Life in Nunam Iqua – Water.
A recent post by Ann Strongheart in the rural village of Nunam Iqua generated quite a bit of interest on this site, and the story was linked by Daily Kos and many other blogs. As is the case when we are introduced to a new culture, or a completely different way of life, we find that one question leads to another. Ann got so many questions about water, she agreed to do this follow-up post, to give those who live outside rural Alaska a glimpse into life there.
Once again, I was struck by the difference between my fellow Alaskan and me. I used running water today to take a shower this morning, brush my teeth, fill the coffee maker, wipe the counter, and start my dishwasher. Tonight, I’ll go home and do some laundry, wash the pots in the sink, wash my hands, and water the dog. And, like most of us, I’ll use a flush toilet today. And, like any who read Ann’s second chapter about life in the village, I’ll be thinking about all of those activities differently.
For more issues about water you may not have thought about, click HERE. But for now, enjoy another little peek into the life of a rural Alaskan, living on the Yukon Delta.
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Life without running water in Nunam Iqua, Alaska
Wow there was so much interest in the “Shopping Day in Nunam Iqua” story and then there were so many questions that I was urged to write up another. So here it is!
As I mentioned in my “Shopping Day” story we do not have running water here in Nunam Iqua. I made reference to the fact that just to make coffee we used water that we had hauled from the watering point from across the village.
“Where does that water come from?” you ask. The Yukon River, of course. We have a water plant that, via a pipe in the Yukon, pumps water in, filters it, chlorinates it, and fills up the large water storage tank. From there it is piped to the watering point, which is basically a hose sticking out of a box attached to a metering machine that dispenses 10 gallons of water for every $1 token you put in. Additionally, the water is also piped to the Village Clinic, Community Hall, school, teacher housing and laundromat.
Now, keep in mind that there are times when we don’t have water. In the spring and fall when it floods, there is a lot of salt water coming in, and they can’t filter the salt out so we are without water until the flood subsides or the tides go out. But most of the time they are able to keep the holding tank full.
So we pack that water from the watering point via snow machine to our house. We keep it in a 30-gallon Rubbermaid plastic trash can that we use only for water storage. We use a gallon pitcher to get it out. We drink it, and use it for normal everyday things.
Dishes.
OK, so it’s time to do dishes. Can’t just turn on a faucet and have hot water, now can we? Nope, time to get out pots and start heating the water. My house is very small and we don’t have a cooking stove/oven, so I put a couple of pans on my hotplate, fill them up totaling nearly two gallons of water, and wait for them to heat up. While they are heating up I get out my dish pans, two 18-quart plastic dish pans, and sort my dishes and get them ready for washing. I do keep at least one pan on the wood stove but it doesn’t get up to boiling so I don’t generally use it for dishes.
So, 20-30 minutes later my water is boiling and I pour it into my dish pans, and start doing dishes. But I make certain to refill the pots and heat more water so that I can change out the water as it becomes dirty and refill it with fresh soapy water. Most people put a little bit of bleach in their dish water to help fight germs and sanitize their dishes.
Sometimes, when I am done washing the dishes I will recycle my rinse water by adding more boiling water to it and then using it to mop the floor. Now, what happens to the dishwater? I can’t just pour it down the drain. No, I have a five gallon bucket under the counter that I pour it into along with other liquids such as water leftover from cooking, or liquid from canned foods etc. Once that “slop bucket” gets kind of full we take it outside and dump it.
So all the water we use around the house for cooking and cleaning comes from our water bucket. OK, what about other uses for water? Oh yeah, no running water means NO FLUSH Toilets! We have a “honey bucket” in our bathroom. So what’s a honey bucket? A honey bucket is a five gallon bucket lined with a 13-gallon trash bag with a toilet seat on top. Yeah, I know what you are thinking…doesn’t it smell? Yes it does. We personally use “Campa Chem” a biodegradable deodorizer. We put a capful into the fresh honey bucket along with the water from the wash basin in the bathroom. Others use “Pinesol” to help keep the smell at bay. So we use our honey bucket, for yes #1 and #2. We have another 18-quart dishpan in the bathroom that serves as our bathroom sink where we wash our hands. We fill it part way with water and then wash our hands in there, changing the water once a day or when it becomes dirty.
Once the honey bucket is full, we tie it off and take it by snow machine to the nearest bin. Once these bins start to fill up, the City of Nunam Iqua waste haul workers, haul it off to the man-made waste lagoon, dump and bring it back. There are maybe 20 or more bins placed on pallets throughout the village.
After we empty the honey bucket we leave it outside to air out, and use the one from before that has been airing out. We alternate them, which also helps cut down on the smell.
Washing/Showering/Bathing
I would say that most of the people in Nunam Iqua use Maqiiviks (steam baths). Those that don’t, instead go to the laundromat and pay $4.00 for adults and young adults or $2.50 for children to take a shower there. The laundromat is open six days a week, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on week days, and 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. So when you want to take a shower, you have to pack up a bag with all your showering stuff and towels, and clean clothes and head off to the laundromat. There are 3 showers and a bathtub on the women’s side, and 3 showers on the men’s side. Good luck if you want to shower on a Sunday. Lots of kids are in there washing up for school the next day.
What about those that don’t take showers, who instead Maqii (MUHH key), aka take a steam bath. Many families have their own Maqiiviks. These are little steam houses made from plywood. Usually about 8’ wide by 16’ long with very low ceilings. There are two rooms inside one room contains a wood burning stove covered with stones where they start a very very hot fire, with wood they have collected from the river. They splash the stones with water to create steam. They steam and sweat, and then go into the other room to cool off, and go back and forth. When the stove starts to cool down, they wash using warm water that was heating beside the stove. When people Maqii they spend hours in there. When my husband Maqii’s he usually is there for about 3 hours. Oh, and the men and women Maqii separately. I have never taken a Maqii but from what I hear it’s a good place to wind down and sit around and talk while they are steaming. Some couples do take Maqiis together. Children do join the men or women and Maqii with their parent.
