Native students compile Stories from the Rez
Cadotte Lake teacher hopes booklet will inspire youths to complete education
Sana Ayesha Ghani had high expectations when she left Edmonton two years ago for her first teaching position in the northern Alberta Indigenous community of Cadotte Lake.
She thought she and her elementary school students would write stories about their lives that would save the world, but the social issues they faced and their lack of interest in education soon brought her down to earth.
“There was not a lot of parent involvement. A lot of the children would stay with their grandparents. I don’t want to generalize about everyone, but there was a sense of distrust toward the school, the sense that these were outsiders who have come into the community,” Ghani said.
“There was also a sense it’s irrelevant, in that most of their parents hadn’t graduated from high school.
“They dropped out early and just stayed on the reserve.”
As a hijab-wearing woman of South Asian descent, Ghani was different from most people in the area 80 kilometres east of Peace River, but she found her background helped build connections after she arrived in 2015.
“I found they were more open to me than they were to the white teachers, because they found some sort of affinity there. One person said, ‘We’re taught to respect our elders. I’m sure you do, too,’ ” the 29-year-old lifelong Alberta resident said.
“When I said, ‘My family came from India,’ ” one boy asked, “‘So, you’re a different kind of Indian?’ ”
Ghani wanted to expand the horizons of her Grade 5-6 class and encourage their reading and writing skills, so she introduced them to books about marginalized people who could inspire them, such as black leader Malcolm X and Sherman Alexie’s novel The Absolutely True Diary of a PartTime Indian.
Minneapolis, Minn., hip-hop artist Brother Ali — whom they met on Skype and then saw live last October when he performed in Edmonton — encouraged the youngsters to share their stories.
While several took up his challenge, they were concerned no one would hear what they had to say.
So this spring, Ghani, who stayed with the students into Grade 6-7, started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to publish a booklet of their work, collecting $3,800 from donors across North America.
“It’s a very isolated community. The fact that people so far away would actually care about their stories was beyond what they thought could happen.… They were blown away.”
The money allowed them to print 250 copies of Traditional X, Stories from the Rez, a collection of traditional tales, personal anecdotes, poems and pictures that won first prize for a group submission to Historica Canada’s Indigenous arts and stories contest.
Several of her 22 students attended a book launch addressed by Mayor Don Iveson in Edmonton City Hall June 29.
They’re in the process of making it available at local Edmonton book shops. For information, contact her at ghani.sana@gmail.com.
While Ghani was frustrated at the initial lack of interest many parents had in the project, they became excited and proud once they saw the interest in the broader community, including a message in the book from Premier Rachel Notley.
Ghani plans to return to Cadotte Lake this fall, although possibly with another class.
None of the students graduated this year with a high school diploma and only four achieved this landmark last year. There are 200 students from kindergarten to Grade 12.
She’s optimistic the work on Traditional X will inspire her students to complete their secondary school education.
“It’s a difficult thing to see when you’re with these kids and there’s so much potential, but there’s so much stacked against them.… I hope this instils the seed.”