We Are All Together Here

The potluck part of the potlatch. Look at all that delicious food!

How should I start this blog? So many things to tell, so many things to share. What a full week we have had out here in the bush. Alakanuk celebrated early this week and then as the week went on we had an alarming tragedy. What a week!! As our new airport is supposed to be finished this coming week, the community decided to have a potlatch in honor of the airport and all the hard work that went into it. It was my first ever potlatch out here and I wanted to share about it. But then, on Wednesday there was a tragic fire in the village that has effected most people around here. Our village will be filled with people from other villages as they come to mourn the death of an elderly woman. Such a sad occasion merits some mention in this week's blog.

mm, yummy!

Tuesday we had a great time. There was a big potlatch celebration. Our new airport is almost complete,  so we all got together at the tribal building for the evening to share a meal and have an Eskimo dance. Anytime we can get together to dance out here, we do. A potlatch is basically the same as a potluck, with the Eskimo added onto it, which is a lot of fun. There were tons of different foods that people brought out, and it was all delicious! 

Of course, those of you who know me, know I'm not a big fish eater. But a lot of the food had moose meat instead, which is delicious, so I had plenty to eat. Unfortunately, no one brought any Eskimo ice cream, which they call something like agudik, although there is no guarantee that this is the way they spell it. It is made up of fish, berries, crisco, and fish oil. Sounds delicious, doesn't it? Well I've been holding out, waiting to taste some, but they haven't had any yet. 

what a group of friend

The potlatch was supposed to begin at 5, but, of course, like everything else around here it didn't start exactly on time. The people in this culture don't really stick to time schedules like down in the lower 48. I only stayed until about 8:30, and one of the other teachers said she left about 9:30, so these potlatches last quite a few hours, but I don't think they went on much past 10, seeing as it was a school night and stuff like that. 

I took a short video of the people doing one of the Eskimo dances. Hope you enjoy the video. This dance would go on for about 10 minutes, but I tried to get the main part of the dance. The part in this video would be repeated over and over again within that time frame, which may sound boring, but I dare you to watch it until you can do it yourself and tell me how long it takes. One more thing I wanted to tell you I don't know if I included in another blog is that you will notice all the women have either fans (made to look like bear claws) or gloves on. You are not allowed to dance unless you are wearing gloves or have fans. It's pretty interesting how they do things like that. 

Wednesdays are our early out days. We let the students out an hour early so we can do some in-service and get things done without the students being around. As we were sitting down to start our meeting Wednesday, someone came in and notified one of the aides about something. He immediately got up and left and word was passed around the room. His grandmother's house was on fire! We sent four of the teachers to go out and help fight the fire as well.

girls playing

I know that fires are always a danger and we always need to be cautious about them, but this is more severe out here. There are no fire hydrants and no hoses or any other materials to put out big fires. Also, these houses are super old. When one catches on fire, there is not a whole lot of chance for you to stop it and get it under control. On top of that, the houses are pretty close together so when one catches on fire, you have to try to get it under control as soon as you can, otherwise whole neighborhoods could go up in smoke. 

Teachers joining the dance

By the time the teachers got there, the whole house was engulfed and flames were licking out the window. The house next to it was hot on the side closest to the burning house and they were afraid they wouldn't stop it in time. Fortunately they were able to get water trucks from the construction people at the school and put out the house. The house was completely gone, there is no way it could be salvaged.

As the teachers got there, they were pulling the woman out of the house who lived there. She was an 88 years old woman, with 90% of her body covered in 3rd degree burns. Her clothes had been made of polyester, and even though she had thrown water on her before trying to head out, the fire was in the doorway, and there was no hope. She made it eight hours. They were even able to medivac her to another bigger village, but she didn't make it. They said that because her burns were so severe, her nerve endings had been burned off, so she wasn't in pain and she was even trying to sit up and talk to people. 

This young lady made a bet with a teacher that she could finish that  jaw breaker.... Good luck!!

There were two children in my class who were related to her. One was her granddaughter, who was pretty upset. Another one was her great-nephew. He saw the body as they pulled her out of the house. It was pretty nasty. Even the teachers said they would have nightmares. I can't imagine how it effected him, but I do know it wasn't in a good way. Thursday and Friday were terrible days for this student at school. He was constantly misbehaving and didn't want to listen to anything I said. 

More Eskimo dancing

When something like this happens in the village, it effects EVERYONE! Since so many people in the village are related, one tragic death, like this one, can make everything more negative and everyone on edge. It isn't like in the lower 48 when you can escape tragedies or find something to take your mind off of it. There isn't anything to distract you out here. It is so difficult to deal with these types of things in the village. I would really appreciate prayers out here. 

Last night I went to a bonfire by the Yukon River while four or five foxes were playing around next to where we were. Not many people can make a statement like this. Even though it was a tough week, I still know this is where I need to be. Even though it was hard to deal with what was going on within the community, I know I can bring a happiness and a peace to those in my class who need it. Thank you for reading, for your prayers, and for your support during my incredible journey out here in Alaska. Out here, we are all a team, we are all together here.