Smaller children, toddlers and infants, either bathe at the laundromat or at home. My daughter bathes at home. We have a big plastic storage tub that we bathe her in. Which of course means heating water on the woodstove or our hotplate and making her a bath.
During the spring, summer, and fall months many families use rain water in their homes. Before our water/sewer project started remodeling/plumbing homes getting ready for running water, many homes had a rain water collection system. It would collect rain water from the gutters and direct it right into a water storage tank in the home. Other’s have various size plastic trash cans placed under their gutters to collect the rain water. Then of course, they transfer water from that container to another one and bring it into the house.
People get excited when it rains hard here, because then they get free water. Most cover the outdoor rain containers with fabric to act as a filter. Also most families further filter the rain water before they drink it using Brita water filters.
I can sympathize with Dennis Zaki when he got sick after drinking water in Emmonak. When I first moved to Nunam Iqua I made the mistake of drinking unfiltered rain water. All I will say is that I spent 16 hours in the bathroom and felt like I had lost 20lbs that day.
Also some families still get water right from the river. Most use it for splashing the rocks in the Maqiis and for washing.
Laundry
Like I mentioned above, we do have a laundromat here. There are 3 large washers and 4 small washers, and 3 large dryers and 3 small dryers. Also there is an extractor that you can put your clothes in after washing them and it spins them more vigorously than the washers, and cuts drying time. The 3 large washers are about the size of a standard house washer. It costs $4.00 to do one load in a large washer and $3.00 for the smaller ones. The extractor takes one dollar per load, and the dryers are one dollar for 20 minutes of drying. I mentioned the hours above because in a village of 200+ people doing laundry can turn into a waiting game. I personally try to do laundry on the weekends, and I try to be there a little before they open so that I am first in line. Laundry day is a very long day, especially if you have to wait your turn to use the washers, and then we all know it takes longer to dry clothes than it does to wash them, so it seems like it’s an even longer line waiting for dryers. But like in the Maqiiviks, it’s a good time to sit around and talk and visit with everyone.
Our water/sewer project
The actual construction work started in 2006 when they put the causeway (gravel road) across the lake that divides the village to reach the new school site. Last year, they actually started putting in the above ground utilidor that holds the pipes. Our water/sewer project will work on a vacuum system. The estimated completion date is 2010.
I personally am looking forward to it. The thought of flush toilets, running water, and my own washer/dryer seems like a dream. Now mind you, I have had these in the past, and maybe that’s why I miss them. But mostly, I miss being able to throw a load of laundry in, and doing other chores around the house. Now I have to sit and spend many hours at the laundromat. I still occasionally forget sometimes and reach for the faucet that isn’t there, or try to flush the honey bucket, which makes me laugh! It’s really bad when we travel to Bethel or Anchorage for a while and then come back and forget. LOL.
Well I think that about covers living without running water in Nunam Iqua. I can’t think of anything else to add. Hope this has answered the many questions I received about living without running water.
Ann Strongheart
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AKM’s Note – I have only one thing to add to Ann’s account. When she says that the Maquii is “very hot”, I feel this needs some translation. “Very hot” in this context means, to the rest of us, throat-searing, lung-scorching, alveoli-bursting heat. Heat that you feel you may not survive. Heat that makes you think if it wasn’t for the steam, your skin would burst into flame. Heat that makes you believe people who do this all the time have some special superpower. Core of the Earth heat. Inner circle of Hell heat. Heat that requires an editor’s note. Just had to throw that out there.
Photo from loweryukon.org
Can someone explain why you need to filter rain water?
I wondered the same thing ‘mde’, maybe because of the air
Very interesting Ann. Reminds me of sitting at my grandma’s knee and listening to her tell of times when life was hard on the farm in the dust bowl in Oklahoma…water…the life blood of us all.
Life is hard. Your cheerfulness in reporting your life’s conditions is so inspiring. Thank you for shining a light on a story that would have been untold if not for you.
I’ll say it again. You, madam…live up to your beautiful name.
Will pipes freez in the winter or does that new system have special [type of ]pipes?
Your town should really look and see if their might be any grants for composting toilets. They are very expense, $1,500 each but require no plumbing. Most just require electricity which it seems most people have.
We looked into getting one in our remote cabin in the mountains of WV.
The option you have now just sounds unhealthy.
You have to filter rainwater b/c it gathers dirt and stuff from the things it hits before it gets to you. For instance rain barrel water is non-potable because still water is a breeding ground for bacteria. I guess the cold doesn’t allow for rain barrels or any such.
It seems as though some smart engineer could come up with a heated system rainwater/freshwater system for remote villages such as yours.
Fascinating. Your story really makes me appreciate my running water. I won’t take it for granted again. And I hope Ann that you get your running water sooner rather than later.
Kmart Palin,
Pipes for water and sewage are supposed to be buried below the frost line to prevent freezing. Typically in the Mid Atalantic that is about 36″ deep. I don’t know how deep you would need to be in an area with perma frost. I am guessing they have special systems for those areas ( special meaning much more expensive of course)
I’m learning so much since the selection of SP…So I guess I owe her or Senator McCain a Big Thanks…Still most of my thanks go to the bloggers out of AK who have introduced the ppl of AK to me…
I have a suggestion for honeybucket smell reduction.
Now, this is based on my own childhood experience with an “indoor outhouse” set up. Basically, there was a wooden box with a toilet seat and cover on top. The box was large enough to accommodate the bucket. The box had a hole in it, and from that hole, a ventilation pipe connected to the chimney. The chimney draft (created in winter by the warm smoke rising up to the wind and in summer by the wind moving past the top of the chimney meant that the smelly air went right up the chimney. Hardly smelled it ever, except when it was getting quite full and there was no wind… Proximity to the stove chimney meant that the toilet area was nice and warm, too. This set up sure beat our friends’ outdoor outhouses and was much less expensive than a chemical toilet, which were in the not so great early models then. To this day, I abhor a cold toilet seat!
