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“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.

Countess helps cut ribbon at Ditidaht library opening

Library 8
Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, and her husband Edward, the Earl of Wessex, were among those dignitaries who cut the ribbon at the opening of the Ditidaht library on September 15. Click here for video. The Countess donated an entire bag full of collected books (“stories about English children”) to the library, and talked about the importance of reading to the many Ditidaht children that attended the opening.

The moment the ribbon was cut, all of the children in attendance made a rush for the library door. As well as functioning as a full library with over 4,000 books, the Ditidaht library will also act as a community centre, sporting several tabletop games like a pool table. A side room contains new computers donated by London Drugs. The computers are connected to the Internet. The library is a project of the North Delta Rotary Club, who raised all the necessary funds and assisted with the renovation of the former Ditidaht school

Day trip to Ditidaht a dilly

Where the heck is Ditidaht, you ask? Why, check the map! It’s a small native village right there on the shores of Nitinat Lake, about an hour’s drive west of Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island. The main access is via a private logging road, not serviced in the winter months, so the village is quite isolated. In heavy rains, the road is flooded. However, it was a beautiful sunny day when a group of folks from the Write to Read Project journeyed over to enjoy a visit and check out the village’s request for a library.

Ditidaht is one of three closely related languages forming the south Wakashan sub-group of the Wakashan language family. Their American relatives across the Strait of Juan de Fuca live around Neah Bay in Washington State and speak Makah. Their neighbours living northwest from Pacheena Point speak Westcoast (also called Nuu-chah-nulh, but formerly called Nootka). No matter how you spell it, Ditidaht is remote.

Visitors arrived late in the day, just in time to settle into rooms at the motel and the “teacherage,” a six-plex of town houses where the teachers live. It was a 2-minute walk to the Community Hall, where a giant feast was laid out for the entire village (and visitors) to enjoy.

Visitors were welcomed by drumming, dancing and a welcome speech. The dances were led by the children, supported by male drummers. Afterwards, the kids posed for a group photo, with some making the usual silly faces for the camera. Freshly-harvested crab was the highlight of the feast, after which Write to Read project coordinator Bob Blacker got up to give a few words of thanks for the invitation to visit.

Formerly the Lt. Governor of the Province of British Columbia, Steven then shared some stories and advice to the children in attendance about the importance of reading. His story about Wiley Coyote was well received.

The highlight of the next day was a meeting with the chief and band officers at the band council office, where discussions were held about the possibility of bringing a library to the village. There are several options, one of which is to bring a modular building donated by Britco Structures of Langley, the main sponsor of the Write to Read Project to date. Another option might be to renovate the old school building, currently sitting empty. Talks were held about possible ways to bring new economic development to the village in the future, perhaps through eco-tourism.

The Write to Read group went to insect the old school building. Architect Scott Kemp, who has donated much of his time and skill to the W2R project to date, made a brief inspection and ventured his opinion that it was quite possible to upgrade the old school into a library.

Next up was a visit to the new school, where all the students assembled in the school gym to meet with Steven Point. Write to Read publicist Michael McCarthy spoke to the students about the Digital Diary project. He donated a professional quality camera to the high school class, with instructions that the kids should shoot photos of their lives in the village for future publication in a book.

It was an all-too-brief visit to the village, but the quick trip proved that a library of some sort, whether a modular Britco building or a renovation of the old school, is a project that can and should be done.

With kite boarding, wind surfing, canoeing, hiking and kayaking available around Nitinat lake, the Ditidaht region is an excellent location for the promotion of eco-tourism in the future.