My name is Dawn Kostelnik, and I am the White Girl, Mola ‘tu ‘we’. In the 1960’s, my father was hired by the Canadian Government to work as an Indian Agent in the tiny Native village of Fort Norman, N.W.T. My father is known by the people on the river as Somba ralla; the moneylender. My life is changed forever. The Deh Cho becomes my home, the Mighty Mackenzie River in Canada’s Arctic. This is the home of the Dene, a Native people of the River. I stand on the shores of a far away world and watch as civilization flies in politicians, oranges and whisky.

I am Mola ‘tu ‘we’, the little white girl that bounces around the edges of the lives of ancient peoples. My ears are cocked for knowledge, my eyes wide open, my heart hoping that I will never forget these things that I have seen. Even as a very little girl I know that this way of life is slipping away. The old life is being carried up and far away to the stars with the winds created by the great new breath that heralds the arrival of the people of the south.

Listen to the drums, hear the dogs and the voice of the White Girl