Natural Helpers Retreat in St. Mary's

At Alakanuk, I am the sponsor for Natural Helpers. A group of students, grades 8-12, who are meant to be leaders and helpers for other students and community members. Our main focus is suicide prevention, counseling for victims of bullying, and many other topics pertaining to mental and physical safety. It has been a definite struggle to show them what leadership skills even are, but I hope that I can guide them to develop their skills, foster better friendships, and have a positive impact on many hurting people in the community.
In the picture above, we ladies helped the maintenance men unload and load printers for Alakanuk School. We had let eight Natural Helpers and chaperone, Clark, jump on the first plane, while this one was flying 15 new printers from the District Office in Mountain Village.
They seemed to enjoy the idea of helping the process go more quickly, so a few showed off their muscles. We got all of them to fit in one load with a little bit of jimmy-jamming and brain power! Natural Helpers in action!
We rode in a van with all of the windows intact and a heater-- a couple miles to St. Mary's. We actually got it up to 60! Our roads in Alakanuk have potholes the size of bath tubs. What's this? A hill? Hills in the background? A ROAD SIGN? I forgot what those looked like.
We were pretty excited about the white ground at St. Mary's! Alakanuk was brown for quite some time before gaining that clean layer of white.
We walked to the local store for some goodies. And they have a dairy aisle. Sour Cream and a whole GALLON of REAL milk!

The Natural Helpers retreat opened my eyes to the raw hurt that spreads to everyone in the villages. Suicide has been an epidemic which plagues villages. Hooper Bay has had about nine suicides this year. After almost an entire weekend of ice-breaker activities and sessions, all of us (about 85 people) sat in a circle around a candle on the gym floor. Students, sponsors, and chaperones shared stories of how they were affected by either someone who had committed suicide or how they had seriously thought about attempting it themselves. As the hour hand passed three hours, tears fell down my still face. (These quotes are not exact, but it will give you more of an idea of what I heard.)

"My sister threatened me to not call the cops or she would kill herself. She was saying she didn't care if she went to hell. Because hell couldn't be as bad as this life. After talking to her for hours, I knew I couldn't stop her and went to get help. She killed herself as soon as I left."

"I almost pulled the trigger. I would have killed myself to make [my parents] stop fighting."

"If only I had walked to his house to see what the explosion was. But, I just thought, 'Oh, boys will be boys.'"

"The kids still get things ready and run to the window expecting their uncle to come home from work. Then, they remember. And that's the hardest part."

Please pray for the grieving families and especially those who don't know how to handle such extreme stress.

School Life

Some of you are curious to see where I spend most of my time, so allow me to introduce you to Alakanuk School. Early morning a couple weeks ago, I ran outside before a meeting so I could capture the sun glazing our school building.


The "deck" is where students spend most of their recess time. It's beginning to look a lot different as the temperature drops and the snow has started falling.
This is the school's parking lot and the boardwalk that leads to teacher housing.

The classroom has been a work in progress. Even though we are finished up with the first quarter of school, weekends and evenings are still spent cleaning out drawers and cupboards, as well as already changing up our classroom routines and schedules to modify and fit our needs.
This is our Yupik Wall as the students learn their colors and days of the week. My personal style of how I like my classroom is a little different than others'. My walls are usually more bare than I've noticed other teachers like their walls. However, I just would rather let the students know why something is going up on our wall and have it be a ceremonial placement. This way students know where to refer to the display and are able to utilize it.

At the beginning of the year, I struggled to find an activity that would work to have the students do right after lunch while they take turns brushing their teeth. From reading to music, I finally have settled on a math-centered choice time. They have the options of using cash registers and fake money to buy and sell items, practicing multiplication, or creating patterns and designs with tiles.
The boys make use of the floor space with Agnes, the elder who comes in every day until lunch. Agnes is an amazing lady who comes in to volunteer her time and we are grateful for her help and wonderful presence! The students have the opportunity to interact with her and practice respect, as well as some good-natured fun. Here she works on building a tower with a pattern of hexagons and trapezoids.


Little smiling faces usually create the day's little graces!
At our store, our fake food is as delicious as we pretend it to be. This happened to be during Spirit Week on Quspaq Day. I borrowed the traditional shirt from an aide in my classroom. Many of the Yupik classified staff commented, "Oo! I like your Quspaq! Who made it for you?" I felt honored and pleased. Yet, I would just tell them it wasn't mine and I was just borrowing it from Helen. They would say, "Oh, wow. It looks so nice on you!"
The studious pupils work on an assignment, and so does Agnes! She only had school to about an 8th grade level and likes to continue her education in our classroom along with the other students.



I'm fortunate to have such unique students and helpers in my classroom. Our days are colorful and never the same. With many amazing people supporting me, I continue to develop my routines and systems within our classroom. However, I'm finally trying to swallow the reality that the work of a teacher is never done!

Around Alakanuk

Alakanuk is spread out along one long curving gravel road which is mostly along the river. Below, Clark is walking toward Dave's store which is at least 1/2 mile from teacher housing. They have mostly boxed and frozen items to choose from. Occasionally, there are treats such as eggs and cheese! A carton of eggs is around 5 dollars and a block of cheese is around 15 dollars. A frozen DiGiorno pizza is 15 dollars, cream cheese is about 6 or 7 dollars, and there are many foods I just don't even look at. Some items can be almost 7 times the cost in the Lower 48. Most people up here claim it's easiest on their consciences to just not look at prices.

