Broadcasting from Nain…

Fran Williams is part of the team that broadcasts television and radio from the OKâlaKatiget Society in Nain, Labrador. Some of you may be familiar with the name Ok Society as it is sometimes referred.

The radio station has been broadcasting from the old mission house since June 1985. The OKâlaKatiget Society was first incorporated in 1982. The building, shown in the picture below, was originally built by the Hudson Bay Company and became a Cottage Hospital before being a boarding school house, and then finally its incarnation as Radio and TV centre.



This summer a new building project is being undertaken and will be hopefully completed by February 2008 allowing the OKâlaKatiget Society to move into new premises.

Fran started working at the OKâlaKatiget Society in Nain back in May 1984, and she is now a part of a team of 10 people, 4 of whom work on Radio, 4 on TV, and 2 in management roles. I have listed the current employees below.

The radio show broadcasts from Nain and can be heard from Happy Valley Goose Bay all the way up to Nain, with a potential target audience of roughly 7,000 people. There is live content broadcast from 1pm-3pm and 4pm-5pm Monday to Friday, and while they are not on air then CBC North is played.

On a Sunday morning they have two hours devoted to religious content. From 10–11am they broadcast the Nain Moravian Church Inuktitut Service live as the Church has been equipped with the necessary technology allowing this to happen. This means that this native language service can be heard across coastal Labrador by anyone with a radio. They also broadcast from 1-4pm on a Sunday afternoon, giving 20 hours total broadcast time per week.

There is a real mixture of content on the radio, including local news and interviews, a mixture of music styles and lots of requests. Fran says she enjoys the variation that her job brings, which means the job is never boring and allows her to keep up-to-date with both regional and national news, and meet lots of interesting people. Also as it is plays such a key role within the community they are very quick to receive feedback on the things that do and don’t work.

They have a great website set up with loads of information and it is well worth checking out at www.oksociety.com This is updated by the radio team daily with community news.

Current Employees of the OKâlaKatiget Society are as follows:

Fran Williams (in picture below)
Mitchell White (in picture below)
Bonnie Lyall
Joanna Dicker
K.Naeme Tuglavina
Maria Harris
Sarah Abel
Sybella Tuglavina
Paul Murphy

News from the Chair…

It’s the 550th anniversary of the worldwide Moravian Church. As we think back to the early history of the Unitas Fratrum, we remember the difficulties those early believers faced, but even persecution did not destroy their faith. This gives us hope today.

In Labrador our congregations have been without a minister for several years. I would like to thank all the volunteers who keep our churches going. A service is held every Sunday. Sunday School lessons continue. Confirmation classes are still offered. Workers have spent time improving the graveyards. Mountains of snow have been shoveled away from entryways and windows. Furnaces are kept running. Weekly vacuuming is done. And then there is the offer of prayer and fellowship whenever a family is in need. Thank you to all of you who step up to do good in the name of our Chief Elder.

With Nunatsiavut achieving self-government, we are seeing greater power to the people. It is up to the Moravian Church to play a part in this empowerment. Training is needed for our church leaders. The talk has turned to putting out a call for full-time ministers. That is a must if we are to serve the spiritual needs of each community.

Sr Joan Andersen

News from Nain...

We are pleased to announce that we have begun refurbishing the electrics in the Church and will have a new lighting system by the weekend (Sunday 29th April 2007).

The chapel servants held a meeting last week to decide on what would look best in the Church and we are hopeful that the congregation and community will appreciate this new look.

Here is a photo of the Church:

Happy Valley Goose Bay congregational news...

There are two confirmation students this year and they are Betty Broomfield and Barb Webber. They have decided to complete the Alpha Course by May 27, 2007.

Sunday School is offered by Beatrice Dicker and with this Youth Ministry we also have Youth Quest.

Youth Quest is run from September to May of each year. This past year the children who are aged 5 to 15 have received their own Bibles. We are sad to see Claude and Muriel Queval from the Mennonite Central Committee and Gail Kuo and Ron Miles our volunteers, leave this year. We are thankful to Carl and Laura Sonnichsen from the Northern Canada Evangelical Mission who continue to help as well some parents. We pray for additional leaders to help us for next year.

Sr Sabina Hunter

Congregation news from Hopedale...

Hopedale was pleased to have two applications for confirmation of Rachel Tuglavina and Agnes Abel and their confirmation service took place on Palm Sunday.

Every Sunday evening we meet together for a time of choruses and prayer, led by Nicole Burt and Reuben Flowers. It is a tremendous time of fellowship and a great opportunity to relax and spend time praise God and seeking His voice.

Sunday School continues to be well attended and on the last service of each month we invite the school choir to come and perform and also have a few snacks and drinks after the service. It is so good to have the young people involved and they bring a tremendous blessing to all of us with their singing, musical instruments and enthusiasm.

Makkovik writes with news of their music group…

Makkovik's music group was started in the fall of 2006 by Russell Winfield and Rebecca Pretty.
It is usually held on Wednesday nights at the church and we have since moved to the school until Lent services and Easter
are over.

Rebecca usually opens and closes with a prayer as she is the leader of our group. She is doing a wonderful job with us and special thanks to her for all her time, dedication and effort she puts into our group. Thanks so much Rebecca.

There are about 14 of us who get together and have performed at many services now. We seem to be very well recieved by the congregation. We are always looking for new members anyone is welcome to come along. We always have a good laugh!

Kim Andersen

Note from the editor…

This is the first post of the Labrador Moravian blog in 2007.

We have decided to use a blog to communicate up-to-date news of Church life here in Labrador to those both inside the province, and those further afield.