Dilkon 4-28-2010

by John Aldrich

It started last night. The Red Wind Yeis are out with a vengance. During the night they probed and searched for a weakness in the roof hoping they could lift it off its mooring. This morning it was merely breezy and still clear when we arrived in Dilkon. But the wind has steadily increased since then, and now, as I sit in the motel in Winslow, I can barely see what's across the street. The earth is reaching for the sky. Interstate 40 has been shut down since late morning so the town is full of truckers and travelers looking for refuge.

The food run at Dilkon is held currently at the LDS (Mormon) meeting house which is a nice modular structure.  The capacity of the building unfortunately wasn't designed with a group our size in mind so things were "cozy". But everything went very smoothly.

Before departing for Dilkon we posed for our group picture using the rental truck and motel sign for a backdrop. The group totals 30 and hails from Georgia, Oregon, Wyoming, Idaho, New Mexico, and Colorado in addition to Utah.

And that's as far as I got with yesterday's post:

I know I said that I would try to blog from the road with the intention of posting something about each day's food run. But I hadn't counted on the power to Winslow being interrupted by the wind. This end of town at least was without electricity from late afternoon until around 9:00 p.m. We had our group dinner at the nearby Chinese restaurant by candlelight following which the restaurant's sign departed for the Super 8 motel's parking lot across the road.

The wind continued to provide drama to our activities today, but I'll share more about that later. For now, let's return to the Dilkon food run.

Here is the LDS meeting house with the ANE van out front. As you can see, the sky is still clear, and the ground remains where it is supposed to be. What you can't see is that the wind is already starting to blow.

Now the food boxes and flour are in place as Don Bagley and Ron Borden look them over.

Now we jump to the conclusion of the food run where the food and other provisions are being loaded into the Elders' vehicles. You will note that the sky is no longer blue. In fact it looks suspiciously like the color of the earth.

Here Al Sanborn has done his best to maintain his composure and coiffure. Mother Nature has other ideas. I'm not posting any picture now from inside the food run, but just wanted to give an idea of what the day was like. Despite the wind, it was a fine and very successful food run. At the evening meal all the volunteers felt blessed by the experiences they had had that day.

I will end this post with three pictures taken on the return drive to Winslow:

Drive in Beauty is an allusion to a common Navajo aphorism, Walk in Beauty. This theme appears in many prayers and writings.

I will post later about the food runs at Leupp and Birdsprings but most likely not before we are back home a few days from now.

On The Road To Winslow

by John Aldrich

We are in Winslow, Arizona tonight. Tomorrow the food run to Dilkon will commence the second series of runs of the spring season. It's predicted to be very windy which means the Red Wind Yeis will be out trying to get sand in my camera.

It's also past my bedtime, but I had set this goal for myself that I would try blogging from the road - - - the first time that I have tried this. Today my idea was to try to record a few scenes along the road between Bluff, UT and Winslow so as to give the reader some idea of the beauty as well as cultural characteristics of the Navajo Reservation. Thus I present ten photos which were gathered as opportunity presented. Many other pictures were passed up due to traffic, lack of a place to pull over, or any number of other variables.

The northern boundary of the Utah portion of the reservation is formed primarily by the San Juan River. Water is sacred to the Navajo and this watery border helps provide a spiritual security to those living to its south.

 Traveling down U.S. Route 191 after crossing the river takes us through the Mexican Water area. Here are some beautiful rock formations along the way.
 

These few buildings constitute the "commercial hub" of Mexican Water. We are on a short stretch of busy Rt. 160 which traverses the northern portion of the reservation between Tuba City and Shiprock.

Many Christian denominations have established outposts in Navajoland. Here is a Lutheran mission in Rock Point as we continue south down Route 191.

Rodeo is one of the most popular sports on the reservation. This arena is situated in a front yard in Rock Point

Between Rock Point and Round Rock we cross Lukachukai Creek. It drains the mountains to the west and is quite full this spring following the hard winter.

Between Round Rock and Many Farms the highway passes through some beautiful badlands.

Just south of Many Farms is Elizabeth Clah's homeland.  This is the location of the Many Farms food run which will take place next week. Black Mesa is in the background.

 One must be ever-vigilant for livestock on the highway. Sheep cross the road here on Navajo Route 15 as we travel southwest from Ganado toward Greasewood Springs.

And finally a few horses cast a curious glance toward the camera.


