A Tale of two Communities – Moving beyond the bucket in Kasigluk - Part one


I have written in the past about my travels to the rural (bush) villages for my work which is building water and sewer treatment plants for these native communities.  We provide what most of us take for granted in always having fresh drinking water or clean water for bathing, laundry, and brushing our teeth.  That is not always the case in many places off the road system here in Alaska and we are slowly bringing these necessary health changes to many places.

We are changing people’s lives in the process of dealing with new technology or having ‘outsiders’ coming into the village to work on these projects.  Most villages welcome us once they understand what we are providing.  Change is hard to the elders whose existence in the harsh conditions is a way of life.  Hunting, fishing, and gathering food is a traditional way of life here and one that is important to the mindset of the tribes. 

One of the things that my company does is hire local labor to help work on these projects giving them a paycheck and the opportunity to build pride in their community bringing changes to the way things have been done for thousands of years.  It also helps train them to operate these systems once we complete them working closely with another division of ANTHC (Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium) called the Alaska Rural Utility Collaborative (ARUC) which helps the villages with running their plants, establishing fees to the community residents, collecting enough to cover the operation of the facilities. 

The local television station, KTUU channel 2 recently did several stories on our efforts to provide a healthy environment in the bush communities and highlighted two villages where we have ongoing work.  I am including the links to the story and videos to help you understand what I do and the remoteness of the places I visit.  Sometimes it is like going back in time to the 1880’s where you use whatever is available to survive the extreme conditions found in the arctic environment.

Part 1          Moving beyond the bucket in Kasigluk

Video and news story.
As you can see by these videos conditions are tough but the reward is sweet helping the children live healthier lives without the sickness that is brought about by the lack of basic sanitation and water needs in these remote communities.

Rewarding work being done for a grateful people.

Ice

Thanks to KTUU Channel 2 in Anchorage Alaska for doing this story.

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