"I was always hungry and cold at Lejac. When
I was small, it was extra hard. I remember the
older girls helping me - Betsy helped me. I cried
because my stomach hurt from not having enough
food. Betsy taught me how to eat toothpaste so the
pain would go away. She was my hero. Always."
This is a story of the author's mother Mary who, as a young child, lived happily with her grandparents and family near a lake. Mary speaks lovingly of times spent together and the happiness found in learning traditional ways of living. All that changed with the arrival of a black car carrying a priest and a nun. The two talked with her grandparents and convinced them that Mary would be a perfect student at the Lejac residential school; her brother and sister would accompany her.
Far from home, the children were separated into boys' and girls' sides of the schoo. They were not allowed to see each other. Mary and the other girls were constantly hungry; the teachers were strict and often cruel; the children daydreamed about being allowed to return home for a winter break or for the summer. Always homesick, dread filled them as they awaited the end of summer and a return to the school. Conditions there were terrible and the children were so unhappy.
Their hunger led Mary and other girls to use the sewing skills they had learned at home to sew secret pockets in their petticoats. That meant they had a place to hide any of the food they were able to sneak out of the kitchen. They were courageous and persistent in assuring that they all had enough to eat.
"Our hearts burst with pride when we walked past
the Sisters with our secret pockets filled with food.
We sewed more pockets. We took more food -
apples. carrots, pieces of bread. We fed the small
hungry girls and ourselves.
We found our ways and filled our pockets with
what we needed to carry on. We filled our pockets
with so much more than food. We filled them
with our future."
Ms. Victor's artwork is emotional and offers realistic glimpses at the differences between the warmth happiness experienced at home, and the stark reality of life in the residential school. A glossary and author's note are included in back matter.
"We were geniuses. We are geniuses. We will always be geniuses."
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