Today we went to the Alaska Native American Center for a workshop on cultural awareness that we will take with us as we dive into the community this coming week for our clinical hours.
Our speaker, Yaari, told her story of culture shock as she moved to Anchorage from her village in Northern Alaska. English is not Yaari's first language and she found herself struggling to connect with the locals when she first arrived in Anchorage. This really broke Yaari down and sent her into a depression, however, with help from The Creator, she was able to pick herself up out of the depression.
I really enjoy the deep spirituality of the Native people all across the United States and was very fascinated as Yaari opened up to our group about her spirituality. Yaari spoke a lot about her spiritual gifts (visions, healing, the ability to sense people's pain and emotions, etc.). She even demonstrated these gifts for us. Yaari explained to us that The Creator is God. I have heard this comparison once before and absolutely love this thought process. It saddens me to think that the Native people were forced to stop their spiritual traditions by white settlers and missionaries when really they should have taken the time to learn these traditions. I feel that any person of faith could learn from the Native people. I personally feel today's workshop has really helped my own spiritual growth and has really empowered me to be a better peer minister when I go back to Scholastica.
The following were some of the biggest take away messages for me:
Our speaker, Yaari, told her story of culture shock as she moved to Anchorage from her village in Northern Alaska. English is not Yaari's first language and she found herself struggling to connect with the locals when she first arrived in Anchorage. This really broke Yaari down and sent her into a depression, however, with help from The Creator, she was able to pick herself up out of the depression.
I really enjoy the deep spirituality of the Native people all across the United States and was very fascinated as Yaari opened up to our group about her spirituality. Yaari spoke a lot about her spiritual gifts (visions, healing, the ability to sense people's pain and emotions, etc.). She even demonstrated these gifts for us. Yaari explained to us that The Creator is God. I have heard this comparison once before and absolutely love this thought process. It saddens me to think that the Native people were forced to stop their spiritual traditions by white settlers and missionaries when really they should have taken the time to learn these traditions. I feel that any person of faith could learn from the Native people. I personally feel today's workshop has really helped my own spiritual growth and has really empowered me to be a better peer minister when I go back to Scholastica.
The following were some of the biggest take away messages for me:
- The Native people of Alaska do not refer to themselves as Eskimos. Eskimo means people who eat raw meat, therefore those who like their steak raw could call themselves Eskimos.
- When caring for a Native patient, or any other patient at that, spend time getting to know the patient and that patient's values. Don't jump into work without being personable. Patients are more likely to open up when they feel they are important and what they value has meaning to you.
- Take a step back, note the things you have in common with another person, rather than the differences. Learn how to connect with others and connect your own values with those who surround you. If the settlers and missionaries had taken the time to understand who The Creator was, they could have connected that He was their God too! This concept would have helped to support their own beliefs in God's existence and also would have stopped these settlers and missionaries from trying to take away the spirituality from the Native people. How crazy is it to think that by trying to preach and teach about God to the Native people, they were actually taking them away from Him? Remember, there is always more than one path to get to a destination.