Once again, I opened the doors of the Exshaw School in Exshaw Alberta, and entered along with a chill breeze of Canadian air. I brought the baby basket supplies I had researched and purchased in Boston. This visit my goal was to build and implement the Exshaw School’s “Baby Literacy” Program.  The Exshaw School student body is 97% Aboriginal, and draws from the Stoney Nakoda Nation in Morley, outside Calgary. The school’s intake testing shows that an average child enters Kindergarten at a three year old level in academics, having had little exposure to print, pictures, or activities that develop reading and writing skills. Early literacy is crucial for success in today’s complex world so I am excited to try to grow a love of books and learning through preparing “Welcome Baskets” for each baby born to families with students in Exshaw School.

I am happy to return after last year’s experience in technology-teaching, helping a group of Sixth Grade girls write, illustrate, and add photos and music to original stories. It was a week I would never forget. Their drawings and stories came from their hearts, and were truly beautiful. The detail of characters, animals, trees and places were exquisite and unique. Through the creation of the stories, I saw the true potential in these girls. They were the same as any other girls I had encountered--caring, kind and wonderful.

Each time I come back I see more evidence of how much we are alike, yet at the same time live such different lives.  Thinking back to last year, my fourth trip to the school, I felt “at home.” I recall eating lunch with the girls as we discussed TV shows we liked, “Mac” computers, and I shared about my family.  I’m sure many of the students in that room had never seen a “Mac” before. I showed them that I could take pictures and videos using the computer, and discussed my favorite television programs. I then told them about my father and his job as an MIT professor. Leandra said “I love all those things too.” The conversation awed the girls and from what I could tell, and gave them hope for their own futures.

Last year my mother and I stopped at Safeway to pick up cake and brownies for the student presentations on the final day. Lunch was corn dogs, a treat for the students. The whole Sixth Grade came in, excited for the cake. I realized they didn’t get cake very often, so it meant the world to them.

This reminded me of when I started the first library at the Family Shelter on the Reserve—the first library they had ever had.  A group of Aboriginal students at the High School and a teacher, had helped me build the Library.  As thanks, I invited them to lunch, and from their excitement I could tell the rarity of this type of experience.  One of the students brought her grandparents, and I enjoyed talking to members of that generation and hearing their stories.

Now this year I have had the opportunity to create a new program for the Stoney Community—a Baby Literacy Program that will design, fill and give gift baskets for the ~35 new babies that would be born to Exshaw students’ families.  I would work with students, teachers, and the Principal to prepare material to share with the community and tribal leaders, about the importance of literacy.  Wrapped in big swaths of blue and pink tulle, the baskets’ contents included gifts for the babies, but also a treat for the proud new mothers: 5 books, a bunny rattle, a set of pacifiers, a baby blanket, 2 chocolate bars, 1 bar of lovely handmade soap, new baby pamphlets, and an instructional DVD.  I thought it was important to include parenting and literacy information.  I’ve been volunteering with this school for five years, running Book and Warm Clothing drives, and building the Library, and it amazes me what the school means to the children and families of the Stoney Nakoda Nation.

As I prepared to leave I watched one of the girls put on my sister’s old coat. I recognized it from the last coat drive I had organized the previous year; I almost cried. My community service had helped this wonderful child succeed and stay warm in Alberta’s frigid temperatures.  My “sisters” at the Exshaw School have given me so much and the happiness I feel in being a part of their world is beyond words.

Exshaw School is a Kindergarten through Grade 8 school of about 155 students located in the Canadian Rockies about 1½ hours West of Calgary.  After graduating from Grade 8, most students continue on to the Canmore Collegiate High School.  About 97% of the youth come from the nearby Stoney Nakoda First Nations Aboriginal community. All three First Nations - Chiniki, Wesley, and Bearspaw are represented.

Watch this student made video about “Jealous Girls” made by Stoney Nation middle school students. 

Sisterhood is sometimes a challenge

for all of us!

Listen to

the voices

of

First Nation and Native American

women

in these recordings

by Smithsonian/Folkways