Perspective in Hopedale

November 20, 2012

Students in the class of AVC 2013, travelled to Hopedale as participants in the Chinook Project. As part of the experience, the students craft various pieces of writing. This anonymous essay was submitted, photographs are from other Chinook Project travels in Labrador.

Months and months of planning, anticipation and excitement had gone into organizing and orchestrating the Chinook Project trips. Travel, lodging, food, drugs, equipment, hospital locations, government regulations and permissions, insurances, liability aspects, training, volunteers, packing, checklists, lining up dogs and cats to spay, neuter and vaccinate and the list could go on and on!

We gathered nervously in the Charlottetown airport awaiting our first flight from Charlottetown to Halifax. I watched nervously as our bags were weighed - did I pack too much?  Did I pack too little?  Did I pack the right things?  As each of us had our turn at the check-in counter our bags were given the green light and no one had to lighten their load.  What a worry-what a relief!

Once in Halifax at the Stanfield International Airport we had a short layover before our flight to Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Labrador.  As we sat awaiting our flight, we chatted and pondered what adventures and challenges the next ten days would present to us. What kind of food will there be to eat?  Where will we be sleeping?  Will our billets be nice? Will there be snow?  All very pressing issues that were weighing heavily on our minds – a lot to worry about.

My mind wandered during the flight.   I would drift between fretting about my extensive list of very important worries, to gazing mindlessly out of the tiny etched and hazy airplane window.  Once we landed in Happy Valley Goose Bay, my thoughts turned to the weather.  It was in the high twenties, in May, in Labrador!  Shorts, t-shirt and flip-flop weather.  Unheard of!  It was beautiful and hot out- all of us in jeans, jackets and shoes.  We were definitely overdressed.  I spent the evening coming up with even more worries, not the least of which was checking the weather for the next week and fretting that I had no shorts! I worried about  how many cats and dogs we were going to see?  Will there be enough time?  What are the doctors like who are coming with us?  Do I have the skills to do the surgeries?  Will there be rabid dogs to handle?  Will I get bitten?  Will all of our luggage and equipment make it to the town? Will I get airsick on the little plane that will take us up the coast of Labrador?  Again, all very important questions I spent time and energy worrying about.

The next morning we loaded up all of our gear and made our way to the Goose Bay- Happy Valley International Airport.  I waited with great anticipation to see if our luggage and the additional veterinary supplies we picked up the previous day would make it onto the plane.  Luckily, after a bit of bag re-arranging all of our gear was allowed on the plane.  Another worry assuaged.  During the flight, my mind again turned to worry – all of the unknowns!

We landed in Hopedale full of excitement and anticipation.  We gathered our gear from the plane and headed outside of the airfield compound.  We were to be picked up by local volunteers and driven into the town.  We learned that our drivers would be late as everyone in the town was at a funeral.  We were reassured they would be along before too long.  We waited and waited and waited, for what seemed forever.  Then, finally our chariots arrived!  As we were driven along the long, winding, dusty gravel road to the community centre my worries returned- so much to worry about.

Once we arrived at the community centre we learned that the funeral was for a 24 year old young man.  He perished after he and a 55 year old relative spent the weekend drinking anti-freeze.  My heart sank and filled with grief and sadness.  Suddenly, having to wait to be picked up wasn’t so important.  What a tragic event - we had definitely entered a different world.  My long list of worries, that weighed so heavily on my mind, seemed very trivial now.

Over the next ten days, we learned that in a town with a population of approximately 600 people, there are five RCMP officers.  On “pay day” Friday when everyone gets their cheques, the one and only bar is jam-packed.  During the 24 hour period all five officers are on duty.  Substance abuse is a tragic and serious fact of life for the citizens of Hopedale.  

The people of Hopedale welcomed us into their communities and their homes with open arms during a terribly sad and challenging time.  My heart sank.  I cannot believe that I let my mind swell and spin with what I now see were, relatively speaking, very trivial worries.   

Life goes on.  Sadness and happiness are integral parts of living and experiencing life.  Ethylene glycol provided me with a reminder to consider life in perspective and stay focused on the living and those left behind.