the main character, Starena {fs abused, and tells her

grandmother about it, The grand-—

mother doesn’t want Starena to go through a painful experience in the courts, as she once did. They also decide they don’t want Starena’s abuser, Uncle Wally, to go to jail, because they feel he won’t receive adequate treatment,

So the community decides’ to hold a cleansing ceremony for Uncle Wally, after he goes through a period of counselling and growth.

“By bringing the entire com- munity together, healing is al- lowed to happen,’’ says Terbas- ket,

Later in the play the audience leas Uncle Wally and his brother Charlie, Starena’s father, were abused at a residential school,

The community acknowledges the pain both men endured, and offers sympathy and counselling.

The theme of the community accepting responsibility for the treatment of both victim and abuser is present throughout the play.

“tA lot of this crap comes from the residential schools... and it’s got to be dealt with,”’ says Ter- basket. ‘But I don’t belicve the kids have falth in the court sys- tem. And if the courts aren't working then the kids are looking at what is working, such as cleansing feasts,”’

The play will be broadcast April 18 at 10:25 a.m. Following the play, a panel of elders will

take calls and talk about tradi- -

tional forms of healing,

‘So far the response has been really positive,’ says Terbasket. “For the well being of the kids

‘and the community, there has to —

be some sort of system imple- mented in the community,’’ she says.

Terbasket and the peer counselling group hope the play will start a dialogue in the com-

-faunity on sexual abuse, because

healing can’t begin until com-

munities acknowledge the prob-

638: 1283

volunteer.

Words of the wolf

The following is an excerpt from Healing of the Wolf Child. Charlie, the father of the abused girl, and brother of the abuser, makes this speech during a cleansing ceremony.

‘When I was going to the residential school, I was abused by the priest I never dealt wilh it, ] never wanted to talk about it. I was ashamed about what happened to me. I thought if I told anyone that they wouldn't believe me. And when my daughter was abused, | went into denial be- cause I never dealt with my own issues of sexual abuse. | would not belicve my brother would do that to my own daughter.

This cycle of abuse has to ‘stop. And we're the only ones who can take control and put a stop to it by healing our-

_ Selves and helping to heal the victims,

I want my daughter to deal face to face wilh this ugly monster of sexual abuse in ‘our family. 1 realized that if we didn't deal with this now, Starena would turn to alcohol and drugs to escape her own palin and abuse, just as [ have, and the cycle of violence would continue.”

The Healing of the Wolf ‘| Child airs at 10:25 a.m, on | April 18 at 92. lon the FM

band.