Bottle # 134: Swaswara Niche, Gokarna, Karnataka, India

I brought this little bottle to Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost town in the US after finding it in India October 2016. I work as a nurse practitioner overseeing all the clinical activity of 5 villages including Kaktovik, Point Lay, Wainwright, Atqasut, and Nuiqsut. The North Slope is one of the most remote places to live in the US. This is the home of the Inupiat, known for their whale hunting. There is a high rate of suicide, alcoholism, isolation, and chronic disease up here in the North Slope. The Inupiat language is also becoming extinct, but thankfully organizations like Rosetta are working to preserve it and the tribe has reintegrated the language into school curriculum.

I will leave bottle #135 Here in Barrow, soon to be called Utqiagvik, as a prayer for the Inupiat people--may their culture and people continue to thrive.

Bottle #134 as found in Gokarna, India