Empowered by Ayalik
Fund honouring late teen helps youth through land trips
Beth Brown
Northern News Services
Monday, October 17, 2016
IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY
This summer, Erika MacPherson Otokiak of Cambridge Bay learned how to start a fire, swim in open water and open a can with a knife. The 16-year-old also learned to portage a canoe from one river to another, in the back country of Ontario's Algonquin Park.
Ayalik Fund grantees Carter Ehaloak, left, and Roy Nanogak, both 13, of Cambridge Bay participated in an eight-day Northern Youth Leadership traditional skills wilderness camp in the Mackenzie Mountains. - photo courtesy of David Pelly |
"I had never carried a heavy canoe before. It was a lot of work," said MacPherson Otokiak. "When we actually got in the water I was kind of nervous. I used the paddle strokes they showed me and I got the hang of it right when we got in the water."
When it was her turn to serve as leader for the day, she learned to navigate the river from a map and direct her 14-person group.
"It was frustrating at first, because I'm not really good at maps."
MacPherson Otokiak participated in a 13-day Outward Bound canoe trip thanks to the Ayalik Fund, a special grant for Inuit youth from Nunavut. She said it was the best trip she has ever been on.
"Our ocean is too cold, so I don't bother doing anything in there. To be out there where the water is nice and warm, it was great."
David and Laurie Pelly started the fund in 2015 to commemorate their son Eric Ayalik Okalitana Pelly, whom they adopted as a toddler in Cambridge Bay. Eric died suddenly in Dec. 2014 of cardiac arrhythmia at age 19.
The fund now has over 300 donors. Five youth received grants in the first summer, and this year the fund sent twice as many on confidence and skill building trips.
"We believe, because of the experience with our own son, this is what will ultimately help them to achieve success," said David Pelly.
This summer, the grant allowed teens to go on a canoe trip on the North Arm of Great Slave Lake from Behchoko to Yellowknife, a 13-day sea-kayak expedition on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and a traditional skills wilderness camp in the Mackenzie Mountains.
"We fund participation in a program," said David Pelly, which might mean buying the youth hiking boots. But the Pellys are hoping to establish a relationship with a Northern airline to offset the cost of airfare, which eats up most of the grant.
"Airfare is a huge expense," and the more remote the community the more expensive, he said.
The Ayalik Fund is intended to benefit those who have limited access to travel, either financially or socially, and for youth who are shy and less likely to seek out these opportunities.
Pelly said 100 per cent of the funding goes towards sending the children, as all the administrative work is done by himself.
"I feel everyday as if I am spending time with my son, who I miss terribly," he said.
The trips also help young people build community.
"I got to meet new people and learn new things," MacPherson Otokiak said. "It was great to be away from home to see what else the world can bring."
On this trip the world brought her Hazel, a tent-mate and new friend from New York.
"Me and Hazel are both heavy sleepers and we were the hardest to wake up every morning. That was my favourite part because me and her were sort of the same but different."
The girls are keeping in touch despite the distance.
She sent a letter to the fund noting how happy she was to have met Hazel, and how exciting it was to grow stronger in nature.
"I learned that here are good days and bad days and you just have to look up and be a prouder person than who you were yesterday," she wrote.
After participating on the Algonquin Park trip, Cambridge Bay's Annie Aktologaknak Haongak, 15, also wrote a letter expressing her thanks for the experience.
"If it weren't for you Ayalik Fund, I wouldn't get to meet these wonderful people," wrote Haongak.
"This was a once-in-a lifetime opportunity for people up North."
