If MTV Came to Bethel

Temperature in Bethel today: 68*F

Typically, when I tell people that I live with six people I just met a few weeks ago, they say "Haha, it's like 'Real World: Bethel!'" In response, I usually laugh and make a joke about using our small sunroom as a confessional. However, in reality, I can't help but think how much more "real" life as a JV is going to be than anything I've experienced up to now. Bethel (and the entire Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta) is a truly unique and beautiful place, but life here is not easy. There are physical, emotional, and cultural realities that make life here very different from anywhere else in the United States. Even after only two weeks here, and only one week of work, I know that the culture and the people of Bethel will open my eyes, break my heart, and change my life.

For those of you who don't know, this year I am working as a Client Advocate with the Bethel Public Defender Agency. I will be working on Child in Need of Aid (CINA) cases, advocating for the parents of said children. My role, as the sole non-attorney at the agency, is to essentially act as a social worker for these parents as they manuever their way through the intimidating and complicated legal system. In Alaska, when your children are taken into state custody, you have 15 of the next 22 months to get your act together and create an environment that is suitable and healthy for your children to live in, if you want to regain custody. That means that the children can be in and out of your custody, so long as the time that they are out of custody does not (altogether) exceed 15 months in a 22 month period. I work with the parents during those 15 months (and sometimes longer, with extenuating circumstances) to help them create those healthy environments.

Pretty much all of my clients are dealing with issues of alcohol abuse and/or domestic violence. It's my job to listen to them, and help them make progress on the caseplan that the state develops for them. That may mean getting substance abuse treatment, finding housing, keeping up contact with their children while incarcerated, etc. I am here to offer emotional support that the attorneys literally don't have the time to offer, and help them communicate with different (very busy and very understaffed) state agencies. Essentially, I help them get to a point where their attorney will be able to prove that their children are no longer children in need of aid. I'm still working to get my feet on the ground at work: right now I know what I need to do, the tricky part is figuring out how to do it. It's pretty intimidating, but I do really like all the people I'm working with, and I know that once I get a handle on things I will be able to have a lot of personal contact with my clients and really be able to learn their stories. This is what I'm most looking forward to, and also what will help me do my job in a way that will most benefit the parents I'll be working with.

With each day that passes, as I learn more and more about Bethel, my job, and my roommates' jobs, I understand how "real" our experience will be. We will be walking with people in some of their most difficult times. We are living in a culture that is very different from our own, and a physical environment that none of us has ever experienced. We will have to deal with the harsh realities of alcohol abuse and domestic violence that have become everyday occurrences here. Most importantly, we will learn to truly work for the sake of human relationship, for the value of the work over results. In a place that is as isolated as Bethel can be, that is the most "real" thing there is.


(Also, in other news, to celebrate my roommate Fran's birthday last Tuesday, the 7 roommates jumped into the Kuskokwim River. It was "real" cold, and now we are "real" Alaskans.)