We have a wonderful group of volunteers with us for this food run, and I hope to have more to report tomorrow after Dilkon. And I hope to do it prior to bedtime.

The First Food Runs Of The Year

by John Aldrich

The food runs to Oljato and Navajo Mountain are the first to occur every spring. This year the dates were March 30 - April 1. These two food runs are the most recent to be added to the locations that ANE serves. We began going to Oljato in  2003, and this is the third year for Navajo Mountain. Both of these runs are in the Utah portion of the Reservation. A generous grant from the American Express corporation made it possible to start the food runs to Oljato. They wished for the proceeds of their grant to benefit people in Utah which made Oljato a logical choice. Oljato is near Monument Valley in one of the most beautiful portions of Navajoland. After the road was paved to Navajo Mountain a few years ago, it became possible to extend our efforts to this area as well. Navajo Mountain is also in Utah although one needs to drive many miles through Arizona before reentering Utah just south of the mountain.

Volunteers initially meet in Mexican Hat, Utah, where we stay at the San Juan Inn overlooking the San Juan River. The food run ceremony is held outdoors in a beautiful setting with the sounds of the river below and an occasional serenade by a canyon wren.

The Oljato food run takes place the following morning and is held at the new Senior Center. Elders and their families come from the surrounding areas to attend. There are currently 51 Elders served by ANE at this food run.

After arriving at the food run site it usually takes 1 to 1 1/2 hours to get everything set up for the event. The men work outside to unload the produce, flour, Rainbow food boxes, and the various giveaway boxes that the Elders will receive.

Before the general meeting starts there is usually time for volunteers to visit with the Elders.

Occasionally the local hosts arrange for some special entertainment for us. This year at Oljato we were treated to singing by a preschool group.

Spring in this region can see considerable variation in the weather. At Oljato we were blessed with mostly sunny skies and only occasional gusts of wind.  That evening in Kayenta the wind was howling in advance of a storm front that arrived during the night. We awoke to several inches of snow on our vehicles and needed to negotiate snowy and icy roads for the first twenty miles of our drive to Navajo Mountain.

Snow blowing off the roof of the chapter house covers Duncan Orr of Flagstaff. Duncan is instrumental in obtaining donations to provide drinking water for the Navajo Mountain Elders. The water supply there is particularly precarious as they are dependent on a single spring, and the delivery system from it occasionally breaks down.

Here volunteers are putting the finishing touches on the array of food, produce, and other giveaways that the Elders will receive.

Inside, other volunteers are greeting Elders as they arrive.

Now it's time for the actual event to begin. The group of volunteers is introduced to the Elders and their families as Mary Robertson-Begay translates for Linda.

A parting view of Navajo Mountain. Although the weather is always an unpredictable factor for the spring food runs, it never succeeds in dampening our spirit or spoiling the events.

Yarn Program

by John Aldrich

Although providing food is the most important thing the Adopt-A-Native-Elder Program does to sustain our Elders, we help in a variety of other ways as well. The yarn program is one such way we support weavers in the Program and assist them in maintaining their traditional lifestyle.

Many of the Navajo Elders in our program are weavers, and many of these weavers depend on their weaving sales to sustain themselves and their families. We try to facilitate a market for as many of their rugs as possible. This happens through the annual rug show, other smaller shows, online rug sales, as well as direct sales to volunteers at food runs. But in addition to this we also provide wool and warp to our weavers so that they can continue to weave. We support more than seventy weavers on the reservation, and providing them yarn is an important way we help them to keep weaving.

A majority of present-day weavers use commercial yarn, and one of their favorites comes from the Brown Sheep Yarn Co. in Mitchell, Nebraska. Brown Sheep is willing to provide yarn to us at wholesale prices and we place two large orders with them each year prior to the food runs in the spring and fall. Each order involves over 1200 skeins of yarn in a variety of colors which are then combined into bundles of six skeins in a variety of color combinations. Each of these bundles provides enough wool to weave a rug approximately 2'x3' in size. These bundles are then given to weavers at each of the food runs.

We also order Brown Sheep wool throughout the year to replenish the stock of yarn bundles which are sold as donations to sponsors who wish to give wool directly to specific weavers. These bundles come in a variety of popular color combinations  which can be seen here on our web site.

At the annual rug show attendees can purchase bundles of wool and then present them directly to a weaver at the show. Much of this wool comes from the Burnham Trading Post in Sanders, Arizona, where Bruce Burnham carries a line of yarn which is also very popular with Navajo weavers.

