Drudgery
- Nishnawbe Aski Nation, 2005 -
There were about a hundred and fifty students and staff at the residential school that I attended. A cook and her helper mostly prepared the meals, but the older girls also helped with the cooking. We learned how to make different foods served at the school, such as soup, stew, bread, buns, pies and cakes. Learning how to do these things was fun, but we also had to prepare foods before they were cooked and that was a chore that none of us liked to do. We spent hours washing, peeling, and cutting carrots, potatoes, and turnips. We also had to clean up after the meals. What a chore it was to wash and dry all the pots and pans used for cooking along with the mountains of plates, bowls, cups, glasses, knives, forks and spoons. We did this three times a day, every day of the week all of the time we were at school.
