Newsletters

FROM SAND TO SNOW:

TALES OF A TRAVELING TEACHER

While living and teaching in the MIDDLE EAST and the ARCTIC, I wrote many newsletters. Some of them are very personal glimpses into the life of the local people: the Muslims and the Inuit. This page features a select few of these newsletters.

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Insha'allah...as the Muslims say

God willing...as the Inuit say

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CLYDE RIVER NUNAVUT

Newsletter # 1 Clyde River NU August 20, 2006 Hello Dear family and friends in the southern regions,

Warm weather there? Sunshine? Lazy, hazy days of summer? And up here, patches of snow still on the ground, no trees, and crisp chilly air...
Canada, what an amazing country --- doesn't it have everything? I swear it is one of, if not the best, place to live on this earth. "This land is your land, this land is my land, from Bonavista, to the Vancouver Islands, from the Arctic circle to the Great Lake waters, this land was made for you and me."

Except for the aboriginal people like the Inuit...
Is the Arctic anything like I imagined? The land, yes; the living conditions of the people, no.
The LAND: gorgeous, clear cut lines of blue sky, grey rock, and ice.

No trees, we're north of 60!

The long bay outside my home in Clyde River looks so much like Newfoundland, I feel taken back in time. Dory-type fishing boats bob on the water or sit beached on the shore. Here they fish and hunt for Arctic char, seal, polar bear...haven't seen a bear yet, but a group of us are going out for a long hike this afternoon and one of the MUSTS of the hike is a GUN! I’m finally fulfilling one of the goals on my bucket list: live in the Arctic, where I can see polar bears and icebergs, sleep in an igloo and go dog-sledding. What better way to do it than get hired as a teacher!

Our house is cozy, warmly heated by oil, with all the amenities you could need (no phone or internet, yet). Actually, it's the house owned by the Hunting and Fishing Association of Clyde River and they're letting me and my housemate (a fellow teacher), Leslie, stay here until our home for the year is ready for us to move into...which could mean 2 days to 2 weeks...flexibility is the rule here...not today, maybe tomorrow...
And the people? They remind me of the people of Sri Lanka, simple needs, many living in one house (up to 15 in one house)....... they have shifts for sleeping..."don't be surprised if your students sleep some days during your whole class," the principal told me today..."let them sleep; compassion is the rule of the school," he said.

My stop-over for the night enroute to Clyde River was Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, and I was there only one hour, out for a walk, and already a woman came begging for a toonie.
But kind!!! The people in Clyde River are wonderful! I love their smiling beaming faces! Kids running everywhere, lots of dogs, ATV's going every which way, no roads, whale bones and piles of soapstone on porches for carving; groups of women out strolling, letting the men have their sleeping
shift in peace.
I wonder about the "poverty" I've heard about; especially when I see the number of brand new and souped-up trucks and ski-doos everywhere.
Well, what do I know??? I'm here to learn...and learn and learn...maybe by learning about them, I will be able to make a difference in teaching the Inuit youth....how strange and ironic life is...

Love you all!
ps: my book on Kuwait is finally finished...now to find an agent or publisher.

Love Dawn

COVER UP: A Western Woman's Journey into the Middle East

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Jan 11, 2016

COVER UP

A WESTERN WOMAN’S JOURNEY INTO THE MIDDLE EAST

Dawn Elizabeth Neill

Emails, diary entries, letters and newsletters of life in the Middle East

PROLOGUE

Serendipity…a discovery of things by accident…

At a job fair in Toronto, I kept hearing the word “Kuwait”…and wondered where on earth it was. I knew it was somewhere in the Middle East. I knew of Desert Storm…but I did not know it would become my home six months later…unveiling people, places and events that I never would have dreamed of, let alone experience.

I had always kept a diary; but now, living in the Middle East, away from family and friends, I wrote more in my diary and began writing lengthy emails and newsletters and sent them home. Everyone kept saying, “write a book”, “keep your stories”…so, this is it: my story of a journey into the Middle East.

