INSPIRING STORY OF THE WEEK – A ROOF OVER MY HEAD by Alastair Henry
INSPIRING STORY OF THE WEEK
A ROOF OVER MY HEAD
by Alastair Henry
In this inspiring story, Alastair poses an interesting question.
What would you do if it was minus ten degrees outside, you had no bed to sleep in, no kitchen utensils to cook with, and no inside toilet?
Would you laugh, cry or just do the best you can? In this inspiring story, A Roof Over My Head, you will find out how Alastair Henry handled the situation.
Alastair experienced culture shock when he first went to live and work with a small First Nations band. In this inspiring story, Alastair describes this remote fly-in hamlet in the N.W.T.. As General Manager for the band’s Development Corporations, they told Alastair they would provide him with a house. But there was a problem because the house hadn’t been built yet, so, in the meantime, he went to live in a teacher’s house with a guy named Lester. That sounded okay as the teachers were out of the community for the summer.
A week later, just as he was settling in, Alastair awoke and noticed the light blinking on the answering machine. It was a message from the school principal, who apologized for the short notice, but told him he had to move out by the end of the day. “So sorry but the teachers are coming in tomorrow and they need the space. I only found out last night, sorry.”
Everyone he asked reacted similarly, thinking for a moment and then saying, You’ll have to find a place! Sorry.
Yes, Alistair finds a place, but almost wishes he had’t!
They’ve gotta be joking! Alastair thought. Sorry! Everyone was sorry . . . but he was the sorriest. He was even beginning to feel sorry for ever coming to that God forsaken place. He was in a wilderness with no roads in or out, not even a single hotel or guest house. There was only one general store that had to accommodate everyone’s needs from diapers for the babies to Depends for the elders.
Packing up what little he had and moving right in, Alastair was very excited to finally find a room. This house was at the end of a lane below a big hill, about a ten-minute walk to work. The owner had built the house himself, from surplus housing materials he’d found at the landfill. It looked like a regular house from the outside, and even looked okay on the inside too, but there were serious deficiencies. For starters, although there was a shower there was no inside toilet. Instead they used the honey bucket in the small wooden shed just outside the front door. Their john consisted of a toilet seat on a can over a garbage bag. The shed wasn’t heated nor was it lit so you did your business in the cold and in the dark.
Alastair’s tale details more of the humorous moments from his days spent in Lutsel K’e.
Watch this lively video presentation of Alastair’s story, starting at Frame 3:10.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS TALENTED AUTHOR AT: http://awakeninginthenorth.com
The Inspiring yet humorous story, “Roof Over My Head” is now published in
Tales2Inspire ~ The Crystal Collection
Stories told with 20/20 Hindsight – Looking Back With laughter
