(note: the Arctic Village borders the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge)
Experiences growing up in Arctic Village
by Matthew Gilbert
http://blog.nrdcactionfund.org
Growing up in the village is such a broad experience that I cannot explain it well in a short space, but here is an outline of my experiences growing up in Arctic Village.
As a child, I remember my grandfather and me visiting dozens of family camps planted all over the mountain above our village. These trips satisfied the adventures I naturally craved as a child. When we visited these camps I felt a sense of community never felt in the village--a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. I cannot help but to wonder if this was the feeling my ancestors had when they visited each other's camps. After we visited the camps we'd go over the mountain and on to the tundra to track the caribou. The mountain with the family camps is a low mountain, but you can see the entire valley below you; it's beautiful. In mid-fall, the mists off the horizon make the land glow blue. This is the scenery you would see when bringing a caribou back to village from atop the mountain. This beautiful way of life will end if we do not have the caribou. We cannot sincerely call ourselves Gwich'in if we don't have the caribou.
I shot my first caribou when I was thirteen; I consider it my rite of passage for being Gwich'in. To shoot something twice your size that can feed an entire village is a life-changing experience. Traditional hunting practices of the Gwich'in mold the men of our village; the practices demonstrate whether or not they will be useful as men.
My experiences growing up in Arctic Village demonstrate to me that I cannot live there without being directly or indirectly affected by the caribou.
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Matthew Gilbert lives in Arctic Village, Alaska. He has a global warming fellowship project and is interviewing Gwich'in elders' about their traditional knowledge in their Native villages at the forefront of climate changes. His goal is to empower local Alaska Natives to play a more important role in documenting climate changes and working to solve the problem. He graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage in June 2005, majoring in English. He worked as a fisheries and wildlife technician conducting sampling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.