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Weekly Prayer Cycle Pentecost 8

Irene Robinson explains her children’s book, which is helping to teach new generations the Nuu-chah-nulth language. Photo: Simon Chambers

July 27, 2014

By Simon Chambers

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Week of August 3 (Pentecost 8)

Reading: Isaiah 55:1-5

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.

Also: Matthew 14:13-21 (http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew+14:13-21&vnum=yes&version=nrsv)

PWRDF  Story: Teaching Parents by Teaching their Children by Simon Chambers, PWRDF Communications Coordinator  (This story first appeared on the PWRDF website on June 21, 2012).

Jackie Wells, Family and Health Services Team Leader at the Port Alberni Friendship Centre, really appreciates the “easy speak” that is included in a children’s book written by Irene Robinson to help teach Nuu-chah-nulth language and culture to children in the community.

The book, which teaches children about different ceremonies in Nuu-chah-nulth culture  that gather people together and feed them a meal, provides the name of each ceremony written both in the Nuu-chah-nulth alphabet and also phonetically in the Roman alphabet.  “I like the easy speak,” said Wells, “because it lets me learn along with my child.”  Wells, like most of the Nuu-chah-nulth, cannot read her language and speaks very little of it.

Al Little, at the Nuu-chah-nulth Economic Development Corporation (NEDC)””a PWRDF partner working to preserve the language””explained that there are only about 200 fluent speakers of Nuu-chah-nulth left, most of them over 65.

Robinson said that the language is in trouble because of the residential schools, where children were often beaten or otherwise punished for speaking in their own language.  She spoke of one elder’s description of his experience: “Every time he speaks [Nuu-chah-nulth], his stomach clenches because of the memories of the beatings he received at residential school for speaking his language.”

Irene Robinson, Jackie Wells, and the other staff at the Friendship Centre, have shared their book with local schools, the local library, and through their programs for children and parents.    The book has created an opportunity for elders to pass on their knowledge of their language and culture.

The reclamation of their culture has given pride and confidence to young people of the Nuu-chah-nulth nation today.  “I see kids who go to school on the reserve to learn their culture, singing, and dancing.  They feel good about themselves.  They’re confident.  They walk like they’re taller.  It makes me proud,” said Robinson.

For Reflection: Meals are often at the centre of our lives, be they spiritual, communal, or family.  In Isaiah, people are exhorted to eat and drink, even if they have no money to purchase the food, as part of God’s call to covenant.  In Matthew, the famous story of the feeding of the 5000 reminds us of the importance of food in Jesus’ ministry.  PWRDF partners in BC are teaching their Nuu-chah-nulth language and culture to their children through a book about different ceremonial meals which are important to their culture.  How is food important in your own life- is there a family meal that feeds you in a special way?  What foods are part of it?  Where is God in that experience?

Closing Prayer:

Prayer of Thanksgiving
God, we thank you for words we taste,
And bread we hear
And for the cup in which we drink
Metaphor and mystery,
Healing and haste,
The gratitude of our spirits
And a blessing on our lives.  Amen.

From Blessing New Voices: Prayers of Young People and Worship Resources for Youth Ministry by Maren C. Tirabassi, The Pilgrim Press, Cleveland, 2000.

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