By Axel Lund Olsen & Ulrik H. Kreutzmann
A reindeer hunt needs careful planning. Equipment has to be checked and weapons prepared. Tents, sleeping bags, cooking things, food and much else has to be packed. Many of the students at our school have never been hunting before, and reindeer hunting in particular is new for many of them, coming as they do from various towns along the coast. The fact is that reindeer hunting only takes place in mid-Greenland.
We are careful to create a safe, caring and warm atmosphere at the school, for as a rule when they start at the school more than half of our students are suffering from the burdens of traumatic and violent events in their past lives.
Axel Lund Olsen & Ulrik H. Kreutzmann
Those students who have never handled such a weapon before need to get to know the rifles and to learn to shoot with them. Other have never spent the night in a tent and know nothing about the kit they are going to need. Others again do not have the clothing required to cope in the great outdoors. So here the school helps out. Reindeer hunting takes place in August or September for the autumn intake at Knud Rasmussen’s Folk High School in Sisimiut, soon after the students start at the school. The first couple of weeks are mostly about creating a sense of togetherness and helping the students to be open to the idea of being together and talking to each other. They also need to get to know the staff, for, as the semester progresses, their personal development through dialogue with the teachers forms a very important part of the course. Another important element is their experience of the natural environment, and the reindeer hunt makes up one of the most important of these experiences – and is a challenge that strengthens many of the students both physically and mentally.
The trek begins with a sailing trip to the end of a fjord. Here the tents are pitched and a camp is set up. In the evening, Greenlandic myths and sagas are told around the fire, and the students sometimes feel a little anxious listening to stories like those of qivittoq, the wanderers of the icy wastes. But we explain that these are only stories and that there is nothing to be afraid of. We are careful to create a safe, caring and warm atmosphere at the school, for as a rule when they start at the school more than half of our students are suffering from the burdens of traumatic and violent events in their past lives. They may have experienced incest or other forms of sexual exploitation, violence and general neglect at home due to alcohol or hash abuse, and with these a lack of support and success at school. Some of them have not concluded state school with the usual school-leaving exam or have such poor grades that they cannot proceed any further in the educational system. Others may have a youth training qualification but have since dropped out. Typically, at least 60-70% of the students are haunted by very serious issues form their past; we call them ‘the remnants of the remnants’. Others may have more to offer but nevertheless lack the strength to move on in their lives – to leave home, for example, start a training course or enter the labour market.
Getting to know your roots
One of the aims with our teaching at the school is, therefore, to strengthen our students, both physically and mentally, so they become empowered to move on, take responsibility for their lives and become good citizens who can contribute to Greenlandic society. One of the ways in which we can do this is by teaching them about Greenlandic history and its social conditions. In so doing, we are giving them a better understanding of their own cultural background and of Greenlandic society so that they can build up a greater sense of shared responsibility for its development.
At their state school, few of them have learned much about history seen from through Greenlandic eyes. We teach Greenlandic history as well as local history, so that they can get to know their roots. One example of history teaching relates to who first reached the North Pole. Many people would probably think of Robert E. Peary without it occurring to them that Ukkujaaq, Ôdâq, Iggiannguaq and Silluk, skilful game hunters and dog-sled drivers from the area around Thule, also took part in this expedition. And without these superb sled drivers, Peary would never have been able to reach the pole.
In addition, we make use of the natural world to actively encourage the students’ personal development and their physical and mental strength. The folk high school is situated in Sisimiut in western Greenland more than 300 km north of Nuuk and it is surrounded by mountain and sea. It is inevitable, then, that students will have to experience the wildness of nature. Many of our activities take place in our natural surroundings, whether as sport or as outdoor activities. Students join in organising sports days, when both the physical activities themselves and the whole business of having to organise an activity help to strengthen them and teach them to take responsibility and to work together. They develop the sense that they mean something, that each of them counts – both in the small society the school represents and in Greenlandic society as a whole. Greenland is a large country, but it is made up of few people, and there is a real need for everyone to involve themselves and for young people to become good citizens of society. This is one of the things we promote through the use of our natural environment at Knud Rasmussen’s Folk High School.
We make use of the natural world to actively encourage the students’ personal development and their physical and mental strength.
