Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (July 18/01) - It's about healing the mind and stopping the world.

Noah Tiktak, youth co-ordinator for the Pulaarvik Kablu Friendship Centre, leans back in office his chair while explaining the importance of the Makkuktut Sangiktilirput project, which focuses on teaching youth how to survive and enjoy the land.

His assistant, Gerry Panegoniak, listens and nods at an adjacent desk.

"Kids should be on the land every chance they get," says Tiktak.

For Tiktak, the land is the perfect drug for a world spinning crazy. "The land is the best medicine for the mind," he says.

"The world is too modern. Sometimes you need to get away from reality and get your feet back on the ground," says Tiktak.

The centre just finished its third camp of the season on June 30 and is now planning a fourth camp sometime soon.

"We're just waiting to get enough participants."

On these camps youth learn how to hunt, sew and cook, they interact with elders, listen to stories and immerse themselves in a world with only the tundra and sky as margins.

Here, Tiktak believes, the mind is freed, the junk accumulated through television and pop culture dissipates and the fragile connection between culture and nature is restored.

"It's part of our tradition, to hunt, to camp, to make tools," says Tiktak.

Panegoniak agrees. "They're really fun, you learn a lot abou/t our culture, self-respect," he says.

"You learn how to prepare meat, how to make bannock. There are lots of things to learn," he says.

Tiktak says the camps affect youth in only positive ways.

"The self-esteem gets higher, they get to know elders and make new friends," says Tiktak. "You can see it in their faces and it lasts after the camp is done."

The camps are free for the participants and sponsored by the centre, which draws funds from the National Association of Friendship Centres and Urban Multipurpose Aboriginal Youth Centre Committee.

"This program is to help preserve and make a priority our culture and traditions. It is very beneficial to the community," says Tiktak.

"Sometimes you just have to stop the world," says Tiktak.