More Napaskiak Photos

Claire sent me a few photos from her camera--some of which I took--so I will add a short addendum to the previous post and share them with you.


The clinic staff, who took such good care of us while we were in Napaskiak, Katya, Harold, and Aggie. The lead health aide, Julia, was off the week we were there.


Village transportation. Four wheelers are the best way to get around in the village. There are no streets or roads in the village that a car or truck could drive on. A few people have them for driving up to Bethel in the winter on the ice road, but must leave them parked at the edge of the river. The only pathway through the village is the boardwalk, which is about eight feet wide and constructed of wood right on the ground. Whole families pile on these small ATVs; I have seen as many as ten people at once--without a trailer--riding on a four wheeler. Interestingly, unlike the village of Pilot Station on the Yukon River, people here do not refer to them as "Honda", though almost all of them are.


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Our winged chariot. Note the visibility of the tree line, which was not far away. The weather was going down, as we say around here. "Weather permitting" is a very real concept with direct application to our lives. Village travel in the winter often involves being on weather hold. Claire and I were both ready to get home, and really glad when the plane actually showed up
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Claire and the crying baby who did not want to leave her grandma. Once she stopped crying, she never said a word. Wouldn't tell us her name or how old she was. She just sat on Claire's lap and stared silently out the window. Fortunately she was not fighting us, and did not seem mad any more. Probably just scared at being handed over to strangers. When we found her mother in Bethel, she said the baby's name is Michelle and she is 3 years old. By the time we left the waiting room with our luggage, she was running around with several other children, laughing and talking a mile a minute in both Yupik and English.

Photos with Claire by The Tundra PA; photos without Claire by Claire.