Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (Aug 06/99) - Summer camp is always a great part of growing up and for the kids of the Deh Cho, it can also mean a learned experience of survival and sustenance in the bush as well as a new respect for the land and the people and animals who live here.

While the camp has been running for many years, this is the first year the camp has come to Spence Creek.

Program supervisor Mike Cazon came back to this piece of land his father once worked in the 1960s, to provide the youth a suitable location for the Dechinta summer program.

He says the camp is more than just a holiday for the youth.

"We teach them awareness of life in the bush -­ it's not just a game out here," he advised. "We teach about fire safety, cultural awareness, setting fishing nets and checking them, fileting and drying fish, hunting and setting snares -­ just a whole variety of things they need to know to be able to live on the land."

Working with the land is part of it, Cazon said, but the camp also teaches about working with each other.

"We also spend a lot of time teaching team building ­ gaining trust and building respect from those around you," Cazon said. "They all play a part in how the camp operates. The kids all take turns in daily chores."

Cazon said the camp fulfils an education that is missed in the public school system ­ an education that was once taught by parent to child.

"A lot of elders have said that there is a real lack of traditional values in our community right now," he said. "We try to incorporate this into our program."

He said the kids learn better when out on the land. Without all the distraction of modern life in town the youth are eager to learn.

"You have to take them out of that environment ­- especially with high-risk youth," he said. "You have to reinforce these values with them."

Mike's mother Mary Cazon came back to the camp to help out with cooking and counselling the kids on the traditional methods of bush life. She teaches about bush medicine, hide tanning and instills a work ethic in the kids, she says they aren't getting otherwise.

"Now with kids in town, they don't do very much," Mary said. "They watch too much TV and they don't have to work around the house. It's not good for them.

"Out here they all have chores to do and when we ask them to do them, they don't even complain about it," she said.

Mary and Virginia Tsetso cook for the 10 kids. The campers eat a variety of traditional foods as well as learn how to prepare them.

The kids are easy to please, she said, but diets have changed so much since she was young, Mary said.

"When we were kids living in the bush we use to just eat straight meat," she said. "Now it's not like that -­ the kids eat a lot of vegetables in stews and soups."

She enjoys working with the kids, she said. They enjoy the lessons learned and they repay her with a good feeling inside.

"I feel young when I work with the kids," Mary smiled.

Mary's husband Gabe first came here back in 1961. He has earned his living off the land and said the camp is all about growing up.

"I started working in the bush when I was 13," Gabe said. "No dog team, nothing. It was tough."

A hard life brought hard lessons, but Gabe is thankful for the knowledge he can pass on to the young people.

"That's what you do when you get older," he smiled. "If you make a mistake, you learn and pass it along and try not to make it again."

Gabe said they moved back into town when the kids had to go to school. Bush life was less complicated than life now and needs were few. Now, he says, money is the main motivation for people.

"We didn't need very much, though -­ not like today," he said. "We didn't have to pay for rent, lights and heat.

"You can still get about the same price for fur, but the cost of living is so damned high," he said, "and there's all the tools you need today. You've got to have a power saw, a Ski-Doo -­ it all costs money.

"Nowadays, all people want to do is just go out into the bush and get all the furs they can, just for money," Gabe said. "We didn't go into the bush to make money. We just went there to live."