A view of St. Lawrence Island from the flight into Gambell.

Elder Voices: Ralph Apatiki


Ralph Apatiki, Sr., shares his wisdom in this week’s episode of Elder Voices. Ralph was interviewed in October 2002 in Gambell. He starts by describing how his elders taught him to hunt and to understand the movement of the ice. These are lessons that he then taught to his own children.

“It seems that every growing boy must learn those things,” says Ralph.

But even as some traditions in Ralph’s life remained constant, other things changed. He speaks about the changes in climate and the loss of the St. Lawrence Island Yup’ik language.

Hear more from Ralph on KNOM this Wednesday, April 5th, at 11am and again at 6pm, during our rebroadcast of Elder Voices: a window to the past, a door to the future.

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