My name is Kaya. I am the eldest sister of two.

I am part of the Inuit tribe.

My family and I live in the Arctic region.

This is my life ……( I hate poetry )

Sometimes I wish we didn’t have tepees at all. The places were the Caribou and hooded seal overlap is the worst sleeping place. I came home late, and everyone else had the good spots. So, raindrops pattered down on me all night.

We build igloos by cutting hard snow or ice into squares and stack them one on top of the other. Then we put up a tent inside in case they break.

So, anyways, my house is so lame. It gets my newly-made parka all wet. My parkas are totally the best of everyone , except maybe my mother. My parkas consist of: soft animal pelts inside, stylish, furry outside. I decorate it with beads and feathers, and line the hood with white fox skin.

Dad, the least you could do is NOT drag the freshly killed seal in!? I mean, it gets ALL OVER my beautiful parka and the floor. Woops, sorry, I wrote what I said! Anyways, my dad is a great hunter. We have many animals to eat. Some of my dad’s favorites are hooded seal, musk ox, arctic bird, arctic hare, and, of course, the CARIBOU BLOOD ON MY PARKA!!! Caribou. Yeah, caribou.(messy

things!) In my tribe, it is absolutely, very much against the law to hunt a mating animal. So don’t.

I am so unique. Sigh… my tribe has certain roles for each person. Men hunt, women sew. And cook. And take care of the children. But I really want to get out of the igloo. You know, Run a dogsled to scare up arctic hares. The man stuff. Sewing Adorable parkas for Istas. She is the cutest little sister ever. She has so many winter booties, my mom can’t even count them. Guess what? I made them!

Today I almost fell of a cliff. I was walking along home, then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I heard rocks hit the ground. I looked down, and there was a cliff. See, this is what is so bad about this place. To many abrupt cliffs and rocky outcrops. In the summer, there are not many freshwater ponds that are deep. Most are shallow.

Yuck! My parents banned me from sewing my parka so I could get some fresh air.

So I studied nature. I went all over the Inuit village. I sat near the ocean and I saw hooded seal, beluga whale, walrus, and a narwhal. I started to walk home and saw these caribou, polar bear, musk oxen, arctic fox, and the arctic bird. I also studied plants, then I was told the names. There are old man’s beard, monkshood, devil’s club, dwarf fireweed, pixie eye primrose, and wild geranium.

It is super cold here in the winter. Pretty long ones too. Snow is pretty common around here. Summer is nice. No snow on the ground (probably some still on the mountains). But I am sooo going to freeze to death one day. My parents are terrible igloo builders. The roof caves in sometimes. Gets on my stylish parka. In winter, sometimes there are snowstorms. You do NOT want to be caught in one of those.

The winters around this place are pretty long. The day becomes short. The snow becomes deep. The air becomes cold. Sorry, just putting danger in this thing. So anyways, I’m stuck inside until my dad returns from the hunt. We just got some snow. My dad is a pro at digging things (like our igloo entrance) out of the snow. One time he and some of the other men from the village were out hunting with the sled dogs, and they were caught in a big snowstorm. All the women from the village went to the center of our village and decided to dig out the village. The men returned shivering, with red noses, claiming that they were fine. Ha! We women had seen enough blizzards, snowstorms and winds to know these men got the worst of it! They shivered, and told empty little stories of “endless snow, freezing, shrieking winds, and having snow nearly suffocating them.” “we can survive anything!” they claimed. The women said “ this is a lesson for you. Never go hunting before a storm!”

Hi. I haven’t written in this diary so long, I just found it today, the day I turned 20. so, anyways, I have a story for you. One day, when we were having a village gathering, HUGE dark clouds raced toward us. We all ran as fast as possible to our Igloo’s. No one made it back to their Igloo except my little 5-year-old sister Istas, and other little kids. I shoved her in right as the first big wind hit. I grabbed onto the ground and pulled my cold self inside. Istas was crying quietly in the corner as the gale whistled outside. I picked her up and put her to sleep. I wrapped myself in quilts to protect myself, and ducked my head out, grabbing as many people and animals in my reach. Then, my hand nearly froze to a little sled dog, so I pulled her inside and fainted. Istas tells the rest of the story in her words.

(on next slide)

So once I realized a full-blown gale was breaking out, I cuddled our little sled dog. Kaya’s hand was blue with cold. She was sprawled on the floor. I tried to go outside, but the exit was buried in snow! My little sled puppy was digging at it furiously, so I joined her. My sister had grabbed the neighboring dogs, but no humans. We all started to dig together. Finally, one we reached the sky, the snow was so deep I had to ride on a dog. I saw half buried everything , and so much storm debris.

I saw other little kids doing what I had. We all were taught how to survive this type of weather alone, without parents. We knew we had to find someone who could help. We dug out every igloo, and soon we had a bunch of kids and dogs, wanting to help. We discovered all the parents had been buried deep in snow, and needed rescuing fast, before they suffocated. We dug out each and every one, until all that were left to find was my mother. That’s all I’m telling you, the rest is just to sad.

I would love to become a known sled dog racer. Then maybe I won’t be thought of as “silly”. Everybody hates me just because I accidentally umm… tipped over 17 sleds… off a cliff…. No dogs were hurt right? So they just build new sleds.

Also, I hope to become a respected leader of my tribe. We are encountering new diseases and I am secretly a trained healer.

And you know what would be the best? To be all those things plus a parka maker.

YAWN…….. I’m soo tired I can’t even move. My sister is writing this. I believe this is my last entry. So I will put in my tribes outlook. Things are not so great. We encounter new diseases a lot. Many have died. Many were lost or killed hunting. Including my family, there are only 15 families left. I give all the things I earned to Istas and her family. She has two lovely little twins. I have only one little son, who has grown up. I give my sled team to him. YAWN… ok bye… FOREVER.

› In 1940, the Canadian government forced the Inuit to be civilized. Around now, there are still some Inuit, but they are modern, like us. Most of them have a T.V. there are still cultures alive and thriving in the villages. hunting, for example, is still important.

In my report, I think I should get an A or a B+. I worked hard, but in the end it was fun to write.

I learned that in harsh climates, only the toughest survive because the Inuit had to build homes out of snow, hunt every day, and work together to survive. You can always trust the mother, especially to make warm winter gear and blankets. That concludes my report.

› "Canada's first people." Canada's first people. goldi productions, 2007. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. <http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/>.

› ncwiseowl.com› Google images› https://www.itk.ca/about-inuit/inuit-today › http://jauntmagazine.wordpress.com/2013/03/07

/inuit-canada-trips/› Merrian Webster Dictionary