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Maria Fraser nee Fernandes, is a Registered Out-post
Nurse and has been working in Repulse Bay, Eastern
Arctic Nunavut since 1990. Repulse Bay is on the west
of Hudsons Bay on the Arctic Circle, above the 65th.
parallel.
She was born and grew up in Nairobi, Kenya which on
the Equator. She says that her experience gained in
the remote out-post region on Northern Kenya
facilitated her work here on the remote tundra of
Northern Canada.
Christmas is a time of sharing happiness and joy with
first and foremost our immediate family. It was the
14th. October 2007 when an Inuit couple in their mid
fifties decided to go cariboo hunting to provide for
their family and friends in this little settlement
comprising of about 1000 residents, ninety-five
percent of whom are Inuit.
The temperature outside was - 30 degrees C and dropped
even further with the windchill to -35 degrees C.
Dressed in cariboo clothing, John and Goretti got
ready with some hot tea in thermos and some bannock.
John had his snowmobile (skidoo) primed the night
before and got it started that Sunday morning and
headed out of town to a spot that is known to have
herds of cariboo. John's oldest son and his son-in-law
were to join him later in the afternoon. It was
obvious that the men in this family knew this spot
well. All they had to guide them on the road were
previous skidoo tracts leading them to the place. An
hour and a half out of town they spotted two hunters
in the distance who had just caught cariboo and were
heading home. They waved to each other. John followed
the cariboo tracts and soon came accross his first
cariboo and shot it . A few seconds later shot his
second cariboo. The rest of the herd got closer but
soon left on seeing the dead cariboo. John and Goretti
went ahead to hide behind a hill till the rest of the
herd were out of the way. They got to the kill and not
having their sled (komatik) with them decided to tie
the cariboo with a rope to their skidoo, dragging it
along the snow and ice packed tundra.
Both had, by now, crossed many frozen lakes passing
through narrow passages through the hills and frozen
the lakes. There were some icy and slippery spots on
the lakes. They crossed thick sheets of icy glass-like
lakes when all of a sudden the skidoo started to sink
through what appeard an eight inches thick ice sheet.
Soon both Goretti and John found themselves submerged
in icy water. Goretti afraid, started to panic,
grabbing anything she could get her hands on: the ice
edge and looking to the back of their skidoo saw the
cariboo floating and quickly held on to the one of the
antlers. She watched her flask of tea and the bag of
bannock sink to the bottom of the fresh water lake.The
skidoo was now out of sight in a matter of minutes
sunk to the bottom. Goretti felt her legs getting
heavier with her Sorell boots waterlogged and she felt
herself being pulled down, so she hurridly kicked off
the heavy Sorell boots and these sunk to the bottom.
Dressed in her cariboo outfit and a pair of socks she
struggled to keep afloat holding to the ice edge with
one hand and the cariboo antler with the other.
Her husband John, too, had removed his boots and let
them drop into the lake and was holding on to the ice
edge which kept breaking and he grabbed the next edge
and with his right hand. He removed his binoculars and
with it endeavoured to clump some snow on the ice edge
to form a kind of peg to lever himself onto the ice
edge. John had his rifle trapped accross his chest and
tried to remove the strap over his head but the strap
if the rifle kept getting caught in the hood of his
parka. He felt his breathing getting shallower as he
got deeper into the freezing waters. He said to
Goretti that whatever happens he is not going to let
them sink to the bottom of the lake but would hold on
Goretti and the two of them would remain frozen above
water, holding each other. He wanted his family to
find them together.
Fresh water lakes are very slippery unlike the ocean
that is salt water and less slippery according to John
who is a well seasoned hunter in the territory. John
managed to get both his feet on to the ice edge with
his body still under the water. Goretti said that she
could hold no longer hold on and exclaimed that she
was going to let go. John said that the have to stay
alive for their children and grand children and asked
Goretti to pray. Goretti prayed aloud, John held on to
Goretti's wrist that was holding the edge of the ice
and with his other hand on the peg that he had
fashioned manouvered his body on to the ice edge. He
quickly proceeded to pull Goretti out of the water on
to the edge.
They had been in the frigid waters for about half an
hour. Their feet were frozen and they could barely
walk. Goretti and John began to crawl on her hands and
knees hoping that their son would soon be there to
rescue them. John felt that he was going to black -out
as he got up to walk. He was exhausted and
worried.There was no sign of their son. They crawled
towards a spot where John had his sled and a box of
cariboo skins, this took an hour to reach. Goretti was
tired and exhausted and did not wish to crawl anymore.
John was determined to get to the box and encouraged
Goretti saying that they had children and
grandchildren waiting for them and that they had to be
together this Christmas. After an hour's struggle in
the cold and their hands and feet with no feeling from
extreme cold temperatures, they managed to reach their
box of cariboo skins. The skins were dry. John laid
down the skins and Goretti sat down shivering. John
helped her remove her cold parka and covered her with
dry skins. They removed their wet socks tried and
wrung out as much of the water and put them on again.
He did the same to himself when suddenly he heard
sounds in the still, cold air. There were three all
terrain vehicles(hondas) in the distance. He tried to
wave to them. The first two hondas kept going ahead
and did not see them. The third honda did and turned
around and headed towards them. The other two hondas
seeing that the third was not following, also turned
around and followed the honda tracks and came to
John's and Goretti's rescue. These hunters had hot tea
that they quickly poured for John and Goretti. They
removed their own parkas and dry windpants and gave
these to John and Goretti to wear. One of the ladies
on the honda removed her inner sweater and duffle
socks and gave these to Goretti. The rescurers got
Goretti and the other lady onto the sled that John had
and they all headed back to town to the health centre
where I work . It took them two hours to reach us at
the health centre.
Goretti did not remember being in the Health Centre.
On arrival her core temperature was 30 degrees C. All
the nurses worked hard to get Goretti out her
hypothermic state. John happened to be in a better
shape and was coherent enough to tell us to attend to
Goretti first.
Today, almost two months later Goretti and John are
thankfull for the gift of life and being able to be
with their family this Christmas. Goretti says that
this experience has brought the family much more
closer especially those who had drifted apart. This is
going to be a very special Christmas for this family
as they celebrate the gift of life in their home.
Goretti and John have 6 children, 19 grandchildren, 1
great- grand child and another great grand child due
Dec.16th 2007. Goretti and John have permitted me to
write and share their dramatic courage and faith with
you all.
Wishing all the readers a truly Blessed Christmas and
New Year 2008
Maria Fraser nee Fernandes, Repulse Bay, Nunavut
Eastern Arctic Canada
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