Our long time “Didee and Didoo” cartoonist and poet Allan Benjamin from Old Crow is excited to introduce his new Shoo’ii and Sheek’aii cartoons and poems. These new characters will appear in Gwich’in and English. Whenever you see Shoo’ii and Sheek’aii you can always be treated to a Gwich’in poem or Allan will simply have some vocabulary to share with you. Didee and Didoo will still make appearances but will be in English only for the time being. Allan is completely bilingual, he was taught his native language by his Didee (Grandma) and Didoo (Grandpa). Allan says there are so many fine poets in Old Crow, he hopes to inspire students to send their Gwich’in poems to What’s Up Yukon for you to enjoy as well. We’ll be sure to use the #SpeekGwichinToMe twitter hashtag when posting these stories.
Shizheh K’oo My Family
Jii shitr’ īinjòo t’iinch’uu This is my wife
Jii shitsuu t’iinch’uu This is my grandmother
Jii shitsii t’iinch’uu This is my grandfather
Jii shihanh t’iinch’uu This is my father
Jii sheek’aii t’iinch’uu This is my auntie
Jii shoo’ii t’iinch’uu This is my uncle
Jii sheejii t’iinch’uu This is my older sister
Jii shijùu t’iinch’uu This is my younger sister
Jii shoondee t’iinch’uu This is my older brother
Jii shichyaa t’iinch’uu This is my younger brother
Jii shiyeets’i’ t’iinch’uu This is my daughter
Jii shidinji’ t’iinch’uu This is my son
When I was a kid this Elder gave me a Gwich’in name”CHIH AHAA”
Translated it means “walking ahead”
Allan Benjamin – CHIH AHAA
