Wednesday, June 10, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
31
Survival show competitor raises his son in Sisters Country
By T. Lee Brown
Correspondent
Survival skills educator
and television show contes-
tant Joel van der Loon moved
to Sisters Country with his
family a couple years back.
Access to the outdoors com-
bined with a sense of commu-
nity drew them here to raise
their son, Talon, now three
years old.
Though Sisters School
District offers little outdoor
or nature-based education
for younger children, the
van der Loons found area
schools <very attractive,
especially with their outdoor
programs,= such as the high
school9s Interdisciplinary
Environmental Expedition
course.
The formative years of
childhood are ideal for con-
necting with nature and learn-
ing survival skills. Van der
Loon wants that for his son.
His own youth in Africa was
full of such adventures.
His father was a fishing
boat captain in Tanzania,
in East Africa. He bought a
<patch of wild land= with the
village chief9s blessing, then
employed indigenous Masai
people, traditional nomadic
herders, to <keep an eye out
for wildlife and illegal trap-
pers on the property,= said
van der Loon. <We had lions,
hyenas, dangerous snakes,
baboons.=
They built a house and
dug a well, then mostly used
solar and wind power. Van
der Loon, who lived part-
time in South Africa with his
mother, moved to his father9s
land full-time when he turned
18. <It was unbelievable,= he
said. <Rural African coast,
remote bush, lions, hyena, all
the different wildlife.= He rel-
ished catching snakes, hunt-
ing wild boar, growing fruit
trees, and raising chickens.
<It was kind of like a
homestead,= he explained.
<We learned how to be
resourceful. Something9s bro-
ken out there, you learn to fix
it. There9s no Home Depot.=
The Masai <were very,
very in tune with the natural
world,= said van der Loon.
<To have them overseeing it
made sense. As a kid I was
fascinated with the Masai.
They would take me hunting,
tracking with them, tell me
stories about their culture. It
really influenced my passion
in the primitive skills, native
skills. I was lucky, very
lucky.= Note: the complexity
of African colonial and racial
history is beyond the scope of
this article.
A recent solo survival
adventure brought van der
Loon to the Arctic for many
days, as a participant in the
History Channel TV show
<Alone= (see related story,
page 3). He said of his time
there, <I had such a big real-
ization into how we should be
living as human beings. I feel
we have strayed very, very far
from how we want to be sub-
consciously. I had a personal
revelation. More simplicity,
less distraction, maintaining
a connection with the plants
and animals, being a good
steward for them, is really
important for me to do.=
He felt stimulated by liv-
ing off the land, providing for
himself, and <having the time
to really get introspectively
deep, not having any distrac-
tion to pull me out of it.=
Similar trips he9s taken in
the past only involved 2310
days of solo time.
<It takes a couple weeks to
break through to that different
state of consciousness,= van
der Loon said. <My senses
were heightened.=
He felt strongly that mod-
ern life is filled with too
much distraction.
<I don9t believe our human
brains are built for that,= he
said.
Researchers would agree.
Studies in recent years have
found that pervasive tech-
nology and distraction are
having harmful effects on
brain development, physical
health, and mental wellbeing
4 especially those of young
people.
Three-year-old Talon
<walks barefoot, shoots a
bow-and-arrow, hunts, eats
food at times with dirty soil
hands so he gets microbes
into him.= Van der Loon
explained, <He9s a happy
child, extremely engaged in
the outdoors. I9m trying to
influence him but not pres-
sure him. I feel like so many
kids [at that age] gravitate
towards running around, dig-
ging in the dirt.=
Unfortunately, they9re
often corralled indoors by
well-intentioned parents and
teachers. Some are worried
about lawsuits. Others focus
on germs. However, current
research shows that children
exposed to more microbes
4 such as those found in
soil and on farms and even in
daycare socializing 4 grow
up healthier, with fewer seri-
ous autoimmune disorders
and everyday allergies.
Some parents and educa-
tors avoid nature education
because they themselves lack
experience. They might not
have outdoor skills or feel
comfortable around insects.
Talon van der Loon won9t
have to worry about that.
<Talon can identify rabbit
tracks, deer tracks, elk tracks,
a handful of different medici-
nal plants in the area,= his
father said proudly.
<I9m trying to keep old
skills alive because I feel
like that9s what strengthens
our connection to our natural
world,= he said.
Van der Loon believes
this connection affects
how humans treat our
environment.
<A person that can step out
into nature and feel at home,
as opposed to feeling home
within concrete walls, will
definitely feel inclined to pro-
tect it 4 protect the wildlife,
protect the natural resources,=
said van der Loon.
Research supports this
stewardship idea. Spending
time in nature as a child has
been linked to higher envi-
ronmental awareness and
activism as an adult.
Research also shows
consistently that time spent
in nature and the outdoors
improves outcomes for all age
groups. It is especially impor-
tant for children and teens,
who are currently battling an
epidemic of increased anxi-
ety, depression, and suicide.
<Hiking, gazing to the out-
doors, making a deeper level
of connection& understand-
ing tracking, bird language,
the plants, what they offer us
PHOTO PROVIDED
Three-year-old Talon van der Loon learns archery and gets his
recommended daily allowance of muddy microbes in Sisters Country.
for food and medicine,= van
der Loon said. <How to make
fire by picking up sticks and
rubbing them together&
These things inspire connec-
tion with our ancestors, with
the earth.=
Such a strong connection
goes beyond merely surviv-
ing. Alone in the Arctic, said
van der Loon, <I felt more
alive than I have ever felt.=
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PHOTO PROVIDED
Joel van der Loon learned survival skills from indigenous peoples in Africa
during his youth. He continued as an adult, learning from Masai, Hadzabe,
and Rama tribespeople.
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