Thanks Ann for another great article. The bathing issues remind me of growing up on the Kenai Peninsula before we had electricity. We did have a well and an inside hand pump, so it was a matter of heating buckets of water on the wood stove to fill the old round galvanized tub for the weekly bath.
One winter when trail conditions were poor in Anchorage, a fellow musher brought his team down to train with my father. When the time came, my mother explained that he was welcome to take a bath in the living room next to the stove, and the rest of us would politely stay in the kitchen to give him privacy. He gladly accepted, but at 6′ 2” he had a quizzical look as he stared down at the 3′ tub my mother was preparing.
My father promptly explained the homestead approach to the problem, “First, you wash down as far as possible. Then you wash up as far as possible. Then you wash possible.”
Thank you for the explanation on the water source.When Dennis got sick on “tap” water,I asked if it was from a well. I either missed the answer or it didn’t get an answer.
Ok y’all,
I will try to answer your questions….
First off you filter rain water because it is collect from your roof. So there is lots of stuff that gets rinsed off into the rain barrel. For example… dust, bugs, etc. Ok my main issue with rain water is …. ok it’s from your roof right? Birds fly over your roof and perch on the roof and of course birds POOP on there too. SOOO yeah you gotta filter it. ewww
NO WELLS here, water comes from the YUKON River into the water plant where it’s treated. NO wells in Emmonak or other villages either…permafrost!!
All the nearby villages have ABOVE ground water systems. Either arctic pipes..which are pipes with lots of insulation around them, or like here we have a utilidor (like a continuous box) that runs throughout the village (or it will when they are done) that the pipes are in surrounded by insulation.
Our honey bucket is in a plywood box that helps cut the smell. My inlaws have theirs in a box with a ventilation pipe and fan that sucks the smell out.
AKaurora..
First, you wash down as far as possible. Then you wash up as far as possible. Then you wash possible
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That made me laugh…Thanks!
I will try to answer any other questions as they come up. Be patient I only have dial up internet here in the bush
Quyana,
Ann Strongheart
Nunam Iqua Food Drive
c/o Ann Strongheart
P.O. Box 7
Nunam Iqua, AK 99666
nunamiquayouth@yahoo.com
One of my fondest childhood memories was bathing at my grandpa’s farm. My grandma would make a fire in her wonderful wood/coal stove and heat up the kitchen and the water. Then she would pour the heated water into a galvanized tub and close off the kitchen.I spent many a wonderful winter night sitting in that warm “tub” watching the snow falling outside the kitchen window while my grandma and grandpa listened to Amos and Andy on the radio in the living room. I think my heart just “pinged” a bit.
Because PA is the “capital” of acid rain, I even filter the water I collect in the summer to water my vegetable garden.
OH my I couldnt even handle being in Bethel, when they ran out of water at our building and an alarm went off. I will forever appreciate the fact that I have running water, and the grocery stores we have.
And to think as a kid in PA I was not wild about outhouse in the winter time.
When ever they turn the water off in our neighbor for repair I always rush to make sure that I at least have a bucket of water even if its just for a hour or two.
LOL I will never worry about water being shut off for only a little while again. My hats off to you Ann God Bless. P.S how is your little girl feeling. I hope she is better.
I’m in awe of some of the more innovative work-arounds mentioned here. Every climate presents it’s own set of possibilities and impossibilities. My own solution may not work everywhere.
I have a 2-story wood-burning outhouse. Upstairs is for water storage (has to be hauled in), downstairs is for business. It’s got a solar-heated outdoor shower in back. I half buried a 55 gallon drum and built around it. The wood-burning aspect is that when it becomes objectionable, I toss in some wood and either diesel or gas and set it on fire. Of course I have to remove the seat and planks first! Sure, it gets old, but ya do what ya gotta do…
Ann,
A lot of people just can’t comprehend living with out running water.
Or the amount that you pay for drinking water.
My village has a community well house. Ours is supported by the community association. We pay a volintary fee yearly for dump and well house maintainance, the household rate is $60.00 a year which is a pittance compaired to your fees.
We are lucky here to have a an area with good water underground. In various areas around here the water can be very bad water with lots of iron or arsenic.
Only good for a toilet, not even laundry or bathing.
My husband and I like many Alaskans started pretty simple with our home, we hauled water and went to the laundrymat. We started hauling water in 5 gallon buckets, and graduated up to pickel barrels to a truck tank and a indoor water tank in the loft.
More than anything I hate going to the laundrymat and prefered to haul water and do laundry at home. I have gone from wringer washers to those great little hoover washing machines. The day I plugged in my kenmore bottom of the line washing machine was a great day in my life.
As far as hauling water for laundry of course you wash the white or light stuff first, use the rinse water for your dark wash, and the last rinse water is used for the floor or othe clean up jobs.
We have rain barrels of all kinds. And rainy days were the days to get the extras washed, like rugs or blankets. For those who don’t understand the need to filter rain water, well birds poop on my roof alot.
We finally were able to afford to have a well drilled on our property and it is great water some of the best I have seen in Alaska. But our plumbing is still rather primative. We are off the grid and run our own power plant with battery bank and inverter. We run a generator to charge the batteries and while the generator is running we fill a tank in the loft. From the loft the water gravity feeds to a sink, shower and washing machine. We have a small electric water heater that heats just enough water to take a quick shower.
We only have gray water drainage so no indoor toilet! (yet)
I use indoor and outdoor cloths lines, my cloths have never been in a dryer.
I no longer re-use the rinse water, but everytime I brush my teeth I don’t leave the water running.
Thanks for your story and letting people get a chance to see how life is up here.
Ann — I admire your strength & courage.
I can relate on a much much much smaller scale when camping years ago. Hauling & heating water (either on campfire or stove) – washing dishes in a dishpan, no showers, Porta-potty for personal needs, sponge baths — oh your story reminded me of those “good old days” before “camper trailers” became self contained little homes with bathrooms, running (vs pump) kitchen sink, heat source for water, satellite TV, Internet etc. lol
To say the least – camping on a riverbank for 10 days like that was enuff for me.