This is the local annex store which carries overflow food from the Native Store across town. They sometimes sell things like cake mixes or brownie mixes for half price. At any store up here it is important to check how far out of date things are and inspect damaged boxes carefully to decide if it's worth it because all sales are final. (This reminds me of my canadian bacon I've been eating. It has an expiration date of April 2010. My friends recently commented about me actually eating it.)

This is the Catholic church which sits right next to the local annex store and the Tribal Council building.
Below is the Tribal Council building--used for Eskimo Dances, Voting, and Bingo.
In Alakanuk, some of the staff waits for the community to unlock the T.C. for a potluck. The community never showed, because there was some lack of communication in the whole process. After standing in the rain, we ended up going back to the school and eating in the gym as a staff. We did load up and go back to the T.C. for a quick meeting with a poor turnout and I went home to go to sleep by 7:40pm.
Having an incredibly busy schedule, being introduced to new viruses, and living on a poor diet caught up with me and I was exhausted. Many of us ended up being sick with a virus that took our voice and our vigor for a while. After sleeping about 11 hours that night, I felt much better and got up to yet another day of teaching and repeated the teach-sleep cycle for about a week and a half.

One of my favorite places-- the Dock

Below, Clark and Rebecca pose next to the vast Yukon at sunset. A walk with friends on a night like this is always a relaxing way to spend the evening. Theresa and Haley were there, too, just not pictured!



God is an incredible artist! No matter where we are on this earth, we are surrounded by his beauty.
We stopped by the AUK airport on the way back home.

Seal Hunting

On a nice sunny day, I was asked to go for a “boat ride.” With excitement, I went home after a day of teaching and quickly threw on my coat, borrowed Theresa’s boots, and grabbed a couple granola bars and some money. I was going with our school secretary’s family—her son is in my class. Although I hadn’t asked where we were going, I figured we might be traveling up the river to Emmonak, a village about 9 miles away (which has a better store with groceries and a restaurant).

As I walked to their house and followed them to the boat, I still had no idea what to expect. The day was beautiful, laughter and giddiness was in the air, and we waited anxiously as the boat maneuvered through the water to get ready to head out to the mouth of the Yukon. As we waited to get the boat filled up on gas, their daughter Dylani and I played with some stray rocks that were on the plywood floor of their motorboat.

Before I knew it we were headed toward the Bering Sea and Jadon was grabbing his spear. I finally realized the plan was to go hunt for Mukluk! I was impressed to see the skill of my 4^th grader as he held a spear to catch a Mukluk. After the seal popped his head above the surface of the water a few times and Jadon had no luck, some people announced Mukluk in a different area on the VHF (which reminds me of a CB radio, but runs off of different wavelengths.)

While the boat closed in on a group of other boats, I started to learn how the Yupik culture views seal hunting. It is not a competitive sport, but they work together as a team to surround and catch the Mukluk. The females and kids also have their own spears and try their hand at catching Mukluk. If one person spots Mukluk, they all start their motors and speed towards it. The closest person throws their spears. Everyone waits patiently and is good humored while the exciting hunt continues.

We hunted until a few people speared the Mukluk we had been chasing for hours. They putted in close so I could see them pulling the bleeding seal up on the boat. I forget the order of how they share the seal, but they split up who gets the skin, the meat, etc. After saying goodbye and gliding off into the sunset amidst the glassy Bering Sea, we zipped around enjoying the last bit of sunshine for the day and looking for more Mukluk.

On our way into the Alakanuk Slough, we spotted a Mukluk and a Nayiq. My students chose group names at the start of the year and the groups were the Mukluks, the Nayiqs, and the dolphins. The day I went seal hunting, I was able to connect the Yupik name to the actual seal. Mukluks have wider necks and are larger seals. Nayiqs are smaller with thinner necks and more pointed noses. It’s strange to not really know the English names for the seals. The Mukluks are called bearded seals, but I forget the other English names for seals. And I can’t spell the third common type of seal around here.

One memorable moment was Dylani throwing her spear at a seal in the slough. Her spear went the distance, but was a little ways to the left of where the seal had popped up. Her family laughed about it a little bit and we retrieved the spear. After about 6 hours of being around this smiley giggly 8-year old, I was surprised to see her mood change so drastically. The line of her mouth was as flat as her once-sparkling eyes. I quietly said to her, “Hey, that wasn’t too bad.” Her little mouth spurted, “Yes it was!” I let her know that she did a really good job. And if we never made mistakes, how could we learn to get better? Her reply made me think. “Ya, but I’ve been throwing a spear since I was 3!” I couldn't imagine how Dylani felt and it revealed a new perspective of growing up as a girl in Alakanuk. At 8 years old, I didn't even know seal hunting existed!
My day out on the water with the Ayunerak family was the most exciting day since I moved. It was a great feeling to be out with the community rather than cooped up in teacher housing. I was honored to be invited on such a fun hunting trip!

Saturday Tradition= Splurge and Gorge

Every Saturday, the gang goes to the one and only Alakanuk Restaurant. On the menu, includes two options--a burger or pizza? Both are splendidly delicious. However, the most delightful part is not having to wash our dishes! (Dishwashers do not exist in the village...) Here are some pictures from the first time we started going about a month ago.

Clark, Becca, and Theresa with their burgers. And below we are served a nice cold can of pop.

Clark's "After-burger" look.

We walked to the end of town for the first time. There were lots of rundown houses and a spot of gold at the end of town. (Here is, again, part of the Yukon)
We picked the route along the river to head back to our house. The building sticking up over the short trees is the school in the distance. Our housing is to the left of that.
I believe, this is one of three remaining original long houses. People still use them to live or store equipment. A little ways down the river path, we saw another one.