Shageluk High School in South Africa: Where our Ancestors Lived

Our GLOBE Research

We have been a GLOBE school since 1998. Different classes of students have set up different study sites over the years but in 2005 our local research on our environment took on a different twist when lightening struck behind our village and burned a 15-acre area of land dangerously close to local homes.

The Alaska State Forestry Department hired the Shageluk Emergency Fire Fighting crew and the EFF crew from Nikolai to assist in putting out the fire. The fire lasted just two weeks but has provided us with long-term data on regrowth in a Boreal forest that has made us think about climate change and how it effects our cultural traditions and survival as the Deg Hitan people!

Monday, June 16, 2008

Where our Ancestors Lived

This afternoon besides getting our Hepatitis A and B vaccine, we went by truck to several places along the road to talk about "pit houses" or subterranean homes our ancestors lived in pre-1800s. This is a picture of Jack measuring the inside of our Kashim.

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Whirlwind Blogging and Communication Hardships!

We're back in the UNITED STATES and in Alaska right now, July 12. We returned July 2, one day later. To make a long story short it was VERY difficult to connect to the Internet so we have timely blogs up until Tuesday, June 24. Wed and Thurs we had field trips all day and were unable to connect but the boys still blogged in their journals standing in the breakfast line, on the bus and in the airport sitting on their bags. We were also unable to connect at the Cape Town, New York and Seattle Airports so I just decided to upload the kids' blogs when we returned. We have 1500 pictures and some video so stay tuned for those. For now we present, the updated blogs!

Joy: Wednesday Field Day #1

Joy: Wednesday Field Day #1

Today we had to get the kids up early so we could take the bus to the field trip sites. They would be on separate busses based on the plant or animal group they were put in.

The bus ride was beautiful with the sunrise over Cape Towne as we climbed our way up the road of Table Mountain on our way to the Cape.

An ambulance with a complete paramedic crew follow behind each tour group (2 busses). Did I mention there are over 400 people at this conference with about 97 countries in attendance? Anyway, the ride up the mountain was beautiful. When we got to the Cape, we drove by some zebras, borilla (I’m not spelling that right but will look it up later, it’s like a deer with pointy antlers) and some black ostriches that were scattered about. They tell us we’re going to see some baboons today.

Our first stop at the Cape Pointe was the light house, Global Atmospheric Weather Station and going down to the beach. Jamie and Everett are not in my group (they split us all up so kids can meet people from all over). Jamie and Everett are in my same large tour group so I get to pester them now and then with lots of picture taking.

The climb to the lighthouse was long and steep but comfortable and we found several baboon poops on the way. It is amazing how many species of short shrubs live on those rocky, rocky slopes. Many were flowering as well, but because it’s winter, many other varieties have no leaves. The tour guide said that because of the climate, wind and water crres of the ocean that there are several ecosystems at the Pointe ranging from tropical to desert. We are 200 kms here from where the Indian and Atlantic Ocean meet.

We learned that the warm currents of the Indian Ocean mixing with the cold currents of the Atlantic makes some interesting climate patterns. I took a lot of pictures of lizards and birds roosting at the lighthouse. Oh, we were also told that they no longer used that lighthouse because it was too high and when the fog rolled in, the ships could see the light but not see the rocks under the fog so they ended up having more shipwrecks WITH the lighthouse. They made another lighthouse elsewhere.

The GAWS station is a major monitoring station that is tied in with several stations around the globe and shares atmospheric and oceanianic information with other nations. The guide also talked about the carbon cycle, etc.

When we were done with this tour we were told to go in the bus for lunch because the baboons will come out and grab our lunch bags. Sadly, we sweated in the hot bus with our lunches and waited for baboons to come and NONE CAME. We were all disappointed!

Everett, Jamie and Jack’s story will be different than mine (and hopefully with more detail about the things they’ve seen!)

After lunch we walked a billion steps down the side of the cliff to the surf. We saw a seal in the surf. It was beautiful! The pounding waives of the surf with the salty warm air of the open ocean and the brightness of the sun was exquisite. The kids got to do water testing using GLOBE protocols in the Atlantic Ocean at the beachside. We were told not to pick up any shells but to save them for other groups. It amazed me how HIGH up on the cliff we were finding shells and white sand. It made me wonder how fierce the waves get.

