On March 29th in Kivalina the students in Mrs. Dorn’s literature class went on a field trip and wrote about the experience. Jasmine Adams, Sabrina Barger, Amanda Dewey, Louisa Hawley, and Eunice Ramoth went to the local Native Store and bought groceries for a needy elder. The girls delivered the groceries to elder Carlos “Saqu” Hawley and his brother Oscar. Louisa says in her writing, “We worked as a team to pick out what kind of food we should buy for Saqu and Oscar.”
Mr. Hawley and his brother were very appreciative of the items the students delivered. Amanda wrote, “Carlos said they were glad we brought them food because their food had just ran out and they had very little to eat.” As Mr. Hawley is confined to a wheel chair, the class offered to help with other chores. They washed, dried and put away dishes, cleaned the stove, counters, and table, and Mrs. Dorn swept the floors.
In their writing the students acknowledged their connection to the community and culture. Eunice writes, “We just wanted to help some elders who needed it so badly. When you have some elders who cannot afford things, you should go to them and ask what they need. It’s a responsibility because you have to always respect (an) elder. You have to think about helping elders with stuff because these elders did a lot of things to keep this town going and they followed the rules of our culture to keep it and showed it to us and the little ones.”
- Jan Dorn
