My lovely Sami friend Victoria is writing "Sami bloggs" on her website. Wish you could read Swedish because it is SO good, but here is some of it.....
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The tourists have climbed on our kata (Sami dwelling) again until it collapsed, trying to look through the little windows, my Mum tried to stop them by putting up signs: Do Not Climb on "the Kata". Grandma has written with big letters on the walls of our outhouse STAY AWAY, GET LOST, BEAT IT. She has made a skull with bones, like the pirate symbol.
We kids used to make "Sami souvenirs" to sell to the tourists, we made up stories to get them excited. I remember we told a guy who ran a hotel how to thank his guests in the Sami language. Only we taught him to say lots of rude things instead.
I have got used to seeing urban ladies climb over the rocks in red high heeled shoes, some enthusiast was carrying ? a tape recorder.
The shortest meeting was with the Finnish man who pulled up the door to "the kata" hard enough to break the lock. He pushed his group of people inside and said "And this is how the Samis live!" Noone said a word to us, they just looked round and walked out, but the man looked very satisfied.
I was having a presentation at a restaurant . ? The owner said: "And now the pretty little girl is here, dressed up as a Sami ." I mumbled: "I am not dressed up - this is ME!"
Greetings from Victoria - dressed for success!
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I guess we could just have exchanged the word "Sami" for "Native American". The disrespect is everywhere....
Annika
