Zeballos, BC, Canada
My CFE was completed in the incredible town of Zeballos. I got to experience learning from the land from both the students and the Elders. They taught me the absolutely incredible things we can learn from the land around us. One special experience was when we went to the Alcove pond for a 2 day field trip. On the first day we created and set fish traps and left them over night. We used different baits and set four different traps at different areas around the pond. The next morning we went back and saw which traps were the most successful and counted how many fish we had caught. We then took the fish and brought it to our working station where we weighed and measured each fish. This was an incredible experience to see different ways to learning that can happen. Later on that week I went to visit the students on the Ehatteshat reserve in the evening. The students showed me how they had carved a sharp edge on the bottom of their sticks and were now catching fishes without the traps. They then measured who caught the largest fish by using one students hands to measure the width of each fish. This was incredible for me to see how they were truly learning from the land around them. The students also explained to me that in order for them to take these fish or anything from the land they live on, you need to offer something in exchange. I learned that the Nuu-chah-nulth people often give tobacco when they take something from nature. This brings me back to over arching theme of gratitude I am so incredible grateful for this land and before we can learn we need to be grateful.