Full stomach, full heart, full suitcase

August 27, 2022

Raylene Noftall, AVC 2023, travelled to Port Hope Simpson as one of the student participants on the Chinook Project. As part of the experience, the students craft various pieces of reflective writing.

Ray, centre, on boat trip

When reflecting upon my time in Port Hope Simpson, one thing is for certain: I have never eaten so much in my life. I hadn’t slept much the night before our first day operating the clinic and figured my energy would wane sometime after lunch when the initial excitement had worn off. I was so relieved to see that Verley, who operated the Inn, had prepared us each a full breakfast of scrambled eggs, ham, two pieces of toast from homemade bread, and bottomless coffee. Verley ensured that we started each morning with enough energy to keep us going well into the evening.

Sarah, a Port Hope Simpson local who facilitated our trip, assured us that we would never go hungry - which was an understatement. It seemed as though every second or third patient arrived with a dish of some kind: pizza, soup, hamburgers, sandwiches, chili, cakes, cookies, dessert bars - the list was endless. The love and appreciation were palpable.

Because Port Hope Simpson is five hours away from the nearest town and is far removed from agriculture, many ingredients are hard to come by. This made the town’s generosity tenfold more potent. One evening, Sarah burst into the clinic with an armful of fruit and explained that the fruit truck only comes to town once per week. She had been waiting for the truck to grab us as much fruit as she possibly could. Not one berry went to waste.

Iceberg outside Port Hope Simpson

On the last day of our trip, Sarah had set up a full day of excursions: a morning hike with a stunning view of the town and coastline (including coffee and homemade muffins), a boat tour that included multiple icebergs (and iceberg ice to accompany our drinks), jet ski rides for all, and a barbecue open to the community. I couldn’t remember the name of every client, but I certainly remembered each one of their pets (and who made the chili!).

In preparation for our trip, I had weighed my suitcase down with protein bars and instant coffee for energy, three different kinds of fly repellant, and both my laptop and iPad in case I got bored. To my surprise, I found myself not needing any of these items - and in fact, needed to offload my overstuffed suitcase to make room for the gifts given to us by the community. This included cards, key chains that doubled as bottle openers, shot glasses, chocolate, homemade bakeapple butter, custom sealskin keychains with our initials on them, bottled moose meat, and smoked salmon, in addition to a world record number of bologna sandwiches. On the way back to PEI, my heart and stomach were just as full as my suitcase.