I bow to you and others in the village. I can’t imagine a large family trying to do laundry like that. However assume everyone is quite “conservative” in their “changing clothes” compared to “city dwellers” that can change attire sometimes a couple times a day. Work clothes / play clothes / school clothes….
From the comment section of Alaska Reports in response to Dennis’ video of the 5th grade teacher….
” Kevin Ley says:
February 2, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Shortly after this video was posted Judith Michaels left her job as the Emmonak 5th grade teacher. According to Ms. Michaels there were many reasons she decided to leave, but nonetheless, she did leave her class and the school with only one days notice. Ms. Michaels repeatedly expressed her frustrations to many members of the school staff and eventually decided that it was not worth to keep trying to teach the youth of Emmonak despite the many challenges teachers “of the bush” face.”
The teacher left the DAY after this was aired!!??
Will there be more video from Dennis?
Ann,
Is this story old news already?
Are there still pressing concerns?
It is extremely unfortunate if this teacher indeed left with one day’s notice – it hardly seems possible. She seemed so interested in the kids from what we say on the video. Rural jobs are notoriously hard to fill even with lots of notice.
@ eastcoast
Wow about the teacher – I wonder if the video and story just brought stuff to the surface? Finding good teachers and village safety officers is an ongoing challenge in the villages.
@akaurora
I love the wash possible story!
@ann (struggling in Nunam Iqua)
I love your story. My mother, an Aleut child raised on a homestead in Palmer with 10 siblings, wrote a short story years ago title “The Outhouse”. She was very fond of the outhouse, because it was one of the only, or THE only, place she could go where she wouldn’t be disturbed by anyone. She was a quiet child, and liked the outhouse because it was quiet, people didn’t hang out there, and they didn’t come get you there to do chores!
Somehow Judith’s response wasn’t there on the website when I wrote my initial response….sorry for the over reaction.
But my reaction doesn’t change much.
A teacher has to leave suddenly because adequate health care isn’t available.
and I’ve looked at the websites of these schools…there are 4-5 teachers…when one leaves 25% of the teaching staff is lost!
” Judith Michaels says:
February 4, 2009 at 5:03 pm
I just logged on today and was able to read the entry by Kevin Ley. I actually left Emmonak because of health reasons. I was unable to see a doctor at the clinic. The stressors in Emmonak are a challenge that I and many teachers are willing to take on. However, there have been medical issues that hindered my ability and others to stay safely in the village. I have finally been able to contact the appropriate district personel to discuss these issues. I am staying with friends until I have a doctor’s o.k. to return. With the appropriate supports in place, I believe, I can return an finish the year. The issue at hand is not that it is not worth trying. The issue is that there be support provided to allow effective instruction. This support includes doctors who are available to correctly interpret blood test, diagnosis and comprehensive health care for students and teachers. This will allow students to learn and teachers to teach. Basic needs must be addressed. Educational tools are a whole different discussion.”
Eastcoast….
I didn’t even hear about it. I can’t get video on my computer with dial-up. I haven’t heard anything about this. Nor have I been able to watch any of the video Dennis took.
Ann
Judith Michaels is the Emmonak 5th grade teacher Dennis interviewed in the only video I have seen. Unfortunately it appears she left Emmonak only days after the video was posted.
The follow up post explains why she left.
Lack of adequate health care.
She sounds optimistic in her hopes to return.
I lived in Fairbanks without running water or electricty for 5 years, and I lived 10 miles from downtown! In case you’re asking, yes I would have prefered utilities but chose to live without them due to my beautiful location. It’s very, very common outside of Anchorage and the Mat-Su not to have running water. It’s just a lifestyle….not a curse.
I don’t know why you are trying to get our hearts to bleed for the bush on this issue. (Unless your trying to sway ignorant lower 48 folks)
It’s not like the issue hasn’t been addressed in the past; remember all that honey pot money that Uncle Ted got for the bush? I think that the real questions are where did all that money go and where are the native corporations with their billions?
“As is the case when we are introduced to a new culture, or a completely different way of life, we find that one question leads to another.” I believe that’s what I said. Sharing an experience of rural life is not attempting to get hearts bleeding. I trust that people can make up their own minds about issues. There are many problems that need to be addressed. The main one is fish imho. I think that in order to understand the pros and cons of rural life, we actually have to discuss it. And learn. Not a radical concept. I’m pleased that Ann has chosen to share with the readership how life works in a rural Alaska village.
Some may look at rural life as a “curse”, but many do not. I hope Ann will write another piece some day about the things she loves about living in Nunam Iqua. I’m sure there are those in rural Alaska who would look at life in Seattle, or NYC or San Francisco as a “curse.”
AKM
HA
video on dial up.
waitin’, waitin’, waitin’
As a former homesteader, I also love the, “First, you wash down as far as possible. Then you wash up as far as possible. Then you wash possible.”
I was offered a teaching job in Barrow several years back. When we realized rent would be $1000-$1500, food had to be flown in from 200 miles away and it was unlikely my husband would find much work, we ditched on it. The pay was $30 grand a year. I don’t know if people realize how costly it is to live in a location where every single thing is flown in. And of course, learning that Barrow is dry was also bad news!
@ hardly human in AK
” It’s very, very common outside of Anchorage and the Mat-Su not to have running water. It’s just a lifestyle….not a curse.
I don’t know why you are trying to get our hearts to bleed for the bush on this issue. (Unless your trying to sway ignorant lower 48 folks) ”
geez lighten up,
but I know personally that federal funds have been used several times in the past to provide safe drinking water to homes and adequate sewage treatment also.
And if the sewer and water line goes past your house and you don’t want it , fine.
And if you choose to live alone in a cabin, out in the bush, don’t expect us to pay for it.
