Vietnam Boat Enthusiasts Help Disabled Kids; Smithsonian Northwest Tribes Exhibit

The Vietnam Wooden Boat Foundation of Port Townsend, Wash. is organizing a tour of key cities in Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and Hanoi. The proceeds benefit Kids First Mobility Center in Dong Ha, Vietnam. Participants leave Sea-Tac International Airport on Feb. 26. For more information, contact John Doney at john@vietnamboats.org.

The National Museum of the American Indian is opening an exhibit on Northwest Coast native peoples called "Listening to Our Ancestors." According to the website, the exhibit explores how native people along the coast of Washington State, British Columbia, and Alaska continue time-honored practices in an ever-changing modern world. The exhibition features more than 400 ceremonial and everyday objects, as well as commentary from representatives of eleven contemporary North Pacific Coast native nations. Northwest Indian tribes such as the Haidi and the Makah were and still are seafaring people who carve beautiful seagoing canoes from mature cedar trees. Saaduuts, a Haidi carver, runs a program called Carving Cultural Connections through the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle. The NMAI exhibit runs through Jan. 2, 2007.