Victor's Playground

In Winter the kids play outside, -24 plus wind chill, the drifts make great slides

When I arrived in Rankin Inlet, on February 12th, the weather was -23 in Winnipeg.. and a little colder here with a higher windchill due to the stronger winds. On Monday this week, the temperature in Rankin Inlet at noon was -28 and the windchill brought it to -44C.  In almost 7 weeks the weather hasn't changed much...but wait, it has.

The days are now 2 and a half hours longer....the sun rising at 6:30 in the a.m. and setting around around 8...but the sun is so much stronger every day.  It's the wind here that seems to keep the temps so low.

The sign announcing "VICTOR'S PLAYGROUND"

VICTOR'S PLAYGROUND

Moving through "old town" the first time on a saturday morning, a sunny bright day with those unbelievably blue skies, I happened across a snowy playground with a sign. It said "Welcome to Victor's Playground" and nothing more. It took several weeks with everything else being so new or so different, that I didn't think too much more about it until almost my last week.

You could recognize the ladder and a slide under the white stuff. There looked like teeter tooters as well. A few other pieces of equipment and at the time wondered what was there. It was surrounded by a group of houses sort of in a 'cul de sac' arrangement. The park was along the roadside, the housing was surrounding. The blue sign stood proudly proclaiming Victor's playground.

It was not the only play ground area that I recognized while in Rankin. In the new section of town (Area 6), the one where there seems to have been the most residential development, I could see a playground in behind some houses, on a raised section. It was visible from the window at the end of the hall where I was resident. That one had no sign.

A rare sight...a "lost" mitten

Awaiting warmer temps

After going through some of my photos to try and figure out what I had missed getting recorded digitally, I came across those two saturday photos...and it was time to figure who Victor was and why the playground named in his honour. I had lots of ideas but no foundation...perhaps someone young who had succumbed to a dreaded disease or someone honoured by the hamlet for their humanitarian works.

Another coffee break in the staff lounge, with no tuktu and no muktuk on the table to increase conversation, I asked another question. (I'm sure that the coffee breaks at the Kivalliq Health Centre have returned to their normalcy since this question man has left town). Today's question concerned the playground and who Victor was.

The staff there told me I probably have seen Victor around town . He's a big framed guy in town. He's in his mid twenties apparently, and spent hours as a child in the play area. He's popular with the younger kids and looks after them when they are playing there. Pushing them higher and farther in the swings, as we all liked to do as children, Victor spends countless hours.

Growing up, he enjoyed the area and loved to play there. In the summer months, this hamlet has almost continuous daylight. It gets twilight for a few short hours around 1 a.m. but is bright again between three and four in the morning. It would be good for those enjoying an early golf game, but it wrecks havoc with sleeping patterns for both adults and children. Blackout curtains were on the bedroom windows of my transient apartment for those reasons.

You can't say "come home when the sun sets" or you'd never see your kids. In the midst of all this, the playground is used extensively in the warmer weather. And Victor is there. A gentle hand helping those who need it and "being there" for everyone else.

You see, Victor is special. He's a special needs kid, who grew up at the playground. That's why its been named after him. I'm sure he is protective of it, nurtures it and cares for those in need. I never met Victor in person while in Rankin Inlet. Perhaps, another day, we may.