But if you live in a long standing community, where people are there year round, working, with a school and laundrymat, dammit…you ought to have running water and a flush toilet!!!
How much money has been spent, even since this in Alaska crisis surfaced, to provide Iraqis with running water and flush toilets that we have blown up??
@ Just a human in ak
Getting hearts to bleed for the bush? If you read Ann’s intro, many people had questions about water, and why folks drink unhealthy soda pop, and oh.. why could they possibly need disposable diapers at the horrendous cost?
Choosing to live without running water, as I did as well as you, in Alaska is one thing so you can live in a lovely cabin or location. Dealing with an entire village is another – community sickness is a big issue among many other things. Did you take care of children, esp sick children when you were living w/o water?
Thank you Ann for your story on water, it is so enlightening to read these accounts. Please ignore some people, if they had read and comprehended, it they would have seen you were just explaining to some of us ignorant lower 48′ers that had earlier questions about the water.
I hate to hear that about the teacher I hope she is doing better and she is able to return to the village to teach.
just a human in ak:……I would not call some of us “the ignorant lower 48′ers” since some of us read the first dam paragraph and comprehended what we read and obviously you didn’t, so buh bye now…
Ann,
Thanks for enlightening us!
I can certainly understand the use of disposable diapers now. Maybe when you get the water/sewer system installed some young entrepreneur will start a diaper service in Nunam Iqua. It could be a shining example of a micro loan and solve a lot of problems.
I also understand why baby formula is on your list of necessities – it must be way too cold to breastfeed.
Before the modern world intruded, how did people manage?
You are incredible Ann and are setting an example for your daughters and other young women in your village that will leave them with even stronger hearts than yours!
It’s so good to know you!
Jane
AKM,
Love your editors note, didn’t occur to me to define “VERY HOT”!! LOL thanks for clarifying that. Like I said, I have never personally taken a steam. But I did read a story by someone who did. I think it was a teacher some where maybe on the Delta Discovery I don’t remember. But the teacher mentioned something like…When you enter the Maqiivik the first thing you smell is burning flesh???
I know my hubby comes home sometimes bright red and slightly scorched. Seems like to me the men kinda get their testosterone going and try to see who is the first one to leave the steam and go and cool off in the outer room. While they keep splashing water to make it hotter. HMMM reminds me of like a “TEST OF MANHOOD!” LOL My hubby has mentioned several times about the teasing that goes on in there.
OOOH another good example of how HOT it gets…..
YOU HAVE TO WEAR A CAP when you Maqii or else you’ll burn your ears/head!
Quyana again AKM for clarifying that!
Ann S.
oohh Ann, you will have mail in 2 to 3 days,lol, I had the lady write the weights on the boxes…(make it easier for you) I hope CC is feeling better….
@ Tewise
I’ve enjoyed your posts and you keep me smiling! Wanna move up here and help us out?
Tewise,
I’ll keep an eye out for the mail. Quyana!!
CC’s just has a little bit of a cough and some congestion. Been keeping the house humid loosening it up. She doesn’t seem to be affected by it much she’s just as mischievious as ever!
She’s loves playing with water and found the “Slop bucket” the other day UGH!!! Even I keep it hidden under my kitchen shelves and put a piece of plywood in front of it she still found it. YECK!! Really making sure we spill it out and try to keep it empty now!
Also she’s decided, like most nearly 19 month olds, that it’s much more fun to be naked all the time!! Man, can she get her diaper off fast! LOL While back she took it off in her crib and I was sitting here at the computer, she had gone down for the night and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what that sound was!! Sounded like RUNNING WATER!!! Hmmmm. Then I went in and checked on her and there she was sleeping away, bare butt peeing out the side of her crib. Guess I should be glad she managed to pee out the side and not all over the crib. LOL
I am hoping that she’s gonna start showing signs of being ready to be potty trained soon. Lately, she’s been taking off her diaper when she’s gonna poop which is just not fun at all. Usually when I am busy cooking or doing something and I’ll look over b/c I hear her grunting and it’s too late by then it’s out and she’s laughing as she runs away and the poop hits the floor!!
We cut a hole in a covered coffee can to start letting her try to potty train. She loves to sit on it, but still doesn’t have a clue what she’s supposed to do there. LOL
Ok, well I am off! Gotta make some bread and figure out how I am gonna cook this moose for dinner. TTYL
Ann S.
Ann – who else could be cheerful about honey buckets? You have cheered us, enlightened us, made us laugh, and helped us to think beyond our own lives and what is familiar. Thank you for all of the energy and time you have put into your posts and stories!
@Ann
Your story reminded me of my visit to Russia and the time I spent naked in a banya. I had initially thought it was just for fun. But when I then took a trip to a small village that had been a collective farm not far from the city, it all came into focus. The small village was built of small log cabins, outhouses and water from a pump or well outside, and all with a small two room log cabin out back I realized the utility of a banya in a region of long cold winters and no running water. In the cities of Russia, banyas are still popular in a more recreational sense…but just outside the cities, they retain their utilitarian purpose.
Your story also reminded me of your historical connection to Russia.
plus you can see it from there….
i am fascinated by ann’s descriptions of life in Nunam Iqua.
what do ann and her husband do for a living?
what do most do?
i understand people fish and hunt but is that how they earn their living?
i may have missed this in an earlier post but how long has ann and her husband lived there? where did they live before? what drew them there?
this is terrific stuff! thanks, ann! thanks, AKmuckraker!
You guys are much tougher than me–when I lived in NYC and the building was having water problems, I called the land lady and completely chewed her out. A hot shower in the morning is a right when you are paying about $1800/month for a 450 sq ft apt, in my book. Now, I am a big baby living in drought-stricken California again. We need to be smarter about water down here, that’s for sure.
Ann-”it’s out and she’s laughing as she runs away and the poop hits the floor,” lol, that had me laughing so hard, I am sure it was not funny at the time, but wow she sure is smart…
Martha Unalaska Yard I would absolutely love it, not sure Alaska would ever be the same. I love nature to the utmost, but alas my poor horse says she is just to old for that cold weather, I told my dad we were going to move up there he also told me it was too cold, lol, got to love him.