Shopping

by Roger Daly

Rainbow Food Box shopping...

Did you ever "run to the grocery store to pickup a couple of items?"

How about this shopping list?  

• 528 large Folgers Coffee - Classic Roast
• 1056 42 oz. oatmeal containers
• 2112 cans of vienna sausages
• 3468 large cans of fruit
• 1584 family sized cans of soup
• 1056 regular cans of pork & beans
• 528 large vegetable shortening
• 1056 (each) cans of corn, peas and carrots  

You will fill about 260 shopping carts.  Plan on about 30-40 minutes at the checkout counter and you will need a check for about $16,000.

To move the food to the ANE warehouse, rent a 45 foot Penske truck with a hydraulic tailgate.  Plan on two trips from the store to the warehouse.  Unloading the truck will require some strong backs to handle the nine (9+) tons of food.

Before returning the truck remember this "little shopping run" only filled one of the two Rainbow Boxes!

After your second shopping run you will have assembled almost twenty (20) tons of food items, at a cost of about $32,000.

Volunteers will pack the food into 528 Rainbow Box sets for delivery to eleven "Food Run" locations on the Navajo reservation.  At those locations ANE will add 20 lb. bags of Blue Bird flour plus potatoes and onions.  (Another volunteer will shop for these items.)

Back at the ANE warehouse we will begin planning for a "little run to the food store" in the fall! 

Better Roads - A Winter's Tale

by Mary Robertson-Begay

(Note: Mary is a resident of the Hardrock area of the reservation. She has been a key supporter of ANE for many years, and the Big Mountain food run is held at her family Homeland. Mary writes about a series of crippling snow storms that affected the reservation during  January 2010.)

My favorite time of the year is winter. I love the snow and enjoy watching it all fall softly to the ground. Well, I almost started to . . . almost got tired of it last month. January brought on snow, and more snow, and even some more. We were now up to three feet in some areas and higher in other areas. We had not seen this in Hardrock for a long time.

My husband, Harry, and I work at the Hardrock Chapter house. He is the Community Services Coordinator. (Talk to Harry and "Jack-of-all-trades" is redefined in your vocabulary). I rent an office space there for the Hardrock Council on Substance Abuse, Inc. - a tiny 501(c)(3) organization. For us, work is eight minutes away. We live about 1/2 mile off the pavement, so on most days it's smooth sailing.

We started to receive calls from community members on the second week of on/off again snow. Our Chapter President, Percy Deal, rounded us all up and declared an emergency in Hardrock, although that really did not mean anything because in order for us to receive aid from the county or state, the President of the Navajo Nation and Governor of Arizona need to declare an emergency. That did not come for several more days. In the meantime, the Chapter hired two citizens and their modified four-wheel trucks. Some staff members practically moved into their offices. These people began to operate a shelter without any food or sleeping areas. We had to go shopping for food for the shelter and obtained sleeping bags.

The two four-wheelers were on constant call to dig out people stranded on roads and pick some up from their homes that needed to get to a doctor right away. Patients were beginning to miss dialysis appointments because there was just no way for them to get to the hospitals. Many of the elders were running out of medication, food, and water. Not only was it the elderly, but also young families who were used to living on a weekly supply of food.

Finally we started to see help, first from the Hopi Resources Enforcement, and then the National Guard. I am sorry to say that the Navajo Nation did not step up until the very end, and that was only after begging and pleading with the Navajo Relocation Commission office in Window Rock. The National Guard brought their big trucks, and we were able to load up hay, food, and water for the people who lived the farthest away from the chapter. On a good dry day, an hour is how long it usually takes to go visiting. It took the National Guard, a big grader, and Harry as a guide, almost the whole day to reach the farthest home. The National Guard was able to help out for two only days  the first time. The second group came three days later and helped out for a day and a half.

In the meantime, we had to keep the fire going at home. We were constantly making snow piles to make way for our sheep and horses. The Chapter, where we bought hay, was low on their supplies because the vendors could not get the trailers in. Shoveling snow from our roofs was fun and scary if you've never done it. Our truck would sometimes freeze to the ground, and we would bring out hot water to defrost it before it would move again. The tire chains did not come off for weeks. Pretty soon the truck was parked at the pavement, and we would walk. The half mile felt more like five in our clunky snow boots and always carrying what we could from the store.

