At the age of five Beverly Illauq discovered the Arctic through a visit with a church Bishop who knew the Inuit and could speak their language. She knew then she would end up in the Arctic. This is her story.
'The birds still don't sing in my language, and I'm not sure they ever will. Even now the line of hills and expanses of ice are fascinating rather than intrinsically familiar. And still it takes effort to pick up innuendos of conversation. But the North is my home now. Although it is not my land, it is my comfort and my life, the land of my children and my family.
'I came north as a teacher, but the longer I live among the Inuit, the more I realize that the true teachers are the old people, the grandparents in the families.'
As told by Beverly Illauq
