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Love in a cold climate for Eskimo wife

Tuesday 03 June 1997 23:02 BST
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A student has swapped her degree studies for a traditional life on the frozen fringes of the Arctic with an Eskimo hunter.

Jo Matthews, 23, gave up her zoology course at Aberdeen University after meeting Mark Alaqu, an Inuit, during a scientific expedition with her scientist father in northern Canada.

The couple fell in love but Ms Matthews, who was brought up in Sheffield and York, decided to get married. They now have a 22-month-old son, Jajie, and live a traditional life in Salluit, near Hudson Bay, where they eat caribou and make clothes out of animal skins.

Ms Matthews said: "When I came to live with Mark here I knew it was exactly the right thing for me to do. It never felt like a big decision to make.

"I knew in my own mind I was making the right choice and I have been very, very happy living here."

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