The psychologist who works with me explained that we are sun people and that only the sun would bring back our smiles and dampen our anxiety. Attitudes began to show at work, staff members became short tempered, and frustration flared. We cried because there was not any more we could do.

Community members became angry with us for no reason. The first Chapter meeting after all of this, the building was filled to capacity. We heard support from some of them, but others still felt we did not do enough.

Then I began to wonder - - - what happened to us? At what point in one's life does one start to think that someone else is responsible for them? My mother, rest her soul, taught us to be independent. Never look upon another person's table thinking that you should be fed, she would say. I remember her saying, "take care of the sheep, in turn, they will take care of you". I guess I was very fortunate to have someone who did not let me do things my way. All in all, would I do it again? Yeah, no doubt. We just need better roads. But then again I would not want thousands of unfamiliar people at my door asking for the way to the Grand Canyon, or the shortcut to - - - wherever.

The Vision of the Adopt-A-Native-Elder Program

by John Aldrich

What is the purpose of the Adopt-A-Native-Elder Program? Why does it exist? What sets it apart from other humanitarian organizations that exist to help the Navajo and other Native American tribes?

The Program got its start in the 1980's  during the turbulent years of the Hopi-Navajo land dispute which ultimately resulted in 10,000 Navajos being relocated from their traditional homelands. During those times there were many Elders facing severe hardships and deprivations. When Linda Myers became aware of this desperate situation it was food more than anything else that these people needed for their survival. With the assistance of Grace Smith Yellowhammer, Linda began to help.

As Linda's solo trips to the reservation with food and clothing gradually evolved over the years into the complex logistical endeavor of today's food runs, food has remained the core focus of how the Program assists the Elders. But in addition to the challenges of survival there were also challenges to the traditional lifestyle of the Elders, including dislocation and the ever-increasing influences of Anglo culture.

Linda's commitment from the outset was to provide what assistance she could for the basic survival of the Elders as well as to honor and respect their traditional culture and lifestyle. These are among of the principal values that differentiate ANE from other humanitarian organizations. We wish to honor and respect the Elders as they are and have no agenda to try to change them in any way. These are resilient people, and as long as they have their basic needs of food, heat, and shelter met, they will survive as they have for hundreds of years.

These core needs are met through the delivery of food through the food runs, and, particularly in winter time, the distribution of food certificates and checks for firewood. Food certificates are a particularly effective way of aiding families in the winter since they are simple to deliver and provide Elders with a resource to acquire whatever they might need at the moment.

Despite the urge to want to try to help in any way possible, the reality is that our Program has limited resources, and thus, we continue to remain committed to the core mission. We can't become substitutes for  the role of the family in caring for their Elders; we can't become their healthcare system; we can't provide the resources that are more appropriately derived from the Navajo Nation and Chapter Houses.

Another important way that we support traditional Elders is by facilitating a market for their weavings.  For many weavers this has been their sole means of supporting their families. Through the annual rug show at Deer Valley, smaller shows and markets, as well as online rug sales via our web site, ANE is able to offer a significant amount of income to our Elders who are weavers. This, in turn, provides them with additional resources for food, shelter, and transportation.

The Program assists Elders and their families to maintain a traditional way of life in other ways as well.  ANE, through the Ceremony Fund, provides funds to help families that need help with traditional healing ceremonies. We also help families who need financial support for funeral expenses when one of our Elders passes away.

Our mission statement refers to "mending the broken circle" of our relationship with Native Americans and the Land. This is another unique aspect of our Program. It is important to educate ourselves about Native American culture as well as bring the cultures in contact with one another. This happens extensively through the food runs and the annual rug show.

What does the Program mean to the Elders whom we serve? Linda receives many letters expressing the gratitude of the Elders and their families. For many, the assistance we provide, especially through the winter months, makes survival possible.

What we do for the Elders is based on the principal of the Native American Giveaway. We give our best and give it freely with no expectation of return. The Elders feel gratitude for these gifts, often expressing it through their shy smiles. Some give small gifts such as necklaces and jewelry in return. Many are too poor to be able to make such a gift. Their gift is to touch our hands and our hearts and to offer their prayers. That is enough.

 

The logo of the Adopt-A-Native-Elder Program illustrates the key elements of our vision. The rainbow arc represents the Program under which  two cultures are reaching out to each other. With the power of prayers, represented by the eagle feather, the broken circle is mended.