If Anyone Wonders Why I am Here...
This is just an interlude - longer posts will follow on my days in Kalskag yesterday and Sleetmute today but two things happened today which were so wonderful I had to share them.
First of all, I met a very bright and funny High Schooler called Vernon who is a real character (he came out to meet me from the Bush plane, told me he was my bodyguard, and that he could speak in a Scottish accent but he wasn't going to because he would never be able to get his own accent back) He is dyslexic but he was so happy to be telling stories and using his imagination (which is a wonderful one) that he decided he is going to write a story for me. (It's called 'Jonah and Vernon and The Wolves')
Secondly Mary the cook (a lot of the cooks in the schools are elderly native Alaskan ladies. Mary is profoundly deaf and very shy) gave me a present and a letter. I have taken pictures of it but for some reason I can't seem to upload my pictures to my laptop at the moment. It is three ornaments made out of the paper covers that individual tea bags come in. Wonderfully intricate circular ornaments made of hundreds of tea bag covers, folded, twisted and somehow fastened together, I have no idea how. And she wrote me a note which says:
"Donna - thank you very much for coming to Sleetmute. Our students enjoyed your company very much. I wish you could come again someday but maybe it's impossible. But you are more than welcome to come and entertain our schoolkids. Enclosed are souvenirs from Sleetmute, I made them out of tea bags. People use them as wall decorations. I hope you like them. Please take care and again, thank you very much for coming. Sincerely, Mary." And she gave me a hug. For an elder to do this is a real honour.
So there, amongst all the other hundreds of reasons why I am here, are just two. I'm not ashamed to say I cried.
First of all, I met a very bright and funny High Schooler called Vernon who is a real character (he came out to meet me from the Bush plane, told me he was my bodyguard, and that he could speak in a Scottish accent but he wasn't going to because he would never be able to get his own accent back) He is dyslexic but he was so happy to be telling stories and using his imagination (which is a wonderful one) that he decided he is going to write a story for me. (It's called 'Jonah and Vernon and The Wolves')
Secondly Mary the cook (a lot of the cooks in the schools are elderly native Alaskan ladies. Mary is profoundly deaf and very shy) gave me a present and a letter. I have taken pictures of it but for some reason I can't seem to upload my pictures to my laptop at the moment. It is three ornaments made out of the paper covers that individual tea bags come in. Wonderfully intricate circular ornaments made of hundreds of tea bag covers, folded, twisted and somehow fastened together, I have no idea how. And she wrote me a note which says:
"Donna - thank you very much for coming to Sleetmute. Our students enjoyed your company very much. I wish you could come again someday but maybe it's impossible. But you are more than welcome to come and entertain our schoolkids. Enclosed are souvenirs from Sleetmute, I made them out of tea bags. People use them as wall decorations. I hope you like them. Please take care and again, thank you very much for coming. Sincerely, Mary." And she gave me a hug. For an elder to do this is a real honour.
So there, amongst all the other hundreds of reasons why I am here, are just two. I'm not ashamed to say I cried.
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Comment by LC Fraser on October 5, 2007 at 4:55am
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You really are having a special time aren't you? It all sounds so very wonderful.
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