Although all the stories are based on true events, names have been changed to protect the individuals involved. This choice is, in itself, a “cover up”. We all “cover up” for different reasons: protection, deception… So much in Kuwait is kept under cover, unshared, unspoken; from the individual Kuwaiti’s way of life, to their families, their institutions, right on up the pyramid to their Amir.

One of the most often-used words in Kuwait is “haram” meaning forbidden, not allowed. Alcohol is “haram”, yet high ranking officials have it “secretly” brought into the country by the shipload. But this “cover up” is what makes Kuwait fascinating, alluring, a dichotomy.

As I began putting the book together, I noticed how different the west is from the east…but I also noticed how similar they are. Each individual, each nation has its own hidden agendas and issues, whether we like to admit it or not…including myself.

It is my hope that this book will help a little to bridge the huge gap between west and east. We may not understand our differences; we may fight and disagree…but in the end, we all sweat, cry and bleed…and cover up.

Consider my story a sneak peak into a world vastly different from the western side of the globe…and yet, in many ways the same.

Consider it the unveiling of a plea to embrace diversity…an open letter to both sides of the world.

Consider it a mosaic of many tidbits put together to hang on the global wall of memories and memoirs.

Consider it a discovery of things by accident…

COVER UP - CHAPTER 1 DIARY ENTRY

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Jan 11, 2016

Chapter 1

“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we give account.”

August 20, 2000 DIARY

Tonight I said goodbye to my family for a whole year…maybe more. I’m off to

Kuwait. They really don’t want me to go. They’ve been watching CNN and have visions of terrorism in the Middle East; Palestine and Israel at war; men getting their hands chopped off for stealing; women being stoned to death for infidelity; Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait.

It’s funny how, even though I know they’re worried, I’m not…I feel good about it actually, almost like I’m meant to go. I’ve tried to reassure them. I’ve contacted teachers already there, single women who have been teaching in Kuwait for over a year; and they tell me that CNN is way off center…

All I know is that I’m tired of teaching in Ontario and all the turmoil that goes with it; the strikes, the antagonism, the discontent… it’s time for a change, time for a new experience, a new adventure…maybe, just maybe I can make a difference somewhere in this world.

Am I running away? Maybe that too… all I know is this feels right…crazy maybe, but right…

Had to look on the map, though, to see where I’m going! Somewhere in the Middle East.

I feel empty leaving everyone, but I know in my heart this is where I’m to go… As my Dad always says: “Out of chicken shit grow roses…”

August 22 DIARY

I’m so damn lonely…can’t believe I’m doing this again…overseas … am I a fool? I know I’ll get over it eventually; but right now it’s so hard, without family, friends…I don’t have a computer or a phone or a car ---yet. This will pass, I know, I know, just like Mexico. But living in the present, here, now, is so damn lonely.

My little apartment is cute and cozy, decorated in Indian style and a big glass window overlooks the Persian Gulf, blue, blue, blue water! It’s been too hot to walk down to it --- about 120 degrees F. At least I’m cool in my apartment with the air conditioning… I don’t even know my address---all I know is the name of my neighborhood, Mahboula, which means “crazy women”.

Well, this is what I asked for: a totally different culture.

I sat next to a young Muslim woman on the airplane. In disbelief I listened to her talk about her life, one of total control by her father. She’d just finished three years of studying engineering in a university in Canada and was now going home to an arranged marriage, to a man she’d never met. A man her father had chosen. And she’s ok with that!

She said, “I don’t need to worry about anything. Now my husband will look after me.”

I can’t believe she’s giving up her career! One of the reasons I’m here in Kuwait is because of my career…and, of course, to travel, to be wild and free, to be single again! All of my adult life I’ve spent devoted to my kids as a single parent; “now it’s your time, Ma” they said.

So, here I am… free, but stuck in an apartment.

