Uki the Inuit

Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

"Do it again, Uki! Do it higher," my friends shouted as they crowded around me and Toklo, my best friend. Toklo raised the stick higher and I took a deep breath, preparing for the next jump.

I was participating in a competition of one foot high kick. The goal was to jump up, kick a ball that was dangling from a stick, and land back down on the foot you kicked with. Every time I'd successfully kick the ball, my friends would raise the stick an inch higher. The person with the highest successful kick won!

"Ok, let's do this," I muttered to myself, motioning for the others to move back. I bent my knees, pushed off, and swung my leg through the air, kicking the ball hard. I then landed back down on my foot, wobbling a bit before finding my balance.

"Yay! You did it, Uki!!" everyone around me erupted into cheers, and I smiled widely, taking it all in. Toklo set the stick aside and rushed over to me, joined by another one of my good friends, Panuk.

"Wow Uki! I bet that was your highest one yet! You probably even beat Panuk's jump, and everyone knows he's the best," Toklo exclaimed excitedly.

"Well not anymore, I'm the best now! Behold, the Incredible Uki!" I joked.

Toklo and Panuk lifted me up onto their shoulders, chanting my name. "Uki! Uki! Uki!"

I looked around at everyone cheering my name. One foot high kick is a very traditional game for the Inuit, and I felt very proud and lucky to be able to participate in this culture. In fact, I'm really lucky to even be able to be a part of this community! You see, I almost didn't survive being born! Let me take you back twelve years, to the winters of Nunavut.

It was an abnormally warm winter, and my village was suffering. The foundations of our houses were becoming unstable due to the rapid melting of the permafrost. A couple of our houses already started to collapse, so we were forced to seek a steadier location to settle down on. We packed up all of our belongings, and started a journey to find a new home. Everybody was worried about having to move in the unpredictable winter, but my family was especially worried. My mother was thirty-four weeks pregnant at the time, and was expecting to deliver early. Too much exertion from the travelling would potentially be harmful to herself and her baby. There was also the worry that they wouldn't arrive in their new location in time for her to give birth. Unfortunately, two days into their journey, my mom fell into labour. While the birth was successful and had no major complications, they still had to take care of me, a newborn, in the cold until they arrived and settled. My father kept me bundled up in his parka for the remaining of the trip to keep me as warm as possible. Luckily, our clan arrived and was able to settle with everyone safe and sound. My parents named me "Uki" after this incident, because it meant "survivor," and I definitely survived!