I love this website, I am so glad I found ya’ll.
@marthaunalaska
here is a front page story in the la times today about Unalaska…
gotta love it !
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-dutch-harbor5-2009feb05,0,7377007.story
Ann-
Thanks for painting a larger picture of your community!
I have enjoyed all the comments by folks who have come up with different ways to deal with water and waste issues in other areas too.
AAH- cloth diapers… oh, I remember those days. Well, I sorta remember, been over 30 years now. I often did not have money to go to the laundry mat and washed em by hand and boiled em on the stove. Had one pot for diapers ONLY . Had sewer though or I don’t know what I would have done… Not gonna think about it either.
Not gonna think about the steam place thingy either… ouch,ouch,ouch- HOT!
Best wishes to you and your community- hope water/sewer project moves right along .
Ann, thank you for your stories of life in the village. I read some of it to my DH and he just went “Wow, I will never take running water, plumbing for granted, ever”
I thought of something reading your post, a atmospheric water generator. It is not cheap but maybe somehow people could get vouchers to get one? You just need to plug it in.
http://www.ecoloblue.com/en/home-office?location=feature_link
I have no interest here, I just had investigated them before. They say you get 7 gallons fresh water/day.
Hopefully they are moving ahead for your running water/plumbing but a year is a long time.
Also you said you are baking bread? But you said you only have a hotplate? Is this a type of flat bread? Fry bread? I know I would be interested in all things cooking. Boy you should consider writing a book. Really.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just a human in AK….Really if you have nothing positive to add to the conversation kindly STFU. As for us ignorant in the lower48, we are asking Ann to share to learn. Too bad the beauty of the place in AK don’t allow you to be a kinder soul.
Ann, thanks for sharing your life in Alaska with us. It really makes me ashamed of myself when I complain vigorously and adamantly to my electric company or my cable company when I am the least bit inconvenienced. Ann, you guys are brave and I admire your strength and fortitude. You have given me insight to your community and lifestyle. You make me a more grateful person and I thank you for that.
It also took me back to my childhood. My Mom would take us from Saint Louis, Missouri to visit her sisters and our cousins in the smalltown of Hardwood, Louisiana during the summer. The contrast was striking to us children.
We came from the city with running water, electricity, bathtubs, bathrooms and toilets,gas stoves, radiator heaters and sidewallks and sewer systems. We also went to school in brick buildings where the classes were divided into kindergarten through the eighth grade, for elementary school and all of the grades had their own classrooms and teachers. My cousins had outhouses, water wells, had to heat water and pour it into what was referred to as foottubs, in order to take a bath. Two or more of the cousins would take turns taking baths in the same water before they would change it. They went to school in the summer time without any shoes on. Their school had one room and one teacher, and classes first through the eighth grade had classes in that one room. It was a cutural shock to us kids.
We tried to explain to our cousins the way we lived in Saint Louis, Missouri and they called us liars, because they had never seen running water faucets, toilets or any of the other things we tried to explain to them.
At the same time we kids learned a lot about nature, palling aroung with my cousins. After walking barefoot on the red dirt roads, I gained an affinity for walking around barefeet and still love to today. We learned to eat red dirt(also called clay dirt), eat Arco starch, bake tea biscuits and how to de-cap a coke bottle with our teeth, among other things. My great-aunts would sit in their rocking chairs after supper and regale us children with delightful stories that equaled Kiplings. I was always amazed by the extraordinary wit these uneducated aunts possessed. It was a wonderful cultural experience and I looked forward to going there those summers.
Thanks Ann for invoking those fond memories and allowing me to live your life through your eyes. It was another cultural education and experience.
Barbie left a “press release” about all the help the state is giving (a) village:
February 5, 2009, Juneau, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin today lauded the work of the multiple state agencies, nonprofits and faith-based organizations that have worked in a cooperative effort to deliver supplies to Lower Yukon River communities affected by high fuel and food prices.
The governor also expressed concern about inaccurate comments made to the media by Representative Jay Ramras that the state has failed to make state assets available to deliver supplies to communities. In actuality, state agencies have used aircraft from the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to fly food into Kotlik, another distressed Lower Yukon River village. DPS plans on providing additional transportation of bulk foods in the future.
“We are working cooperatively with the communities, many legislators, Native corporations, and other entities to address the needs in these areas,” Governor Palin said. “I am disappointed that Representative Ramras failed to express his concerns to my office before issuing a press release with incomplete and misleading information. This is particularly concerning since he knew I would be attending a meeting with his entire caucus that evening. Representative Ramras did not mention the specific issue of using state assets to me personally at the meeting. Instead, I read about it later in the press release. Truly Alaskans deserve better than that kind of ‘politics as usual’. It is unfortunate that the representative sees this as an opportunity to play politics rather than help in the response.”
Funny we have heard nothing about this…and by Faith based org. who does she mean? The only people I had read giving help are the Annon. bloggers!
Went to Tundra drums and I don’t see a THING about State help!
??????????
“Faith-based organizations”?
Well, Mudpuppies show a lot of faith in their fellow human beings,
but I’m not sure this is an “organization”…..
I, too, appreciate your time telling us about your life, Ann.
and how much other people connect to your vivid descriptions.
The only thing I can add from spells without running water in Northern
Wisconsin were the serrated edges of the out-house seats,
from the salt-craving porcupines’ teeth.
Thank you all so much. I, too, am so glad to have found the Mudflats
community.
I think Ms. SP; note is worth a letter to say “nobody buys your version…
we dont need any one to point out the absence for the month of the staties…
Your friends in the Central Kenai Peninsula recently celebrated the inauguration of Pres. Barack Obama, the swearing-in of Sen. Mark Begich and the 50th Anniversary of Statehood. We’ve mailed you a couple of boxes as a gesture of friendship and caring. Let us know more about what needs you have or if there are other villages in need of help. We are especially interested in helping children and elders. Shalom-
Evening,
For more information on how you can help please visit…
http://anonymousbloggers.wordpress.com/how-to-help/
This website is devoted strictly to providing help to Rural AK.