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QIKIQTARJUAQ NUNAVUT

Newsletter # 1 October 22, 2011 "YOU LOVE IT OR YOU HATE IT"

Hello everyone! I am back up in the Arctic teaching again. It was a quick decision that happened over a 2 week period --- and with support and blessings from family and friends, here I am...
Are you ready for some more glimpses into life in the Arctic?! ...
I have to tell you, life up here is not for the faint of heart. You either love it or you hate it. As the 18 seater plane flew over Baffin Island, I wondered how and why in the world did people settle here? What made them come to a place of ice and snow and rock? Here are pics from the plane...judge for yourself...
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It reminded me of the time an Inuit woman took my students and I winter camping. When we got to her tiny one-room cabin, she looked out the window and said, “Everything I could need is out there.” After a three hour bumpy ride in a komatik sled over uneven snow, my only concern when we got there was: where am I going to go to the bathroom. She eventually showed me a hole in the snow about a hundred feet from the cabin and said, “this is where we go”. I guess her observation was right.

Headed towards my next home in the North, I wondered what Qikiqtarjuaq would look like. I knew it was smaller than Clyde River, which boasted a population of 850 people. Perched on Broughton Island off the east coast of Baffin Island, Qikiqtarjuaq has only 520 people. Broughton Island is only 16 km long and 14 km wide, so there’s not much room to roam. If you want to go anywhere, you have to travel by plane; or wait until the Arctic Ocean freezes and then you can get across to Baffin Island by ski-doo.

Qik (Qikiqtarjuaq for short) sits next to one of the most awesome national parks in the world: Auyuittuq Park, which means “Land That Never Melts”. It boasts sweeping glaciers and polar ice and the highest peaks of the Canadian Shield, one of which is called the Penny Ice Cap.

AUYUITTUQ PARK – PENNY ICE CAP

Once on Baffin Island, the Inuit from Qik travel through the Akshayuk Pass in the park to get to the next hamlet of Pangnirtung. My students tell me the trip takes them about 3 hours in good weather ---and invited me to join them over the Christmas break. Remembering the scenes from the airplane, I wonder if I have the courage to try it?! Again...I ask myself: what’s out there? No bus stops that’s for sure!
I was met at the airport by the principal of Inuksuit School; Juanita happens to hail from Peterborough Ontario. Two teachers were there as well; Cheryl from Bracebridge in Muskoka, and Josip from Croatia. Three of my students were there to welcome me too, so it was quite a warm welcome, despite the -10 degree temperature. We all hopped onto 4 wheelers, ski-doos and trucks and within 5 minutes I was at my new home, a 2 bedroom dwelling sitting at the base of a huge mountain.

Christine, my roommate who comes from Newfoundland, met me at the door with hugs and a delicious dinner of chicken waiting on the table. Christine teaches grade 5 and is a somewhat seasoned Arctic dweller, having taught in the North for several years. But, she admits, she is getting burned out; this is her last year of teaching, period. Her vision of life in the Arctic has already turned sour---unruly students, lack of respect for the Qadlunat (white people), the feelings of “them vs us” that permeate many communities --- all of this has cemented her decision that this is it, her last year up here. To be honest, it gets challenging sometimes to come home to her complaints --- and I’ve been here only a week! But I try to stay positive and share the good side of life up here with her. Besides ---she brought a scrabble game!
Gracie, too, has her challenges. She loves going for walks, but as soon as we head out the door, a horde of dogs of different sizes and breeds, swarm around her. Even though the by-law states all dogs must be on a leash or tied up, you would never know it by the pack that appears as soon as we step outside. I do know I have to keep her with me at all times. No one’s going to hurt, hunt or trap my little furry one!

With that condition in place, Gracie told me she’s going to like her new home, no problem.

The first day I walked to work, I saw a polar bear skin stretched out on a frame. It had been caught the week before. Every day a helicopter canvases the hamlet on the look-out for bears. (Interested in a future job here, Joe?!) Just this week, three bears made their way onto the island and everyone was warned to be cautious. (Don’t worry, I am!!!) This one is over 10 feet long.

Further down the road, I saw one of the reasons why the people had settled here. The harbour is huge and deep, and surrounded on three sides by high land and mountains. Only one area remains unprotected ---the open waterway to the Arctic Ocean. Through this gap, an iceberg had made its way up the harbour and sat like a grand ship waiting to be boarded.

Once at the school, I stood outside the building and looked out over the grand scene. Yes, I thought, like Gracie, I’m going to like it here!

Newsletters

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