There’s nothing like the Elders and Youth Conference, anywhere. It creates a time and space for young people to talk with their elders about serious issues – but also to learn how to speak their Native language, sew skins, cut salmon and share stories.
The gathering is the traditional prologue to the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention, which starts on Thursday. But the Elder and Youth Conference started on a somber note at the Dena’ina Center in downtown Anchorage on Sunday.
Roy Agloinga, president of the First Alaskans Institute, said the storms that have devastated coastal communities in Western Alaska weigh heavily on the heart…