Kamajiit
Kamajiit is an Inuktitut word who’s meaning encompasses several appropriate ideals that the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation strives for…
…essentially, (in the interest of children and youth); to watch over and to nurture.
Objective:
Kamajiit’s primary objective will be to make the home a safe place.
The Kamajiit Safe Community’s Program will be the first National profile project that will address several of the mandates under the ACYF. The Kamajiit project will strive to address two (2) key issues which are linked directly to many of our problems in our Northern communities; learning, communication, home and community engagement all which contribute to school drop out and suicide problems among our children and youth. The two key issues are:
- Home environment
- Is it safe?
- parents and/or caretakers fully understand social issues related to their children and youth? Ie. Bullying, peer pressure, living in poverty conditions, etc.
- -Do parents and/or caretakers fully understand the value of an education and are they equipped to help with their education in terms of homework and nurturing?
- -If not, how can we help, what can we do to equip them?
- Community environment
- Is it safe?
- What areas do we need to address to begin to make it safe, to regain social and cultural control of our communities?
- Can we identify and recommend changes to policies that affect safety measures that are already in place?
- How do we teach the community the power of community and consequently, the power that policies have on communities.
Goal/Plan:
By partnering with appropriate local community associations or groups as identified by ACYF’s 1st Report and local RCMP and teachers, Kamajiit will select 4 families in a community from each region to volunteer a “homework” night. Students between the ages of 9 and 12 (this is open to discussion, I just figured based on experience with my son, that at age 5 to age 9, homework became more critical) will be transported by RCMP volunteers to a “safe” home, teachers will engage both the parents of that home and children who are attending in assigned homework. We will approach the local Northern Store and/or Co-op to donate refreshments etc…
4 families as selected by and deemed “safe” in terms of physical, emotional and traditional by a small committee will volunteer their homes one night a week between Monday and Thursday.
A committee will be formed (during the community consultations), this committee will consist of parents, teachers and RCMP and local volunteers.
The teachers will work with the parents to develop a 2 hour evening schedule which will include, homework time and fun time. We will approach the Northern Stores and the Local Co-ops to donate drinks and snacks to avoid using up family resources.
It is critical that the parents who sign up for this program understand that they are expected to be involved in the evenings activities and especially the homework, this will show the parent’s how much work is involved in school and learning.
Homework will be followed by another “non-homework” related activity, ie. Art, music or drama etc.
The evening shouldn’t last more then 2 hours, from 7-9 PM. Both ways, we will ask the RCMP to transport the selected children to and from the volunteer home.
Overview:
ACYF’s mandate is to work at all levels to Assist Arctic Children and youth to attain standards of living, education opportunities and health and well being equal to those of other Canadians. It is with this broad mandate in mind that the Kamajiit Safe Community’s Program was developed.
The theory behind Kamajiit is that if our children and youth do not feel safe in their homes where they should expect to have the very basic and essential right to “the freedom of the child spirit” then the learner/dreamer can not be nurtured.
By the same token, perhaps the parents and/or caretakers are feeling overwhelmed themselves by the learning process, have they ever been “nurtured” in the western way of learning? Do they fully understand and appreciate how critical it is for them to be involved in the child’s learning journey? Do they fully comprehend the value of nurturing? Something that is only do-able if the home and the community is a safe and healthy nurturing environment.
Kamajiit is a community program engaging selected homes, teachers and policing services along with other community programs to begin to “nurture” parents or caretakers.
Short Term Goal
Kamajiit’s short term goal will be to begin to regain control of our rapidly unraveling family structure by nurturing the young parent/s to engage in their child or children’s learning and simultaneously teaching the child to become a more engaged and happier learner, consequently, a healthy contributor to the community as a whole.
Long Term Goal
The long term goal and possible outcome of this is that one family at a time villages and communities in Northern Canada will begin to regain control. In the midst of rapid change and development, social and economic challenge, we focus too much on keeping up and not enough on simple every day quality communication.
Kamajiits desired outcome is to regain individual and cultural control, enough so that we can as a people and for the sake of the children and youth and the future of Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut and the NWT, become healthier more engaged contributors to our respective Territory’s and consequently to our great country, Canada.
