SAMPLE

HERE IS A BEAUTIFUL SAMPLE CREATED BY OUR TECH GUY. I LUV THIS EXAMPLE OF WHAT OUR MAGAZINE COVER PAGE COULD LOOK LIKE.

We are having a problem naming the magazine. Seems there are other publications called HOPE so we are asking people for their ideas on Facebook to try and come up with a suitable name for the magazine. Thank you.

Did I ever say

welcome to our member Richard Abraham.

STOP HEY WHAT'S THAT SOUND.....

Measle Epidemic 1963

Hi Jim. Here are those hockey sticks you were talking about which you used for IVs for the boys. Pretty amazing how many uses you can get out of a stick. That was a good idea. This looks like Intermediate dorm. I remember all us boys being sick in bed....almost the whole dorm. We all got food poisoning after eating turkey on one of our Band trips. Even our supervisor got sick. That was in 1968....Mr. Kenny was our Intermediate dorm supervisor. (Verne)

 



HOPE Magazine

We are launching a magazine called HOPE Magazine focusing on the positive side of things at residential school. We are looking for stories from former students and people who worked at a school. If you have a story you want to tell please contact Verne Solonas at:

Verne Solonas
General Delivery
McLeod Lake, BC
V0J 2G0
Email address: jackman2@telus.net
Phone: (250) 750-4662

Thank you and best regards all.

FROM THE PAST

Vern, 

About a year ago I found Dr. John Godel who cared for us at Lejac in the early sixties. He lives on one of the small islands off Vancouver Island. This is part of a letter I sent to him prior to contacting him. He was a wonderful doctor and went on to serve the people in Africia. You can type his name into Google and see a 10 minute Video on his life’s work. We were lucky to have had his services at Lejac.  Jim 

To Dr. John Godel

Dear John,

Now here is a voice from your past, early 60’s, Lejac Indian Residential School, Bro. James Callanan.

I fondly remember your weekly visits to care for the children and the staff at the school. I remember the night I called you and asked you to come out to the school because I was afraid I would have one of the children die by the next morning without your intervention. You came to the rescue and you had to send one of the Lejac staff back to the Vanderhoof  hospital to get a bunch of IV equipment because about 6 of the boys were totally dehydrated. While we waited for the IV equipment to arrive back at the school you took an extra stethoscope out of your satchel and handed it to me and began to teach me how to recognize pneumonia. I still have that Stethoscope. I think you found 7 or 8 pneumonias among the 50 boys we had down with the measles. When the IV equipment turned up I got some hockey sticks and taped them to the beds and then taped coat hangers to the hockey sticks so we could hang the IV bottles. You then taught me how to run the IV’s. What an experience and what a responsibility. I was all of 23 years old at the time. I think I went almost 3 days without sleep trying to keep the boys alive and nursed back to health. One of the boys ended up with a large patch of white hair in the center front of his head. It appeared over night and stayed with him permanently. Thank God that was the only permanent damage as a result of the epidemic. 

Another time you came to my rescue was when I built a Heathkit guitar amp for the boys dance band and I could not get the darn thing to work. I phoned you and took it in to your house. After about an hour or so testing you figured I had one faulty radio tube. I picked one up at the local radio store and was in business. Again thanks.

Jim Callanan

(received November 15, 2013)

WHO WE ARE

My name is Verne Solonas, the Administrator for this blog. 'tina' is short for The Indians of North America and we have four blogs including Lejac Indian Residential School, Sekani, Make Me Do Anything You Want (a music blog) and of course TINA (The Indians of North America) which is a closed blog but available upon request as it is not for everyone.  

If you wish to submit any articles, photos or stories please contact me at:

jackman2@telus.net

WHERE OUR ADDICTION STARTED

Addictions are most often the result of trauma. As children we see or hear things which cause us huge amounts of stress. Things such as something bad happening to someone you love. Or being in a place without your parents especially your mom who always comforts and holds you when you are hurt or scared. Growing up on an Indian reserve I saw a lot of bad things such as people drinking and fighting which horrified us kids. Especially Friday nights when all the parents returned home from the hotel drunk and lot of times would end up with people screaming, hollering at each other in an all-out brawl. The way we dealt with it was when our parents left next day to get back to their partying us kids rounded up all the bottles we could find and pooled all our money together and head to the store on the highway where we bought candies and pop. That was our way of covering up the trauma from the night before and to say 'It's all okay' and to re-assure ourselves that everything is fine. Because Saturday night is probably going to be just like Friday night all over again!

We learned things as children. We learned to cover up the pain and the trauma....by doing things which made us feel good and to forget. But we also started ourselves down a road toward addiction which is how we dealt with stress and trauma when we got older. We tend to make bad choices as adults because we never grew up properly and in many regards we are still like children. We never matured like we should have, we develop physical problems because of our smoking, drinking and our drugs. We don't think of God because we think he doesn't care for people like us. And we shoot off the handle at all the little things. We blame others which of course means we don't have to look at ourselves or do anything to make our lives better because IT'S NOT OUR PROBLEM.

Addiction is people acting out their trauma. Most often from their childhood. Problem is if you don't nip it in the bud and get help it gets worse and worse. And each time you deal with it, and each time 'you fall off the wagon' it's harder and harder to get back on. That is the life of an addict. That is true whether you are addicted to drugs, alcohol, gambling, sex, TV, or what have you. There is no way out except to make that decision to fix it! Because 'hey we are all broke'.

WHAT ARE WE DOING?

SLIDE SHOW

SLIDE SHOW

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WELCOME MEMBERS

Welcome to our newest member Naomi Jules. Cheers folks hope you are all keeping warm! Administrator