St. Michael Missions Trip Pt. 9 - Things to Do

Fortunately it was not just work in St. Michael. We did have the evenings to look around the village and see whatever there was to see there. I really enjoyed walking around the village and seeing how the people there live their lives. Especially on the fist two days, there was such beautiful sun and relatively warm temps, it made walking around very pleasant.

For newbies like us, there was a lot to see as we were first timers and it was all an adventure. For those who live there, well, not a lot to do except what you make for yourself to do. It becomes very real to a person when you are standing in St. Michael to realize that if you are not connected to the land in a very strong way, fishing, gathering, hunting, etc. it would be a very bleak existence indeed. I suspect this has much to do with the high suicide rate in these villages. When you get cable TV and the perception is that the life "out there" is like what they see on cable programming, it becomes very dissatisfying to go outside to hunt and fish. So much of ministry in a village like St. Michael is giving the people hope and encouragement.

There are basically three things to do in St. Michael. The first is walk the beach. Now this is very interesting to do. There is the huge remnants of a previous civilization left on the beaches of St. Michael. 100 years ago, St. Michael was the last stop the stern wheeler boats made before they landed on the gold rush beaches of Nome, just across Norton Sound. St. Michael offered a protected bay from the numerous fierce storms that develop on the Bering Sea. At one time, there were 10,00 people in St. Michael. It is difficult to imagine. Sometime in the 1920's the whole gold rush came to an abrupt end and the sternwheeled boats were left on the beaches. I saw historic pictures in the local government offices showing these huge boats hauled out on the beaches. Almost all of the wood is very long gone as the elements make quick work of that. However the immense iron members of these boats remain.

The second thing to do is to visit "Up Dump". What? Simply it is the village dump and it is located over the hill from the main village. So, you have to go "up" to the dump. Everyone calls it "up dump". To be honest, it is a jolt to the system to come over the rise to up dump. One gets to taking for granted that everything is beautiful and pristine and wild. Seeing up dump reminds one that the realities of modern existence and the things we throw away are an issue, and especially so in a place like St. Michael. Living in a city our trash gets hauled away from our sight and we assume it doesn't exist anymore.

Apart from the shocking reality of up dump, it is a little entertaining and interesting and sometimes a place of resource as most dumps are. A perfectly good purse is laying on the ground, and you wonder, "why did they throw this away?" With all the dead 4-wheelers laying around the houses (dozens of them) in town, why don't they haul those to up dump instead of cluttering up their yards?" It goes on an on like it would if you visited your local dump. Going personally to the dump is just a part of life in Alaska for most people. Going to up dump reminded me of the many times I went with dad to toss out some perfectly good trash. He would sometimes remind me that if I didn't do well in school, I could always get a job at the dump because they paid you and it was all you can eat as a side benefit. I didn't know if he was joking for a long time. I think it was a subtle hint to do well in school or a life of up dump was something I could look forward to.

I mentioned the dump as a place of resource. This was true of our trip. The picture of the missionary, Brian Staub shows him extracting some lengths of PVC pipe that came in handy for burying an electrical line that they ran to the quonset hut. There was lots of it in the dump for some reason. It's kind of like a free hardware store.



The last "something to do" option in St. Michael is the AC. I think I might have mentioned that AC stands for "Alaska Commercial Store". It was formerly "Northern Commercial" which had served the needs of Alaskans for many decades all over the state, but now under a new owner, it mainly provides staples for bush residents. Interesting enough, in St. Michael, the AC is the going concern. In Stebbins, it is the Native Store that is the main provider of goods. The native store in St. Michael went out of business and the AC in Stebbins is pretty small. Regardless each carries lots of things we crave enough to consider paying the price they charge. Doritos are $9 a bag, Sunny Delight breakfast drink is $16 a gallon. Milk is $10 a gallon. Soda is 2.50 a can. A Wii you can buy at the local department store for $200 is $400 in St. Michael. You get the idea.