Ann Strongheart
Nunam Iqua Food Drive
c/o Ann Strongheart
P.O. Box 7
Nunam Iqua, AK 99666
nunamiquayouth@yahoo.com
@ Soldotna Democrat
What a wonderful gift! And if you don’t hear from Ann through this post, here is her email address if you don’t have that, either:
nunamiquayouth at yahoo.com
She mentioned a few posts ago that she had a large family who needed adopting – with kids and elders I believe. Bless you with snowflakes for kisses!
Ann – do ever sleep? LOL!
Dear Ann,
Thank you for sharing your experiences in the bush. We asked the questions and you provided the answers. We also opened our hearts and wallets to the villages of the Yukon Delta, but that’s in response to real suffering and need, not just information, given freely, even generously. I admire your strength and resilience and would love to hear more about your life and its challenges and rewards. Quyana!
Soldotna Demo….
Quyana so much for all of your help!!
Martha…..
Yes I do sleep, I got to bed around midnight or well usually before 2 a.m. and usually get up sometime between 5:30am – 8 a.m.
Pyschicmom…
Thank you for your comments. I am currently working on a lil bio about me since there have been so many questions. But I agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY that this isn’t about me, it’s about helping all of us struggling on the YK Delta.
Ann S.
When we moved to Germany two years ago, we were going to get a car when I got a job. Well, I didn’t get a job so we had to buy a cart on wheels to make our trips to buy groceries easier. I never knew how heavy groceries were. Living without a car in Germany is easy with their transportation network. I thought we were roughing it especially since we live in an apartment (which I hated after owning my own home).
When I read Ann’s stories, I am humbled and ashamed to know, I’m living in the lap of luxury today. I am on my second load of laundry today, I have an oven to cook in that I don’t keep clean enough, a dishwasher, satellite tv on demand, high speed internet and I have heat, a toilet and a bath tub that is filled with hot water on demand. I don’t know whether to thank you or hate you for opening my eyes, Ann. But I do know this, I love you.
Thanks, Muppet2
Well, who would have thought that Sarah Palin would lead us to expanding our knowledge…
Today has been a stressful day for my family and I as we finally face facts that the global economic downturn, or whatever other thing you want to call it is biting hard, and we must seek unemployment benefits.
However reading this blog I realise that we are fortunate in what we do have and the comparatively easy circumstances we live in in our part of Australia.
Good luck to all who are trying to make a go of it in such tough situations as Ann Strongheart outlines.
I reckon many of us ordinary folk around the western world are going to face difficult times and we will learn from those who already face challenges such as Ann and her community, and other people such as refugees who have come to our countries.
We live in interesting times………
Ann the Strongheart, Thank You for sharing your stories. You keep the privacy of the people in your village, yet give us a glimpse of how life there is. Personally, I wouldn’t last a week.
I think that this crisis will have some positive effect. People that have donated or mailed boxes aren’t simply going to walk away after this hard winter is done. People all over the world will continue to WATCH to see that their kind of ‘adopted’ friends get treated. That puts the pressure to get things done for all the Villagers.
Thank YOU!
About your story about CC learning to potty training, oh my that does bring back a memory.
My younger Sis had come up for a visit, wanted to go fishing with an Uncle that had a boat. Could I mind her 3 yr old overnight. Well SURE, Aunt Kath could manage a 3 yr old. Things seemed to go well. Then darling Niece in my bedroom starts calling “I stink, I stink”.
Ran in and to my horror. On my brand new 2day old oval wool braided rug – placed on the oak floors I had lovingly cleaned before. There laid a ‘pile’ on my brand new rug, while she fumbled to pull her panties up.
How funny, that little niece is now a mother of three who constantly worries about her clean WHITE carpets. I also remember how my Oldest Sis eventually confessed that she had finally had to resort to M&Ms in doing the potty training. I just told her that I “could appreciate”. I know Ann, you said you keep CC’s sugar intake down, though. Maybe raisins would do the trick. Raisins are a LOT cheaper than huggies. lol
KATH,
Thanks for making me laugh this morning. With my older daughter I did the m&m thing and the first time she peed in her potty I literally had a POOPY PARTY, I made a huge deal and her and I celebrated the one LITTLE drop of pee she got in the potty. With my son I can remember throwing cheerios in the toilet to help teach him how to aim LOL
Ann S.
I’m reminded of 26 years ago when we had our first child. Disposable diapers were available then but we couldn’t afford them and didn’t even want to afford them, doing the cotton diaper thing seemed the mother earth natural thing to do, lol.
Anyway, we had a washing machine but no dryer so I’d do a load of dipes and hang them out on the line, summer and winter. Funny thing in the winter, they’d freeze (dry) like a stiff board and were so soft when they thawed, lol. I’d have a long line full of white dipes, especially when I started double diping as he got older. Actually we still like hanging laundry outside, saves on electricity and smells so good.
In many houses we’d string a line in the basement to dry laundry to avoid using the dryer. It is one of the main energy hogs in a home. So those who’d like to cut down their electric bills might consider doing this. Just takes a bit more time, I sometimes throw certain things like towels or shirts in the dryer for 5 mins to soften and unwrinkle them. But if it’s windy outside that softens nicely. At this house we have 2 retractable lines out on our deck. We only had a family of 4 and now just me and the spouse, I’m just dang frugal by nature.
Thank you sun, wind and the smell of fresh air.
It’s absolutely stupid that homeowners associations ban clotheslines or hanging laundry outside just for “tidiness”.
Longtime Bush photographer James Barker published an amazing book on village life. If you go to his website – http://www.jamesbarkerphotography.com/ and click on Yup’ik Eskimo, you will see the second picture down on the left of two Elders in a Maqi’viik (steambath) using a cunning breathing apparatus in that magnificent heat.
