KAWERAK ELDERS AND YOUTH: UNITING TWO WORLDS THROUGH EDUCATION FOR A
HEALTHY TOMORROW

For a sixth time since 1979, more than 200 elders and youth from around the
Bering Strait Region gathered to share and learn. Sponsored by Kawerak,
Inc. and the Eskimo Heritage Program and utilizing elders and
professionals, workshops and panel discussions explored and addressed
social and educational issues.

Keying on the conference theme, education, healthy choices and visions /
dreams / prophesies were the three central points around which the
conference was organized. After each day's formal educational program
concluded, learning and sharing opportunities continued with the sharing of
dance traditions. The Stebbins, Gambell, Anchorage King Island, Kotzebue
Northern Lights, Diomede, Wales Kingikmiut and Local King Island Dancers
all performed.

Focusing on education, the first day of the three day conference explored
Native language immersion education and Native ways of knowing. Wellness
issues of subsistence lifestyles, support organizations, suicide
prevention, tobacco prevention, inhalant and substance abuse, fetal alcohol
syndrome, respect and tolerance filled the second full day. The final day
of the conference introduced the visioning process. Participants gathered
into subregions to begin the process of crafting a vision for their home area.

"Two Worlds" as used in the conference theme, refer not to a Native and
non-Native world division but to the worlds of the times past and present.
Aiming to bring forward into the present those elements found useful by
tradition from the past was a powerful aspect of the conference. But
conference participants came to realize that those traditional ways must be
used to address social and cultural challenges faced in the present.