The summer we lived in the village, we lived in teacher housing. Here I am checking email while kids played around me.
Most all of the buildings in the village (and in rural AK) are built on stilts (like this one holding our house up.) If you build on the ground, the changes in the permafrost temperature will cause your house to sink. The ground in AK stays permanently frozen all year, with only some layers thawing.
This was our home when we lived in the village for 6 weeks. We had two bedrooms, a bathroom with a honeybucket, a nice kitchen and a living area. We felt so blessed to have such a nice home away from home!
Since 2005, we have stayed in the school. We set up air mattresses and sleeping bags in a classroom and use the school kitchen for cooking. We are very comfortable. (Except my husband and I have increasing difficulty getting out of bed/off the floor in the mornings!)The last two years we have left chalkboard messages for friends for their first day of school. This year we left one for a teacher friend.
Here's a bigger shot of the school. The pipe you see in the foreground will provide running water in a few years to village homes. Right now, the school and the fish plant are the only places that have running water (sometimes). l
Next time we'll talk "water hauling 101".
Let's just say water is HEAVY.
3 comments:
I am blown away by the raw beauty of the scenery and of your heart for wanting to go here. My BIL and his family live in a similar village in Alaska, and it just reminds me of the things we take for granted. By the way, what is a honeybucket (or does the name define itself?) ?
how amazing! and you've done this since 2005? longer? how big your heart must be!
We are only just back from our own trip to our North and I have not had time to think over your most thoughtful sharing of pictures and text.
This is important work you are doing.
I hope your community where you live knows something of what you are about.
More comments to follow.
And thanks.
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