Penguin Park: Our next stop

Although the park utilized a natural African Penguin rookery, it was disturbing to see boardwalks running to and fro, here and there crossing over the nesting area. Tourists were hanging off the railings taking pictures (including me!) Supposedly it doesn’t disturb the nesting but it just looked weird. They were located along the rocky beaches of the Cape. The penguins had fuzzy gray babies and many were still in their nests. Every now and then we saw a discarded egg As with any bird, sometimes the eggs don’t’ hatch and are rolled away from the nest. I have to say it was fun to see them wander around, fat round tummies jutting out. Our tour there didn’t last long and we went back to the busses. Many local market vendors lined the street we walked on as we went to the Penguin Park. We saw a dancing quartet of African dancers. There were lots of carvings, African beadwork and other cloth items and woven baskets.

That was a very interesting day with lots of heat and exercise. After getting back to the dorms they boys were whisked away in the shuttle to Jameson Hall for a DANCE planned by the GLOBE Alumni. I don’t know what happened at the dance, THEY HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT IT because adults weren’t allowed!

JOY: Tuesday’s Presentations

JOY: Tuesday’s Presentations

This morning the boys woke up and were excited about their presentations. We had one practice Monday evening in our room just to refresh our memories on the science presentation (I had added one extra page of Jamie’s home pictures that were added to the cultural presentation). In the morning, we got the boys up early for breakfast. African cafeteria breakfasts are different somewhat than we have in the USA. For instance, what we call “cream of wheat” they call “Mealie Meal”. I my opinion this is the BEST I ever ate, just better than cream of wheat. I see on the menu for the next couple of days there is another hot cereal called “Malta Bella” which I’m told is porridge. They have served “flapjacks” (pancakes) and don’t serve it with syrup, they use honey. Plenty of scrambled eggs and they are the real deal, not egg mix, real eggs. Also, in USA in most places white eggs are used and the brown-shelled eggs are used in dry egg mixes. (I never was sure why on that. No difference in taste between a brown-shelled and a white-shelled egg). That’s all they used here. We had boiled brown eggs one day that were very good. For cold cereal they serve the same cereals that we have and they keep a tray of warmed milk ready for you to ladle on your bowl. Rudy likes tea in the morning and the brand they have here is “5-Roses Rooibois”. He says it’s a reddish colored tea. Different than black tea.

Plenary Session: 8:30-11:30
These sessions occur after breakfast and are basically speeches or lectures on things like ecosystem health, climate change and the latest terms that we keep hearing about: “Sustainability.” Sustainability is the ability to keep something going, basically like bringing an endangered species back from the possibility of extinction. For example, bringing back Bald Eagles from extinction and off the endangered species list. Sustainability also pertains to just keeping something going, protecting and conserving it and keeping it the same. As an example, national forests Sustainability and keeping it in a natural state, keeping it from being developed and exploited for commercial use. During the Plenary sessions they talked a lot about that.

Before our Science presentation we had an open window where we could practice our presentation. We found a spare room to practice in.

After lunch was our time to shine. Our presentations were at 1:30 pm in an amphitheatre type of lecture room normally found in any college campuses anywhere. The boys did GREAT. When we got started someone from the audience yelled, “GO JACK!” The place was packed. Jamie said he noticed this was the most people he’d seen at any of the sessions yet. We were so proud of the boys. Lots of GLOBE dignitaries were there SPECIFICALLY to see the boy’s project. They received lots of compliments after their project.

Other projects from other countries have been about air and water quality, watersheds, and subsistence fish (like we have but Native to other countries like Safi from Bahrain) that are suffering loss and endangered. There have been some interesting projects from Finland on birch trees and from Lebanon on the “hot field” effect. All very interesting. During the afternoons we attended more of the cultural sessions that shared their presentations.

Evening came along and we waited to give our cultural presentation. Norway was ahead of ours, which I got a personal kick out of. They gave kind of a text booky presentation of the history of their country (my genetic birthplace), which basically anybody could read in an encyclopedia. The word “cultural traditions” after living in Shageluk means more than that to me, more than an encyclopedia definition. The Norwegians wore some traditional clothing and did some traditional dancing which was fun to see. My favorite was watching them do the polka, which is the music I grew up hearing at home, not that that’s important.

It is disturbing that so many European countries use textbook descriptions as their cultural presentations. Funny, I don’t even know MOST of my own cultural traditions, although I identify strongly with Trolls.

Tuesday was a full day and we all enjoyed meeting other people and seeing how they lived.