|
|
| Shishmaref is located on a barrier island in the Chukchi Sea, northeast of the Bering Strait, on the northwest side of the Seward Peninsula in northwestern Alaska. My old college friend Cecelia is living in Shishmaref, where she is a nurse practitioner working in a clinic with several highly trained and experienced local health providers. Cecelia describes the country as awesome and the people truly special. Observing the subsistence lifestyle is an interesting and humbling experience, she says, and she is hoping to participate more in the future. She kindly shared these photos (except for the picture of Janet Kiyutelluk, which I took when Janet looked me up in Anchorage). (Click on an image to see it larger) |
 |
Summer evening from Cecelia's front window. |
 |
Janet Kiyutelluk of Shishmaref. Janet learned to sew from her mother and makes the beaded seal fur ornaments we carry. |
 |
An Inupiat elder supervising drying salmon. |
 |
Using an ulu knife to prepare fish for drying. |
 |
4th of July foot races -- every age group had a turn. |
 |
Using an ulu to separate the blubber from a spotted seal skin |
 |
Rare thunderstorm moving in. |  |
Cecelia's local transport, the ubiquitous 4-wheeler. |
 |
A jellyfish? |  |
Sun setting over the Chukchi Sea off Shishmaref coast |
 |
Bush planes providing link to remote villages. |
 |
Sharing the plane with freight. |
 |
Patients who need further treatment are medivacked into Nome. |
 |
Heading home after medivac. |