From polar desert to the Saudi peninsula

While adventurers from the South love to say they’re the first of their kind to reach the North Pole, a group of Nunavimmiut can now boast they’re the first Inuit to ever visit Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Last month, Adamie Alaku, the vice-president for economic development at Makivik Corporation, headed a delegation of seven, including clothing designer Vickie Okpik, artist Victoria Grey and throat-singers Laina Grey and Maaki Putulik, to a festival outside Dubai.

They were in good company at the festival: heads of state, high-profile officials, many VIPs and about 2,000 delegates from Europe, Asia, North America and Africa participated in the Second Festival of The Cultures and Civilizations of World Deserts near Dubai from April 16 to 22.

The festival featured scientific programs, conferences, seminars, workshops, exhibitions, demonstrations and documentaries over a one-week period, all part of an effort by the oil-rich United Arab Emirates to increase interest in desert peoples’ culture, history, and economic and social development.

Polar deserts were also included in the festival, which is why Inuit and Mongolians were both invited to showcase their culture.

At the festival site, called Endurance Village, it was, according to Vickie Okpik, extremely “hot.”

“We were right in the desert,” Okpik said. “They have sandstorms. It reminded me of snow. When we were there, it kind of blew around. During the day you had to wear glasses.”

But the heat and sand didn’t prevent Nunavik’s rising designer from showing sealskin garments, including a sealskin amautik and polar bear fur (fake) pants to the desert people.

“I don’t think they expected sealskin,” Okpik said.

The fashion show of Okpik’s designs, with models Grey, Putulik and two recruited Mongolians, took place in a huge tent one evening.

“We showed in the evening when it was less hot, but even so we had to wipe the models’ faces. It was something else,” Okpik said. “The Mongolians especially liked it.”

Afterwards, Grey and Putulik performed throat-singing.

Another evening, Alaku spoke about Nunavik, in a 20-minute presentation with slides. The audience was entirely male, and most wore the traditional white gowns of Arabian men. Men wearing regular suits had to stand, while the traditionally garbed men in white took all the chairs.

“Afterwards, one man came up and asked him – are these real pictures? Do people still live like that?” Okpik said.

Alaku said the monied crowd was particularly interested to learn how Makivik manages its investments – and, after seeing the photos of snow and dog teams, many also wanted to learn more about traveling to Nunavik.

“They’re looking for new deserts to explore,” Alaku said.

Unfortunately, the Nunavimmiut weren’t able to perform in front of the VIP crowd on the last night of the festival because many groups were scheduled to perform ahead of them and they had to leave for the airport to head back home.

“It wasn’t the best organized festival,” Alaku said.

The group had also missed appearing during the opening ceremonies due to a canceled flight, which delayed their arrival in Dubai.

During the six-day stay at the festival, Alaku was housed in a hotel, but the others from Nunavik lived in a trailer on the festival site. When Alaku went to the festival site, he was always accompanied by a security guard.

One morning, the group took an early 40-minute bus ride into Dubai to see the sights.

What impressed them the most was the newness, the large amount of construction underway and relative richness of Dubai, where billions of dollars from oil development pour into the economy.

In Dubai, the major challenge wasn’t the 34 C heat, different food or the fact that there were women in their group, but that hardly anyone spoke English, so it was hard even to find a taxi driver who could understand them.

The scene driving into the city was foreign, as camels instead of caribou rushed across the roads, stopping traffic in its tracks.