Visitors from Børnehjemmet: Over September 4 and 5, Maine received a visit from Børnehjemmet, the Children’s Home, which is located in Uummannaq. “Uummannaq”, a Greenlandic word, means “heart-shaped”, signifying the shape of the mountain that dominates the skyline of the island of Uummannaq. Located about 300 miles / 490 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, the municipality of Uummannaq is the supply and service center for the towns and settlements in western / northwestern Greenland. Founded in 1929, Børnehjemmet has evolved into both residence and educational institution for the young people of Greenland who have been deemed as in need. Owned by the Home Rule Government of Greenland, Børnehjemmet (The Children’s Home) is under the capable Directorship of Ann Andreasen. The goal of Home is to teach each child how to prevail over his/her background but never to forget their Greenlandic origins. Through teaching traditional skills, such as hunting and fishing, wards of Home assimilate their Greenlandic identity. The guiding principle of Børnehjemmet is: Because there are often unforeseen problems in life, it takes patience, observation, and rational thought – not anger - to resolve them. All the projects in which Home engage – building houses (of snow or wood), to dog sledging, and to traveling in Europe – are experiences intended to form an identity and to develop social skills for both their community living and for life away from their homeland.. Trips to Denmark, elsewhere in Europe, to New York, provide a frame for cultural reference. In Demark, the young people improve their language skills and absorb appropriate behaviors of another culture. Such behavior is then reinforced by emulation in Home. While the young people learn marketable skills from making (traditional) skin clothing to computer training, elders teach them how to live on the land while other staff and guests teach music and art along with retailing, painting, electrical and mechanical skills. Around 75 percent of Home’s young people go to Denmark or elsewhere for further education and adaptation to western cultures. Such is the mission of Home. To realize the mission of Børnehjemmet, young Greenlanders experience a rite of passage through a dog sledge expedition on the late winter ice of Uummannaq Fjord. Through driving a sledge and caring for the dogs, fishing, hunting, and setting up camp, these young Greenlanders pass from childhood to adulthood. Recording these expeditions, Home produces films describing the young peoples’ lives. The most recent film is Inuk, the story of one Greenland youth who successfully makes this passage in a harsh Arctic environment. In August and September of this year, a contingent of Greenlanders arrived in New York to offer a preview of the film Inuk in New York City, Massachusetts, and Maine. On September 4, I met with 13 Greenlanders and film co-producer Mike Magidson in Brunswick, Maine, at Bowdoin College’s Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum. Museum Director Susan Kaplan generously acted as exhibit guide to the centennial exhibit of Admiral’s Peary’s trek to the North Pole. Ann Andreasen, as both Home Director and film co-producer, set the pace with the most questions. Ole Jorgen Hammeken, Ann’s husband and featured actor in Inuk, and an avid Arctic explorer and member of the New York Explorer’s Club, took to heart Peary’s words: “Find a way or make one.” Rounding out the staff entourage was René Kristensen, known, because of his size, as Nanook (Polar Bear) and Faroe Islander Alisa Hammer. Upon leaving Brunswick, the group traveled to Chewonki in Wiscasset for dinner, film preview, and a night’s lodging. The host for the evening was Don Hudson, President of the Chewonki Foundation. After dinner, the evening’s activities included Ann’s introduction of the Greenlanders beginning with presentation of one young woman in traditional West Greenland dress. There followed guitar and musical renditions of Greenlandic music by René Kristensen, Alisa Hammer, and Svend Zeeb. Then, Ole introduced the film Inuk with the hope and expectation that it would be selected for showing at the annual Sundance Film Festival in Colorado. An estimated 120 viewers enthusiastically applauded this story of present day life in the Arctic. After the film ended, Greenlanders, some of whom were in the film, and film viewers continued in conversation for well over an hour. The next morning Greenlanders assembled at our “Beaver Valley” home in Georgetown, Maine, for a barbecue. Young Greenlanders experienced a heavily-wooded forest, played with Maine coon-cats, and toasted marshmallows over a wood fire. In late afternoon, our guests started their trek back to Greenland by way of another film showing at the Massachusetts home of legendary folk singer Pete Seeger. In December of this year, my wife Lindsay and I will return the visit with our Christmas in Uummannaq. |