I consider myself to be very fortunate to have visited the SAMI people. They are spread over the arctic in Norway and Sweden, Finland and Russia in a large contiguous region.
I had gone to Helsinki to see to the arrangements of Halcyon the dilapidated cargo ship belonging to my Lebanese friend Abdur Bashur. In what seems to have been its last trip, the ship set sail for the port of Pollenca in the Balearic islands
Having a little time in our hands, Abdur and I decided to fly north to Ivalo. Abdur wanted to see the woods and nature that inspired Sibelius. I had secretly hoped to meet the indigenous people of Northern parts , the Sami or as they used to the called the Lapplanders or the Lapps.
We stayed at the lakeside town of Inari and as if decreed, Sami began to appear and I was so delighted. An older man who looked very much like an American Indian informed me that there is a Native Doctor who lives on the Norway-Finland border.
Abdur and I rented a car and stopped at the lone shop at Karigisnaemi junction from where a narrow road went up north along the salmon rich river that marked the border with Norway. 18 km to the west was the Norwegian town of Karasjok with a sizable Sami population
But our destination was the house of the Finnish Sami doctor who lived a few miles north along the lonely road by the salmon rich river
The lone store at the corner was owned by a Jew who had left some Russian pogrom or other and was kind enough to give directions to the Doctors house.
I knocked at the door of the lovely house standing by itself, trying to remember the Swedish I had leaned years earlier in a school in Southern Sweden.
A lady opened the door and said
We are expecting you and your room is ready upstairs
That was my introduction to the Sami People of the North
I still remember fondly a visit to Sevettijärvi
a village of SkOLT SAMI .. and meeting the students of the elementary school and visiting the church and cultural centre
We were able to drive to the border of Russia with signs in russian asking us to Keep Out.
The border between Finland and Russia ..
I am truly richer by my contact with the SAMI people.
