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Teach the children

By Kim Swaney

Teach the children and let the children sing. Young men from the Chief Cliff Drummers taught children drumming and singing all week during the afternoon sessions at the annual Kootenai Culture and Language Camp. The young singers each took their turn with leading the songs while many from the community intensely listened and watched. (Kim Swaney photo)

ELMO — “It takes a village to raise a child,” reads the caption on the Ktunaxa/Ksanka language and cultural camp t-shirt given to registered participants recently at the close of camp held here. It also takes generous nations willing to share to carry on the lessons to the children and families.

More than a dozen tribes and several bands of the Ktunaxa nation converged on the tiny town of Elmo to share their wisdom, knowledge, language, legends and culture with more than 160 participants.

“You make sure you mention all the people that came here,” instructs Margaret “Muggs” Friedlander, as she sits, watches and listens with delight to the voices of young people speaking and singing in Kootenai.

The community center came alive and people seemed to be uplifted as they sang, “Wii, wii,” from the song “I Dance Behind My Aunt,” a song that honors their relationship, for they are responsible for the disciplining and rearing of their siblings’ children.

There were people from Colville, Yakima, and the Kootenai bands from Bonners Ferry, Columbia Lake, St. Mary’s, Creston and Tobacco Plains. There were Sioux, Chippewa, Salish, Pend d’Oreille, Blackfeet, Navajo, Coeur d’Alene, and Okanogan who all came to renew friendships and relationships, and to share or learn about the history, culture and language of the Kootenai peoples.

“Our language is an isolate, there’s no other language like it,” explains Gigi Caye, who has been organizing the Kootenai Language and Cultural Camp for the last seven years. Each year she invites as many teachers and master craftspeople to oversee the activities as she can and the Kootenai Culture Committee can support.

Nissa Perez says she beads better than her mother, Dana Hewankorn. Dana who undoubtedly does beautiful beadwork, smiled and agreed with her daughter. (Kim Swaney photo)

“I’ve been trying to get these guys to come here for a long time,” she says about two Kootenai men from Creston, British Columbia who are known for making the traditional sturgeon-nosed canoe used amongst the Kootenai peoples throughout the Northwest for centuries. Patrick and Richard Jacobs’ mini-sized canoes were a hit.

“You know what’s really neat? Nobody makes them [sturgeon-nosed canoe] anymore. You don’t find any tribes that do,” says DeeAnna Auld, who worked on her mini canoe all week.

The tradition of making full-sized sturgeon-nosed canoes has been of the Jacobs family for more than three generations. The Jacobs’ parents, Wilfred and Agatha, who are both deceased, also started a tipi construction company more than 20 years ago in Canada. Patrick and Richard continue to keep their parent’s Ktunaxa Tipi business thriving.

Tying the past to present and keeping the traditions intertwined with the contemporary, help keep the Kootenai language and culture alive.

The Jacobs say they are working on developing a web site to promote their “Ktunaxa Tipi” business but for now anyone needing to place an order with them can call (250) 428-3968. Prices range from $200 to $1000, depending on the size.

But not only do the Jacobs use modern technology to help promote their traditional skills, so do others. Each week, Friday mornings are set aside to teach Kootenai language with Vernon Finley, with the aid of computer technology.

At camp, Rosemary Caye with the Kootenai Culture Committee used Microsoft’s software to explain the Kootenai’s way-of-life to participants. Caye showed portions of the legends and beliefs associated with the constellation and the weather via a Powerpoint presentation that could rival any modern-day technology used by meteorologists to predict the weather.

Numerous stations during the week used “inju-nuity” or the use of contemporary materials with aged-old practices or used aged-old practices for contemporary activities. Howard Walker, who works for Tribal Health at the Elmo Fitness Center, kept youth tamed and focused using fitness and exercise.

Ten year-old Kyla Blixt tries on one of her moccasins she finished during the annual Kootenai Culture and Language Camp recently. Kyla's great-grandmother, Louise (Glover) Phillips used to get 50 to 75 cents for a pair of moccasins back in the day says Tammy Hamel who works in the gift shop at The People's Center. Hamel volunteered all week to teach how to make moccasins her grandma's way - Oshanee Kenmille's way. (Kim Swaney photo)

The traditional game of stickgame played used dowels and acrylic paints to make their 11 sticks and two sets of bones at one of the stations. PVC plastics were used to make mini drum frames and other items.

If there was something you’ve always wanted to learn but didn’t know who to ask - this was the place to be. Participants spent their mornings learning the Kootenai alphabet and how to enunciate their sounds. The afternoons were spent cutting and drying meat, making mini sturgeon-nosed canoes, ribbon shirts and traditional clothing, making dream catchers, cordage from dogbane, moccasins, bark baskets, breastplates and necklaces. Participants also beaded, sculpted with clay and painted feathers.

Young men from the Chief Cliff drummers taught drumming and singing to youngsters, which included an audition at the end of the week of their musical talents. Their music was sweet to the ears.

According to the Linguistic Society of America, “Whatever the world’s linguistic diversity at the present, it is steadily declining. When a language ceases to be learned by young children, its days are clearly numbered, and we can predict with near certainty that it will not survive the death of the current native speakers.

As the once-a-year camp comes to close you can’t help but wonder if the four-day camp is enough to keep the Kootenai language alive? Some say yes or no, others want the camp every day and still others like Rhonda Friedlander Bessette, who is a tribal member and a licensed speech pathologist, can’t help but say, “Our native language is not endangered, it’s on life-support.”

It is estimated that there are approximately 100 to 150 fluent Kootenai or Kutenai language speakers left in the world, with only a handful here in Montana and Idaho. And if having a village conduct language camp once a year is all they have to keep their culture and language alive, then teach the children.