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Category: Aboriginal Literacy

“Digital Diary” project gets launched in Ditidaht

It’s amazing what can be accomplished using modern digital technology. Computers have changed the world in which we live. So, too, have digital cameras, which are constantly being improved. These days most digital cameras sold , both SLR and video cameras, have “high definition” capability.  That means the images are much clearer. High def also means that images can be shown in a much larger size, with clarity. Pretty soon everybody will be a movie maker. That includes the 10 kids in the high school class at the Ditidaht community school.

Eva Clarke in Ditidaht

On the recent W2R visit to Ditidaht, I brought along an old Panasonic Lumix SLR to donate to the school. As a professional travel journalist, I shoot all my own photos on all my trips around the world. I am constantly wearing out or damaging cameras, often by getting them wet. (Kayaks are particularly harmful to digital cameras, and salty seawater is the worst.) I have damaged several Panasonic Lumix cameras, probably the best point and shoot camera made, by getting them wet. The Lumix boasts a 24X zoom, a Leica glass lens, and built in image stabilization. It shoots great photos.

On my many adventures around the planet I have discovered different ingenious ways to work with the people I meet. Donating a camera to schools is the best. (Actually, I give the cameras to the teacher, not the kids.) I ask the kids to shoot images of their daily life. Going to school, playing, at home, with friends, in the community.  Given that you can store thousands of images on a memory card, I urge the kids to shoot everything they see. The best images are selected by the teacher and stored on a computer.

The plan at Ditidaht is to encourage the kids to learn how to use a camera. Next to a computer, it’s the most powerful tool ever created for communication. I have literally travelled the world many times for free using nothing more than a camera and keyboard, then writing stories later (in newspapers, magazines, and books) for payment. Self-publishing, probably as an ebook, is very easy too. The plan with the kids at Ditidaht is to create a Digital Diary that will show the outside world what life is like in a tiny remote village that few people will ever get the chance to visit.

Connecting folks form the big city to a remote community like Ditidaht is as easy as “point and shoot.” The kids will take the photos out in the woods and on the water (hopefully not getting the camera wet!) and the readers of this site will be able to read about it when the book is published. The project will start January 2014 and the deadline will be the end of the school year. Readers can look forward to downloading the book by the summer of 2014.

Ditidaht teacher Eva Clarke arranged all details of the W2R visit to the village and deserves credit for a great job.

North Van Rotary club completes aboriginal literacy project

While national headlines shout out continued controversy over Bill C-33, the federal government’s proposed aboriginal education legislation that has been shelved after rejection by many aboriginal leaders, a small North Vancouver group has quietly accomplished its own aboriginal education project that may serve as a model for those interested in native education. . The Lionsgate Rotary Club of North Vancouver has successfully completed the delivery and installation of a library in the remote community of Oweekeno (Rivers Inlet) on the B.C. coast.
“I had the honour and privilege of visiting the village myself last year,” says club member Elizabeth Chong, “and realized their dire need for assistance with literacy. Remote communities like Oweekeno are ‘off the map’ in many ways. Our Lionsgate club decided immediately we would partner with the village through the Write to Read Project by providing a library, books, computers and Internet access.”
“Our club got excited last year when we first learned about this new literacy initiative started by Government House,” says Shirley Robertson. “Rotary is well known for its work in developing countries, but here was a chance to make a difference right in our own back yard.”
The Write to Read Project (W2R) was founded a few years by former Lt. Governor Steven Point, now retired. His successor, Her Honour Judy Guichon, has enthusiastically endorsed the project, attending the opening of three new libraries and promising to attend official ceremonies as many new libraries are built.
It was former Lt. Governor Point, an aboriginal judge, who understood the urgent need for literacy in aboriginal communities. The growth rate of the aboriginal population in Canada is five times the national average, with half the aboriginal population now under 25 years of age. Three out of five aboriginal communities are isolated, and as many as 100,000 aboriginal people have no connection to an urban centre. Almost 50 percent of aboriginal adults have no recognized educational qualifications. The average on-reserve income per year is $14,000. The youth suicide rate is six times the Canadian average. It’s a simmering volcano waiting to explode.
Lionsgate Rotary club president Peter Hansen, who attended the library opening in Oweekeno, says his club’s involvement in the Write to Read Project has been most gratifying. “We highly encourage other Rotary clubs around the province to get involved with this terrific initiative. This has been a very successful experience.”

Lionsgate Rotary Club members urge other clubs to participate in W2R Project:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0rM7Y2Afto&feature=youtu.be