Monday, August 25, 2008

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.)

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Well, I made it!

Temperature in Bethel today: 61*F

Hi all. Sorry it's taken me awhile to actually get this post up. I don't have regular internet access at my house so this had to wait until I started work (and got a few free minutes). My roommates and I arrived in Bethel last Saturday and we have really been enjoying Alaskan life so far. We got in around 9:30p Alaska time and were picked up at the airport by our JVC community support people, 2 girls who were JVs in Bethel last year and decided to stay, and Fr. Chuck, Bethel's only Catholic priest (and a Jesuit, whaaat!). Bethel's airport is pretty much a room with a ticket counter and conveyer belt. We grabbed our luggage and headed to the JV house.

I have 6 roommates this year (Fran, Erin, Elyse, Meg, Mike, and Jon) and there is definitely ample room in the house for all of us. We have 4 bedrooms and a "nook," aka a curtained off area with a dresser and a bed. We talked it out and the boys got the single bedrooms, Fran and I in one double, Elyse and Meg in another, and Erin in the nook. We have 2 living rooms, each with a wood-burning stove, a nice sized kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and a big back deck that looks right over the tundra. It's really a beautiful house. It also has tons of windows which we love now for the midnight sunsets but will probably be cursing in the winter. Such is life.

Sunday we went to mass. Mass in Bethel is pretty cool. It's a very small community and everyone seems to know everyone. Native culture is also very strong; the altar servers wear traditional Yupik shirts and the Our Father is said in Yupik. When we got to mass they were handing out the church bulletin AND the sheets with our pictures and bios. That was a little surreal. There have been JVs for so long in Bethel that everyone kind of knows who we are. Even if they don't have our bios, we're pretty distinguishable. I have already had people come up to me in the grocery store and the library to ask me if I am a new JV and welcome me to the community. It's pretty great, even if it did take a little getting used to.

Sunday evening we hosted a potluck at our house. Or, I should say, we were told we were hosting a potluck, haha. Most of the people who came were mid-late twentysomethings who work in Bethel in the social services field. That was nice because we all had a lot in common and now we know we'll have friends, haha.

Monday through Wednesday my roommates and I had appointments at each of our jobs. All 7 of us went to each person's job to get a feel for what the others will be doing. We also had a woman who teaches sociology at the college come to teach us about the native culture here and how we would best be able to adjust and assimilate. Other than that, we spent our first week getting to know the town and the terrain. Bethel is literally tundra, which is very spongy and kind of hard to walk on. Because of this, there are boardwalks crossing through everywhere to walk on. It's pretty cool. Other than that, it's mostly dirt or gravel roads, with one highway going around the town in a loop. Highway is a relative term; the speed limit is 30mph and there's one stoplight. However, in the winter when the Kuskokwim freezes over you can drive on the river.

Cool things that I have done in Bethel so far: berry picking, bread making, sunset watching at crazy hours (although we lose 5.5 minutes of sunlight every day!), fishing on the Kuskokwim River. If you haven't noticed, most of these things are pretty outdoorsy/domestic. In Bethel it's definitely a subsistence way of life. People live off the land and the river, and that includes JVs. The price of groceries is ridiculous up here. Gallon of milk? $10. Triscuits? $7. We buy what we can wholesale, pick up groceries in Anchorage whenever we go through there for retreats and whatnot, and live off the river or the land. We fish now, and in the winter we'll get to go hunting. I'll let you all know what caribou meat tastes like.

This past Sunday our landlady dropped by and asked if some of us wanted to go fishing. Five of us went out, and letting the net out twice, we caught 52 fish. Which we then headed, gutted, cleaned, fileted, and froze for winter. At one point I was in the back of the boat LITERALLY knee deep in fish. It was pretty crazy, very fun, and just a little gross. (I can't say gutting a fish is one of my favorite things to do.)

This week is my first week of actual work, and I'm very excited. I've only been in 2 days, but I can already tell I'll really like it. I get a lot of personal contact with my clients, and will really get to walk with them every step of the way. My boss is actually on a business trip this week, which means I am just sitting down with each attorney, talking to them about the Child in Need of Aid cases that I'll be helping with, and shadowing on different things. Yesterday I was in court all day helping with jury selection. Today I got to go to the jail to talk with a few different clients. Hopefully, in September I will get to go out to one of the villages with one of the attorneys to meet a client. I haven't gotten a great idea of what work has in store for me, but I know it will be interesting, challenging, heartbreaking, and hopefully meaningful to my clients. I'm excited.

Hopefully I'll get to update a little more often now so every post won't be this incredibly long. Also, once I can get to the library and upload some photos, you guys will have pictures of my house, Bethel, and my roommates. I hope all is well back home and send my love! Keep me updated on life in the lower 48.