Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 22/01) - For three days in late September, Goota Ashoona, originally of Cape Dorset, lived the life of a Mennonite woman.

Partners in Motion, a Saskatchewan-based production company, chose Ashoona and her family to switch places with the Sudermans of Winnipeg. A camera crew followed her, husband Bob Kussy, twins Sam and Joe and nephew Koomuartuk Curley, throughout their new life. In Yellowknife, the same happened to the Sudermans.

The one-hour program, "Trading Places," airs Dec. 9 on the Life Network.

"The whole premise of the show is that two families step into each other's lifestyles," says producer Heather Kaisler.

"At first, I didn't like it," says Ashoona about a camera following her around everywhere "except in the washroom or when I was sleeping. I (would) just freeze all the time. It was very uncomfortable. Every time they turned the camera off, then I would just start talking."

Also shy, Sam and Joe frequently hid in the basement of the Suderman's Winnipeg home

For Ashoona, the first big surprise came when the crew told her she would host a tea for the ladies.

"I had 10 ladies in that place for tea. They brought the cakes. One lady brought me flowers. I had to make the tea and serve it in little (china) teacups," says Ashoona. "

Early the first morning of her new life, the crew told Ashoona to wake up, that the children were coming. While living the life of Anne Suderman, Ashoona ran a day care for seven children.

"I'm never going to do this again," says Ashoona.

Another memorable moment captured by the camera came when Curley climbed -- and fell from -- his first tree, losing a shoe in the process.

As temporary Mennonites, the Northerners had to attend a Bible study group and dine at the home of the family's patriarch.

"The families were so different and live very contrasting ways of life. The Sudermans are very regimented, very centred around routine and were very thrown about the fact that when they stepped into Yellowknife, there wasn't so much of a routine, that they could fly by the seat of their pants."

Ashoona and her family experienced the opposite, leading very scheduled lives.