That type of Native ingenuity just humbles me down to the core. We had such amazing inventions, from sunglasses, to animal oil lamps, to medicines and tools that did allow us to survive in such a brutal climate. Yes, life was hard, children, Elders and young adults often died from preventable deaths (sometimes by starvation) but it was rich in culture, nature and spirituality.
I despair over non-Natives that deride us about why we don’t live like we used to, why we ask for government handouts, why we drink, why we abuse. . .read http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=1065017 and from Wednesday’s ADN printing – http://www.adn.com/opinion/story/679340.html and you can get maybe an inkling of why we started out as a dysfunctional society once we were rounded up for sedentary life.
Outsiders promised recreational free time and commodities, medical care and education – what we got in return was wholesale emasculation, laziness, processed foods, medical epidemics and serial molestation and abuse.
When you are completely torn down, and expected to build yourself up without the benefit of a guidebook – you have a decimated culture that breeds an insecure and confused society. Don’t get me wrong, we have hundreds of success stories and perfectly functional and good families out here that make their way, but as a whole, our problems easily gets more attention.
I am one of those modern day Natives that believes the time to blame is past us. We have to own up to our problems and take them head on and recapture the salient traits that defined us as a proud and enduring people.
But when we are hamstrung with a chronological history of neglect and lack of infrastructure, we have a right to complain to those that govern us. We did not come into Americanhood with our own resourcefulness, it was thrust upon us after our self-sustaining ways were dismantled. What kind of citizenry do you expect when that happens? We aren’t talking hundreds of years ago, we are talking about my parents and my grandparents generation.
I may traverse the non-native world with ease, but I will not pretend that it should be so easy for my people. It is with my skills and sense of responsibility that people like me owe our villages a level of activism to level the playing field. Once we have adequate funding for social services and energy sourcing, then taxpayers have a soapbox to stand on in saying you are not responsible for our conditions.
There are many of you out there that care. You have shown it through something as simple as saying you are fascinated by village life and not judging us, or by asking yourself and others to donate food or cash, or by defending our way of life (rather than lifestyle.)
Thank you for your attention, and with the Palin affect, we have people paying attention to Alaska in ways we rarely see. Unfortunately, a lot of it is nasty and negative (even with the heartfelt and innocent letter first published by Nick Tucker) but it is my hope that it is for the betterment of infrastructure out in the Bush, to take us out of Third World conditions and make us a part of the American dream.
Ann you article was great and most of the post were very interesting except 1 I had a brother that lived in the Eagle River area that passed away about 8 years ago.He had a trailer on some land he was buying ,I believe on land contract as when he passed it went back to the owner.He had no running water or bathroom facilities either but I guess he made do.I have been up their twice also had a sister and brother-in-law that lived up in the Eagle River area for over 30 year,about10 spent hauling water and living off the land as they were out in the country by themselves. When she told me how they lived the last time I was up there before the two passed I could not believe it.I told her straight out I could not have withstood it.We grew up with an outhouse and no running water.So that was nothing new but I swore when My parents were able to afford to drill a well and but in a bathroom,I was about 23,that I would never live like that again.You article shows that anyone cna do what they have to .God Bless and keep up the article on the villages
@ I can see the Village from my House
Beautifully written, thank you for sharing! I’m going to make sure Ann S gets your post since Alaska Newspapers is interested in village perspectives. Hope that’s OK with you!
When I used to live in the Bush, we would either string a bunch of hoses together and pipe water in from the school, or we’d have to haul our own water from a nearby spring. Since it was frozen over most of the year, we’d have to break a hole in the ice and dunk our water jugs into the cold water to fill them up.
My last year there, we finally got “running” water, where there was a large water tank in the bathroom that we’d fill up with the hoses. We did have a flush toilet that last year, but still had to empty our kitchen sink bucket outside because there was no place for the used water to go. It was quite an experience and really made me appreciate the little things, like pipes and toilets.
Piped water in a semi-arid region (most of rural Alaska and the Unorganized Borough) is not a good idea, from what I have seen. It requires an enormous amount of generated electricity. A current project in one Village is costing about 1/2 million dollars per man, woman, and infant just to build. It will be expensive to operate and maintain.
The great-grandgovernor (before Palin, before Murkowski) wanted to put the” honey bucket in the museum”. However, we live in a semi-arid country (as little precipitation as New Mexico high desert. The costs are mind-blowing, the systems only work for about 15 years; the systems are expensive to maintain (electricity for heat, etc.; and we have nearly 200 Villages which must be relocated, in all or part, sometime in the next 15 years due to on-going environmental change. There is no money to replace aging systems.
Focussing on wasting water for flushing toilets, rather than having water clean enough for the specific uses needed, is bassackward, so to speak. Point of use treatment, E-loo (enviro-loo, a dry sanitation system), other aspects of permaculture need to be investigated. For example, Denali Commission would rather spend hundreds of thousands on major projects than $10,000 in testing the use of dry systems (no composting, no water, no electricity). Rural water systems (open cess pools, basically, a.k.a. sewage lagoons) are still the norm for AI/AN communities (here and in NM, for example) even though outmoded 40 years ago for suburbia. Toilets and trash in the Last Frontier (Alaska) There are so much better solutions possible.
Rainwater is said to taste better than chlorinated water by some elders. However, water collected from galvanized steel roofs; water collected from roofs with dust blown from car exhaust, fires smoke, and dried sewage; water collected from the edge of the continent with soot from China (we never could get the state, feds, or the tribal associations to investigate) should be filtered.
Steams–
the dry steam or fire bath is the one requiring special filters to keep from searing lungs. John Active did a short video explaining the origin of the steambath (Russian) and the fire bath (Yup’ik)–NIH Hot Weather Advice for Older People. Here’s another one– http://www.bankstreet.edu/gems/kwethlukbnkst0506/steambath2.mov
Teachers blogging from the tundra–
Tundra Teachers