A few years ago, Marie Sakar moved to the village of Chuathbaluk in Western Alaska to teach at the tiny village school.
It meant returning to the place she’d been running away from for her entire adult life.
Sakar grew up in the fish camp-turned-village on the banks of the Kuskokwim River, enduring years of sexual abuse.
She’d left as soon as she could, becoming a mother and earning a college degree in elementary education. But nothing chased away the memories of being molested, or the self-destruction that had followed.
And yet, Sakar, now 48, knew she had to return home to the community of 100 people. Read more of Marie’s story from Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica here.