Finding Our Way Home
As an Iñupiaq woman from Alaska, I am part of a community who have thrived in one of the harshest climates on the planet for tens of thousands of years.
My siblings and I grew up in a subsistence economy. For us, this meant a diet mainly from the ocean.
One spring day when I was 12 years old, my father took us to search the ocean for food for our family. Chatting excitedly, we kids each took our turn at driving the boat, and after an hour we were many miles offshore.
Suddenly, one of my siblings noticed that the sky had darkened and a low fog set in. My brother, sister and
