Please Help the Hopi People
Donation protected
I am so honored and lucky to have spent a number of years working on the Navajo and Hopi reservation (the Rez and Hopi land) in northern Arizona where I made lasting friendships that began over 20 years ago. We worked together, traveled to remote schools and homes together, and shared our culture with each other (from a Navajo Yei Bi Chei to a Hopi Corn Dance to a Passover Seder and my wedding). We laughed, learned and loved, I had the utmost love and respect for the people, land and memories that I have from all of the places I was able to be a part of on both the Navajo and Hopi reservation, from Cameron, Tuba City, Cow Springs, Tonalea, Seba Dalkai, Moencopi, Leupp, Tsaile, Chinle, The Gap, Shonto, Kayenta, Round Rock and Many Farms, to name a few. This culture is sacred and beautiful and yet they continue to be mistreated by the American government. The Navajo and Hopi reservation now has the highest per-capita Covid-19 infection rate after only New York and New Jersey with only a fraction of the resources, and the spread is not slowing...
I cannot express to you how horrifying this is, the Navajo Nation, including Hopi Land, stretches across northeastern Arizona into New Mexico and Utah. The land is beautiful but pretty much barren. Many people do not have running water or electricity, hospitals and grocery stores are far and few between, in fact, in an area the size of Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts combined, there are only 13 grocery stores. Contact tracing is difficult, many people don’t have phones and it can take hours to drive to one home. Navajo and Hopi land is about the size of West Virginia, with a population of only 366,176 (compared to 1.8 million in West Virginia).
How is it possible that there are more cases of Covid-19 on the Rez than in major cities like LA and Miami?
Jonathan Nez, the President of the Navajo Nation said, "We are United States citizens but we're not treated like that... You can hear the frustration, the tone of my voice. We once again have been forgotten by our own government." More than 150 years ago, the Navajo and many other tribes signed treaties with the federal government giving up their land in exchange for funding of things like housing, infrastructure and health care. But for decades that hasn't happened.
Indian Health Services (IHS) is horribly underfunded, it’s per capita spending is much lower than it is for Veterans or Medicare spending. According to recent data, the federal government spends $2,834 per person on health care in tribal lands, while it spends $9,404 per person on Veterans health and $12,744 per person on Medicare. There's also an acute nursing shortage on the Navajo Nation, and the tribe is desperately lacking in equipment, COVID-19 patients often need to be flown to hospitals in Flagstaff and Phoenix AZ as well as Albuquerque, NM, which is extremely expensive.
Upon hearing the statistics, I reached out to my Navajo and Hopi friends who live out there and asked how I could help. Val, a fellow speech pathologist, works at the hospital in Tuba City. She told me that the east side of the Rez is getting hit hard and the Hopi, Zuni and Pueblos are asking for help and donations. Val then sent me information on how to help Hotevilla, a very isolated community on the Hopi Reservation and I got in touch with Andrew Qumyintewa and Lori Martin-Joshweseoma. We have already communicated numerous times and they are incredibly grateful for any help that we can give them. Once I collect donations I will work with them and either send them money or purchase items they need (listed on the posted flyer) and ship to them.
I could go on and on about the injustices, the horrific, cruel and completely unjustified mistreatment that the Native American people have endured as well as the immense beauty and love that I have of their culture and land.
Most of us are struggling in one way or another but if we take a moment to look at what is happening in other places we can see how lucky we are, how much we have and that we can probably give something to help others who are so much worse off... If I can help, with your help, I would be incredibly honored and grateful.
Thank you for caring and taking the time to read this, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Be well and stay safe,
Shelley
You can also help by donating directly to Adopt a Native Elder
https://www.anelder.org/
(Excuse my poor copying of the flyer, the repetition of that line is due to me!)
One of my close friends at school.
The beautiful land.
Amazing beauty...
Monument Valley
Current times...
I did not take this picture but it really shows the beauty of this majestic land.
I cannot express to you how horrifying this is, the Navajo Nation, including Hopi Land, stretches across northeastern Arizona into New Mexico and Utah. The land is beautiful but pretty much barren. Many people do not have running water or electricity, hospitals and grocery stores are far and few between, in fact, in an area the size of Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts combined, there are only 13 grocery stores. Contact tracing is difficult, many people don’t have phones and it can take hours to drive to one home. Navajo and Hopi land is about the size of West Virginia, with a population of only 366,176 (compared to 1.8 million in West Virginia).
How is it possible that there are more cases of Covid-19 on the Rez than in major cities like LA and Miami?
Jonathan Nez, the President of the Navajo Nation said, "We are United States citizens but we're not treated like that... You can hear the frustration, the tone of my voice. We once again have been forgotten by our own government." More than 150 years ago, the Navajo and many other tribes signed treaties with the federal government giving up their land in exchange for funding of things like housing, infrastructure and health care. But for decades that hasn't happened.
Indian Health Services (IHS) is horribly underfunded, it’s per capita spending is much lower than it is for Veterans or Medicare spending. According to recent data, the federal government spends $2,834 per person on health care in tribal lands, while it spends $9,404 per person on Veterans health and $12,744 per person on Medicare. There's also an acute nursing shortage on the Navajo Nation, and the tribe is desperately lacking in equipment, COVID-19 patients often need to be flown to hospitals in Flagstaff and Phoenix AZ as well as Albuquerque, NM, which is extremely expensive.
Upon hearing the statistics, I reached out to my Navajo and Hopi friends who live out there and asked how I could help. Val, a fellow speech pathologist, works at the hospital in Tuba City. She told me that the east side of the Rez is getting hit hard and the Hopi, Zuni and Pueblos are asking for help and donations. Val then sent me information on how to help Hotevilla, a very isolated community on the Hopi Reservation and I got in touch with Andrew Qumyintewa and Lori Martin-Joshweseoma. We have already communicated numerous times and they are incredibly grateful for any help that we can give them. Once I collect donations I will work with them and either send them money or purchase items they need (listed on the posted flyer) and ship to them.
I could go on and on about the injustices, the horrific, cruel and completely unjustified mistreatment that the Native American people have endured as well as the immense beauty and love that I have of their culture and land.
Most of us are struggling in one way or another but if we take a moment to look at what is happening in other places we can see how lucky we are, how much we have and that we can probably give something to help others who are so much worse off... If I can help, with your help, I would be incredibly honored and grateful.
Thank you for caring and taking the time to read this, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Be well and stay safe,
Shelley
You can also help by donating directly to Adopt a Native Elder
https://www.anelder.org/
(Excuse my poor copying of the flyer, the repetition of that line is due to me!)
One of my close friends at school.
The beautiful land.
Amazing beauty...
Monument Valley
Current times...
I did not take this picture but it really shows the beauty of this majestic land.
Organizer
Rochelle Thomas-Crowder
Organizer
Morristown, VT