Navajo Nuggets: April 2

Dear Friends,

Nobody likes to be told he/she is wrong. When studying nouns last week, I emphatically told one crest-fallen face after another that dogs and cats were things not people. Now I must admit I was wrong. The Navajo tradition holds that dogs are indeed spiritual “people.” They have a song. They have a way. They are not to be chained up or abused.

Rez Dog

Somewhere in the process of becoming town dwellers, some have the idea that people take responsibility for their dogs, and dogs are left to be survivors. So, there are stray dogs everywhere. Most are just hungry, not dangerous. If you want to see an interesting documentary on the Rez Dogs go to http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/rez-dogs#1 The Navajo Culture is described as a closed culture. Sometimes they may be offended by our intrusions, but they don’t express it. Unless great pains are taken to build a trusting relationship, there will be resentment when others tell them how to take care of their problems, such as dog overpopulation.

Here’s another way the dominant population tried to fix things.

We find that our students come from a variety of backgrounds – Mormon, Christian, Catholic, and Traditional Navajo. We had thought this was because of various missionary influences in the past. Perhaps it is, but we also learned that during the period when they were seeking to integrate the Natives using the boarding school system, the children were divided up randomly into four groups, and whichever group they ended up in, that was the religion they were taught.

Reading Partners

This has made for some mixed up religious practices. Please continue to pray for us as we try to help the children who are going to a “church” that teaches something different from what we teach them from the Bible.

We have enjoyed the help of the group from Redwood Christian School this week. They’ve made excellent progress on a building project and have contributed in very helpful ways in our classrooms. They totally transformed our lunchroom for a Carnival/Open House. We’ll have photos soon!