Shimá Stories: Hitchhiking Elders
Yesterday, a story came out in “Searchlight New Mexico” about the Navajo elders in our community who have been forgotten by our Navajo Nation government system and by our Diné community. A reporter, from the Northern Agency of Dinétah traveled back home to interview elders living within the rural parts of our homelands.
The reporter found that many of the Navajo elders she visited were living with no running water, no electricity, and no direct food source. Of course, this is not uncommon for our people on the Diné nation, as thousands more live with these conditions.
The real question is: As a sovereign nation whose entire COVID-19 campaign is surrounded by the goal of protecting our elders (the people who we are suppose to protect) are not receiving any help at all? Even when they request for help at their chapters.
When reading this article I was reminded of the stories my mother would share with me.
When my mom drove from Shiprock to her offices in Gallup, Cortez, and Farmington, she would often pick up elders walking on the side of the road and drive them to a grocery store in Farmington and sometimes to the T&R market on the outskirts of Gallup.
She would listen to their stories about living alone, not having anyone to talk to, their families won’t help them and they often forget about them. They have no way of getting basic necessities for themselves unless they walk the 30 miles to the nearest towns to pick them up on their own. Most of the time, they only get enough food that they can carry on that long walk home (hmm long walk…).
Most of the time, friendly drivers like my mom will stop and pick them up and take them where they need to go. The hard part is, they have to find their way home after they finish grocery shopping or errands they need to do. My mom use to tell them that she would need to go to work, but if they were still around, she would bring them home. And she did.
For as long as I remember, my mom would tell me the stories of the grandmas and grandpas she would meet on her daily commute to work. I remember how angry I would be with their families, with the Navajo Nation, not taking care of our elders.
I sometimes wish she had taken photos of those grandmas and grandpas so we would always have them and always remember them. But that’s not the Diné way.
I never met any of them, but my mom carries their stories.
Our elders are our knowledge system. They are the true scholars and the carriers of our culture, our language, and our way of life. Ké is a principle of our Diné culture, we are suppose to care and protect each other as we are all related.
I can only offer my story, with hope that others will share theirs, to let the President of the Navajo Nation know that he needs to address this.
For Further reading, please visit the article this story responds to:
https://searchlightnm.org/navajo-elders-alone-without-food-in-despair/?fbclid=IwAR0ii63LBjZFdJa10kAf0VMP7om1ShNKvqWPGoqLE_og6DvxdQ32ctC8cu0