HOMESICKNESS

Homesickness is those aches and pains of wanting so badly to go home but not being able to. It is longing for home, family and familiar surroundings. It is that sense of alienation and feeling like an outsider. 

The hardest part of being homesick is that there is nothing you can do to make it go away quickly! Nothing you do makes it any easier and you just have to go about daily life as usual.  That was very difficult– doing normal, quotidian things all the while knowing that you weren’t home. It was like a painful awareness of being – walking to school, sitting in class, lying in bed at night – all normal but painful activities.

My mom shared with me that she was so homesick at times and missed our food so much that she ate the closest things she could find: frozen beef and vegetable oil. We eat qauq – raw, frozen meat, be it caribou or fish (yes raw, but it is frozen and can only be eaten when frozen). We often eat this with seal oil. My mom found the closest thing and tried it. Of course, it was not the same thing! But she did what she had to do to combat homesickness.

Homesickness is very painful but I don’t see it as something to avoid. I think everyone should feel it at least once in their lifetime. It prepares you for the outside world and it makes you appreciate home. I’ve met some individuals from the villages who want to go to school in the city but end up going back home because of homesickness and inability to adjust to urban life. I understand being homesick but there are a multitude of opportunities out there that can benefit people and their communities: education, job training and job opportunities. Plus, being away from home opens your eyes to the problems and issues that trouble your community; things that otherwise go unnoticed or unaddressed.