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Women made wise through sewing
"When they're going through the healing process and creating something for themselves or for others, it makes you feel whole, healed," says Rhoda Karetak who has taught women to sew for almost five decades. by Kerry McCluskey
NNSL (Mar 16/98) - Rhoda Karetak is one of the North's wise women and she has the award to prove it. Recently honored for her contributions to the NWT at the legislative assembly building in Yellowknife, Karetak won the Wise Woman award after being nominated by 18 people in Gjoa Haven, Iqaluit, Kugluktuk and Rankin Inlet. In her acceptance speech and in an interview spoken in Inuktitut and interpreted by Juliana Boychuk, Karetak urged young Inuit women to follow in her footsteps and learn how to sew. "When they're able to sew, they seem to have a happier, healthier lifestyle," says Karetak, 63. "When they're going through the healing process and creating something for themselves or for others, it makes you feel whole, healed," says Karetak who has taught women to sew for almost five decades. Dressed entirely in pieces of clothing she made herself, Karetak says she learned to sew kamiks out of seal and caribou hide when she was 12 years old and can't even begin to estimate how many pairs of the traditional Inuit boots she has sewn in her lifetime. Karetak says making Inuit clothing is practical and will help to preserve Inuit culture. "Everything is so expensive today and it brings out the Inuit style. Also, they're more comfortable and when the women are in the colder climate, they're warmer." Karetak has also been recognized for her ceramics and her sketch work but says she prefers to donate most of her time to her needle and thread. "I'm not into other things as much because there is no time but I do like drawing. I'm always making amoutis for my relatives so I'm busy." She did take time out to participate in an Inuit Art Foundation pan-Arctic women's workshop in Ottawa in 1997. Developed in order to improve the network between women artisans, Karetak demonstrated her ceramic-making techniques to the 16 other women who participated. "I was very happy with all the women and that was good to see, the women so serious about what they want to learn. They were all older women and the fact that they were able to create something like that, I was happy and impressed with that." Karetak was nominated for the Wise Woman award because of her involvement in community healing, her dedication to teaching traditional knowledge and because so many young women look up to her and see her as a strong role model. |