Nunpitchuk village visit to learn from them and teach about Jesus: The People part 1: Children and VBS

For the most part the people who live in this village are Yup'ik. They are part of the indigenous people of Alaska. Their language (Yup'ik) is extremely difficult to learn and only in recent history become a written language. Most are fluent in English except the very young and some of the very old. You may hear the term "Eskimo" which is not a term used much today in Alaska. It is my understanding that "Eskimo" is a broad and unused term to describe all who were considered to be more indigenous to Alaska. A better term is "native" when referring to Alaskan people. Native would include the different sets of people which you cannot look at and tell whether they are Yup'ik, or many of the other groups of people who live in Alaska like Inupiaq, aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, or a Athabaskan. They are able to identify difference in each other and if those differences are pointed out to you you would be able to recognize them but you do not wish to offend people so again; Native is the best term unless you are sure. There is more online if you wish to read about the Yup'ik people or other Native groups.

As I stated before, the people here in Nunapitchuk are primarily Yup'ik. Although there are many groups of Yup'ik around the state in different areas, this village is reliant on the water for most of their needs. The water provides them with birds to hunt and fish to catch and a (water) highway to travel upon.

This little girl is dressed in a Kuspuk. It is a outer coat of sorts used mainly for dress up. This little one was an angel for our VBS program as we taught the kids the nativity story.

Most of the kids and adults dress just as you would as you can see from the photo below. They love to play, watch TV, hunt, fish, have a love / hate relationship with school...in other words...they are normal kids!

The following pictures are just some from our first day of VBS. The story emphases was the Birth of Jesus. We had 88 kids show up for the VBS that started at 1:00pm. We fed them and then launched into the story, a couple of crafts, and recreation time.

Nothing like coloring- something all ages should take a little time to do and be a kid again!

We also had to be careful to help the kids understand the birth of Jesus. The kids have no idea what a stable is but they do have dog houses. We talk about Mary and Joseph having to do to Bethlehem and helped them to understand it as their mother's likely had to go to Bethel or Anchorage to give birth. The Wisemen were compared to the Village Elders and the celebration in the village that takes place when a birth takes place. Context for helping kids understand is important!!!

We broke the kids loosely into three age groups even though we do not insist they say in a group. Those ages are 0-6, 7-10 and 11 and up. We held an opportunity to speak to and connect with teens and adults in the evening which I will describe in a later post.

Parents are encouraged and welcome to come and go, sit and participate as they want during all activities.

She really did not want her photo taken and it became a bit of a game between us! She got even though by putting stickers all over me as you will see in the next photo! I had "jewel" dots on my ears, forehead and nose!