ALASKAN FRIENDS OF CHUKOTKA
January 2004 NEWSLETTER
Coordinator Nancy M. Mendenhall
P.O. box 1141 Nome, Alaska 99762
(907) 443-2455
nfnmm@yahoo.com
If you would like to be on our list to receive this newsletter
by
e-mail, send a message to e-mail address above.
For general information about Chukotka: www.faculty.uaf.edu/ffapg/chukotka.html
For specific information about our direct mailing network and how to
mail
gifts: www.uuff.org/chukotka
JANUARY 2004
Alaskan Friends of Chukotka has finished its fourth year of
establishing connections between American and Chukotkan village
families. Thank every one of you in this network for all the generous
spirit and energy you put out once more! Welcome to all the new people
who joined this year! This is a network of activists.
If you receive this newsletter it means we think you are actively
carrying out our mission of peace and friendship with the people of
Chukotka. Check out the two websites listed above, and we may have a
new one with photos of families up and running by the time you receive
this.
This last six months have been busy. In addition to our usual mailings
of outdoor gear and school supplies to families and schools we added
several kindergartens due to requests from people from Chukotkan
villages. Here in Nome we volunteered to coordinate (for the AK side)
the youth project that Nome Community Center co-sponsors with the Kaira
Club in Chukotka. This is through a grant from the US Nat. Park Service
to promote the environmental and indigenous cultural aspects of the
Beringia region. This project reaches youth in four villages and those
from villages in teacher training in Anadyr. If you received a
student-produced art calendar you know how well Kaira and these
students are doing.
The letters we received from Chukotka are, as usual, full of interest.
Although unemployment is still high and goods expensive,
Pensions/welfare really tiny still, families are generally much more
optimistic. Several mentioned the new housing in their village. One
village, Yanrakinnot, is continuing to develop its tourist interests
since cruise ships stop there. People continue to hunt, fish, herd,and
collect greens and berries as much as they can. We tend to get letters
from families with a large number of children or those who for health
or other reasons have no regular employment. Several of them sent
interesting snapshots.
There is still no way to ship gifts to families directly except by
paying the expensive parcel post, and we thank all of you who have been
willing to take on this burden. We also thank again all the yarn
donators--it continues a very popular item. In this newsletter we would
like to especially thank FAITH, who makes beauiful, warm handmade
quilts for kids to be mailed across, and EVERETT, who shops regularly
and fills all our needs for household sundry items, school supplies,
boots, and you name it, which we could never afford to buy in Nome.
Here are some statistics for the 2003 year, and these are only the ones
we are aware of. We know there were other mailings that didn't get into
our records yet. Please do tell us when you send or receive something.
Boxes sent: 314, including fish nets: 29
Number of villages involved: 24
Letters received: 113
U.S. direct mailers in our network: 34
Cash(postage) donors: 35 (in addition to above)
Thank you again for the families of Chukotka, and Happy New Year. May
it bring peace.
AFOC
September 2003 Newsletter
AFOC October 2002 Newsletter
AFOC August 2002 Newsletter
AFOC June 2002 Newsletter
AFOC March 2002 Newsletter
AFOC January 2002 Newsletter
AFOC October 2001 Newsletter
AFOC September 2001 Newsletter
AFOC July 2001 Newsletter
AFOC April 2001 Update
AFOC February 2001 Newsletter
AFOC January 2001 Newsletter
AFOC December 2000 Newsletter
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