by Margery Frisch
AUNDECK OMNI KANING—A retreat for single moms took place September 22-24 with guest speakers, testimonials and personal stories shared. The participants divided their time between the Aundeck Omni Kaning (AOK) Fellowship Church, Endaa-aang Tourism and AOK’s 4 Directions Complex.
The idea for the retreat came about when Paula Kakekagumick approached her pastor, asking about the possibility of sending a group of women from the community to a Single Moms’ Retreat in Dryden, Ontario.
“Why don’t we organize one here?” he said.
“So that’s what we did,” Ms. Kakekagumick explained. “In January of this year, we started planning. We figured we’d need about $8,000; we started small, and we started campaigning with the local churches and anyone we could think of. We raised money with taco sales and bake sales, it seemed overwhelming at first, but the money kept coming in, through our efforts and through sponsors.”
“We didn’t have a budget for advertising, so I took posters around and everywhere I went, someone responded. Along the way, we thought we’d charge $120 per person, but over time we had raised enough money to cover the cost for them, so it’s free for the women who are here. We also have a dress shop in the church and Grace Bible Church and Northern Life Church in Little Current donated all the dresses.”
“It’s a lot of work and I kept thinking, ‘Oh, if I ever get through this, I’m not doing it again,’ but now, because of how everything worked out, with God’s help, I think, ‘OK, maybe I could do this again.’ The women from our church—AOK Fellowship—have been a tremendous help. We’re such a small church, but everyone is helping. The men of the church are cooking breakfast both Saturday and Sunday mornings. We have a caterer for our other meals.”
The greatest part of Saturday’s focus was on Healing in Arts. This workshop was led by Pamela Alderman, a strong believer in art bringing about healing and resilience. She calls her workshop Three Straight Lines, explaining that three straight lines form a sacred triangle that unites our stories from beginning to end. Each participant was given three triangular canvases and 20 minutes per canvas to paint their story, using colour, patterns, images, shapes or words. “To depict three periods of your life, or three aspects of your work or your heritage,” Ms. Alderman explained. “Impressionistic rather than realistic, intuitive,” she added.
This activity went right up till lunch time and after lunch, the women were asked to share their art and tell their stories. They were given four minutes each, but everyone had a lot to say and no one’s story was curtailed. Brokenness, healing and hope were recurring themes; stories of incredible hardships and grief, but in each of the paintings there were bits of light, and in each story, there were glimmers of hope. Faith in God was the common thread in these resilient lives.
Ms. Kakekagumick met Pamela Alderman at a conference in Michigan and when she approached her about doing a presentation at this retreat, she said yes right away. Sadly, things do not always go according to plan and days before the event, Ms. Alderman’s husband had a heart attack and was in the ICU. Though many options were explored, including flying Ms. Alderman to the retreat (too exorbitant a cost), a Zoom presentation was settled upon, and all worked out in the end, with Ms. Alderman leading the participants while sitting in a tiny room in a Michigan hospital.
Other mishaps and complications led the team to wonder if they should cancel the retreat days before it was scheduled to begin but their faith kept them strong in their resolve and they carried on as if all was going according to plan. In the end, that’s exactly how it played out—according to plan.
“God’s plan,” Ms. Kakekagumick said.
