Today I am posting some photos of fish camp from this past summer. Fish camp is held for the first several weeks of summer - after school is out and teachers have left. However, this past summer Jeanne stayed in Chevak for most for most of the summer. She actually went out to the fish camp - down river from Chevak and stayed for a couple of days. She is the one who took the photos.


Notice the woman is using an ulu - a knife that is very popular with the Alaskan Natives. Lots of tourists buy these knives to take home as suveniers.

Of course the children have to help out and they start at a very early age. Actually these are the lucky kids who get to learn these things early.


The fish is dried and they eat it all winter long. One of these sheds of fish would belong to only one family. They actually dot the banks of the river for quite a ways.


This young man - a ninth grader this year - is holding the head of a seal he killed. They use every last bit of the seal - nothing is discarded. They even use the seal skin to make dolls. That is actually a sealskin tacked to the shed behind him - I don't know if it is the one he killed - or someone else killed. Looks too big, I think to be his.

Digging for clams.

Senior Trip - Chevak Style
Actually it is Sea Week. the 10th-12th graders get to go out the river each fall for a week of learning about subsistence survival with some of our teachers and experienced folks from the community. A couple of the teachers who went shared some of their photos with me just for my blog. Maybe if I am here next year, I might take some personal leave days and go with them. It is pretty tough out there - but everyone seems to just love the experience. For many of out students this is the first time for many of the activities they participate in during the week.

Here the kids are leaving on the boats. Over half of the 10-12th graders went for the four days.

The girls are making Fried Bread - similar to tunnel cakes but no powdered sugar.


This man is the very well known John Pingayak from Chevak. He is our cultural heritage teacher here at the school and is has an honorary doctorate from Univ of Alaska. He is well known throughout the State of Alaska for his cultural heritage activities.

John is teaching the kids to make - well I forget the Cup'ik word (manuq) - but the things they fish with - remember a foot long stick, with a long string, some nails or a spark ply for a weight and some bait. It works beautifully. I haven't seen a fishing rod in Chevak since I arrived.

Felicia - one of my best customers in the library, is munaqing - fishing. She has to get around in a wheel chair - but that did not stop her from going to Sea Week and having a great time. She did everything anybody else did.

Our friend Jeanne with her fish she caught with the manuq!


The high school girls are defeathering some birds the kids have shot. They will cook and eat them later.

This young lady is pretty proud of her work!

The seal hunt begins. The boats are synchronized - surround the seals and criss crossing each other - always someone in front with the gun.

I believe there were six to eight boats on the water. Jeanne said it was a magnificent experience - not often these kids get to go. The gas is quite expensive here and money is tight.

Jack taking aim at a seal - he is one of my good library customers also.

Here someone is harpooning the seal after it has been shot.

Bringing in the seal. Notice the whiskers. That is good.

Isn't it beautiful?

Lawrence and Jack both shot the seal at the same time - so they had to share it.

The man is giving the seal a drink of water - that has been in his mouth. Oh, I'll never get this straight - but the seals like fresh water and when they get hunted they get out into the salt water. So when the seal is caught - the catcher gives the seal a drink of fresh water - or rather gives the seal's spirit a drink of fresh water. That way the bladder, which is - let me stop , I'll never get it straight. It is a sign of respect for the seal's spirit.

Time is flying by. I cannot believe it is already the 5th of September. We have been approved for open hours in the library two nights a week and on Saturdays. I guess we were a pretty big hit last year and this past summer. Another grant is going to pay since the library grant is over. There was a bit of money left so I purchased digital cameras (Nikon CoolPix - RED!) and video projectors for every classroom in the school. Pretty nice. I could have bought $15,000 more worth of books, but frankly I no place to put them. We are slap out of space in here. I had to move 16 chairs upstairs along with a reading table for the little ones. We may be able to enlarge the library in a couple of years and I will need those items again. Jeanne, one of our high school teachers just gave me some of her photos from Sea Week with the high school kids. I'll have to post a few. She also went to the fish camp this past summer so I will post a few of those also.

Tom and Carmen and I are entering the lottery to go see the bears at McNeil River next summer. Chances are slim we will get the time period we want but we will certainly try.