Axel Lund Olsen & Ulrik H. Kreutzmann
During their first days at the school, students have to go for a 10-kilometre hike, which for many of them can be an experience that challenges their limits. Some of them have never gone for a hike of this distance before, and purely physically it can be a major challenge for them. But when they reach their destination, they are overjoyed and proud and have discovered that their body can manage more than they realised. They may also find that being out in the wild does something positive to them, because there is space and air and that makes it easier for them to get rid of their heavy brooding. They are often very introverted. When they start at the school, they often say little about their problems and traumas. They can have a tendency to isolate themselves in their rooms, but we try to help them join in the community of togetherness, and here we use the natural world around us to allow them space to talk to each other and to us teachers. During the course of the semester, they usually begin to speak more and to open up. It is as if their heavy thoughts are driven away, and they begin to put their feelings and their experiences into words. We spend a lot of time talking with them, and many of these conversations take place outside under open skies.
Out in the wild
Go back one or two generations and the majority of Greenlanders lived in close proximity to the natural world and learnt from childhood to manage in the wild and to exploit the resources of their natural environment by going hunting, collecting berries and so on. Today, things are very different. Many of them have gone to seed, their lives are stagnating, and they isolate themselves at home. They spend many hours every day playing computer games, using social media or watching television. This can be a particular problem for young people who are only children or the firstborn in their family and if they are not used to doing what they are told or having demands made of them. It is often their parents who have encouraged them to go to folk high school to give them a ‘shove’ to help them move on, for example by leaving home. And here they are indeed ‘shoved’ out into the wild and face the challenges it poses.
The students who come here for the winter semester get the opportunity to take part in dog sledding. Our caretaker has his own dog team, and the students are involved in looking after them. Driving with a pack of dogs requires a high degree of training and discipline, so this forces the students to take responsibility. On the dog sled, many of them come out into the wild in a way that few of them have tried before. As a rule, they drive out to a ski slope ten kilometres away, do some skiing and then drive home again.
Students on the autumn semester, on the other hand, get the opportunity to go reindeer hunting. This is extremely demanding of them, since the hunt takes place over several days and they have to be relatively strong physically to be able to cope. It is not all students, therefore, that can join in the hunt. Those whom we judge have sufficient strength are allowed to take part. When they have pitched camp, they sleep in tents and are woken early next morning. This is when the trek to find reindeer begins. It can take many hours, and they may have to climb a mountain up to 900 metres high to find the animals. It is not like in Denmark, where deer-hunting means simply sitting and waiting for the animals to come along. In Greenland, you have to cover large areas of tough terrain to get to the animals. Sometimes, this can be 10, 20 or even 30 kilometres. Once you have shot one or more animals, there is the next challenge. The kill has to be transported back to camp. The hunter who has shot it carries it on his back. Back at camp, the animal is skinned and butchered, and then it is transported back to the school.
In classes we also often talk about climate change. About the way the ice is shrinking, and the inland ice is melting. About storms and volatile temperatures and about what this means for the animal world.
Axel Lund Olsen & Ulrik H. Kreutzmann
When they return to school, the hunters are feted and enjoy considerable recognition. They experience pride in what they have done and feel that bodily they have achieved something they never thought they could. The kill is used in the kitchens, where we roast and cook the meat and also use it for soups. The students take turns in being on the cooking team and get to appreciate that historically here in the Arctic regions we have been completely self-sufficient. Many of them are used to eating unhealthy food, not least a lot of sweets. But here, we hunt our own meat and go out picking crowberries, which we eat with cream and use for jams. This also helps to give them a different relation to their own body and to the natural world.
In classes we also often talk about climate change. About the way the ice is shrinking, and the inland ice is melting. About storms and volatile temperatures and about what this means for the animal world.
Our teaching revolves to a large extent around strengthening their self-esteem and their consciousness of their own abilities and talents. Many of them have low self-esteem and do not know themselves very well. We use the natural environment, but we also use song, music, drum dance, drama, handicraft, domestic science and individual interviews to give them a sense of who they are and what they can do.
When they come to us, these young people are facing massive challenges, which are very difficult to address in just six months. We also have a drop-out rate of about 30% of every intake. Some of them choose to return home of their own accord, others are sent home because they are either unable or unwilling to live up to the rules required for forming part of the community of togetherness, or to respect the prohibition against drinking alcohol at the school, for example. We have had a number of suicide attempts, and such events are also harrowing for the other students. There are currently many suicides or attempted suicides in Greenland, and young people are very influenced by that. It is infectious.
We also face financial challenges. We would, for example, dearly like to offer students kayak instruction, but we simply cannot afford it. Nor can we afford fitness equipment, which is something the young people often ask for.
For all these difficulties, we do find that our teaching strengthens the students. They develop as people, and they become physically stronger. They become more whole and more hale, and they develop the resources they need to move on in their lives. Some of them progress to the Greenlandic equivalent of adult education and take the school-leaving examination, allowing them then to progress in the educational system. Others find a place in further education or in the labour market. The majority end up as good citizens of society.