Far North Rambles #31: Kids and Fruit

On our 3rd or 4th Far North trip, we visited Sachigo Lake First Nation, northwestern Ontario (Photo 1). We enjoyed an experience that influenced the type of gift we brought north with us to give to a community. It is culturally appropriate to offer a gift when visiting a First Nation territory.

During our “walk about” through the First Nation community, we came across the school. There was a female and a male teacher outside with the kids. We were naturally drawn to the kids so we crossed the street intent to introduce ourselves. As we approached, one of the teachers immediately corralled her students with her open arms and hustled them towards the door into the school. The other teacher, and the teacher’s aide, were very friendly and welcomed us. As we chatted, we knelt to connect with the children. We were swarmed by energetic 6 year old kids. By swarmed, I mean swarmed - like puppies at a puppy farm. They jumped on our back, looked and pulled at our clothes, and opened and started to go into our pack sacks. They were just full of “happy and curious energy”. The teacher invited us to go with his class on a field trip to a nearby gravel pit. We agreed.

We went to the community store to buy something to share as a snack with the kids. Rather than chips and candy, we went to the produce section intent on buying field trip fruit. All that was available were several bags of “day old” fruit (several day old, actually) of mixed pears, apples, and oranges. We bought two bags as our contribution and headed back to the school.

Off we all went on the field trip. Have you ever tried to walk ten young puppies? That was the way it was with the kids. We ran, stopped, lay on the ground, bounced, rolled, and explored along the road to the gravel pit. The two school staff were excellent and always had the kids in hand, although, I confess, it seemed like a light hand, but it was the best way to burn off some of the kids’ energy.

At the gravel pit, the staff and kids looked, touched, climbed, and dug in the gravel (Photo 2). They shared knowledge with the kids and asked us to comment every so often. Then it was time for a snack. The kids suddenly sat in their circle. The teacher pulled out the snack food he had. We contributed the fruit. Out came the teacher’s pocket knife. He cut up the fruit into pieces and handed it out to the kids. We heard several children as “what is this?” It was a pear. I was surprised. They had never seen a pear before. That led into a discussion of fruit, what it is, where it comes from, and what it tastes like. Each child tasted the pear. Some loved it - so they said. A few disliked it - so they said, but they ate it. All the time I was processing the fact that these kids had never seen a pear before.

There are many reasons why these kids were not familiar with fruit. It is very expensive to fly in. It is at the end of the supply chain, so fruit in the remote communities was often “beat up” by the time it gets to the shelves. Sometimes the supplier in Thunder Bay, Sioux Lookout, or Red Lake had nothing left to ship north. Money is scarce across the Far North. Expensive, healthy food is not always the first option.

And so, the “what’s that” question asked by several energetic kids immediately influenced the type of gift we brought north with us. Starting our next trip to the far north, we took fresh fruit as a gift to the school and/or community. The fruit gift became our standard practice.

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Andy Fyon, Nov. 16, 2020 (Facebook Aug. 28, 2020)