A Nation Without Water

I woke up this morning and turned on the lights, took a shower, brushed my teeth, and filled my water bottle for work. 

For me, it is routine. 

For others, it is the dream. 

I knew that the Navajo reservation had poverty and I knew that some people didn't have running water or electricity, but what I did not know was how prevalent it was. 

Last weekend in the town of Silver Lake, New Mexico, 90% of the people I met did not have at least one of the following: running water, indoor plumbing, and/or electricity. Many people did not have any of those things. 

You would not guess it if you saw them and sat down to lunch together. The Navajo are a proud and beautiful people group. They care for themselves and others and make little to no mention of the hardships they face. 

But when you take the time to get to know people, stories emerge. Stories of using the canyon as a bathroom or walking to the outhouse in the dead of winter. Stories of hauling barrels of water to use for washing and only having electricity for 30 minutes a day because solar power just isn't enough. 

You see the strength and resolve of the Navajo people. You see the way that they continue on, even though they don't have what we in America consider basic necessities. They don't complain. They don't wail. They just matter-of-factly mention that they don't have any plumbing and could you help? 

This is one of the reasons why I get so frustrated when non-Native people make a big deal out of the Washington Redskins or other sport team names. I have never met anyone on a reservation that cares about a football team. They care that when winter comes, their homes won't have any heat. They care that they have no way to bathe or no way to cook and clean. 

When we choose to "support" Native Americans by being outraged about the Washington Redskins, we are doing nothing but stroking our own ego. 

Do you really want to help Native Americans? 

Get to know them. Hear their stories. Deliver firewood for the winter. Donate to projects that help make clean water accessible. Buy a wood stove for a family. THIS is what our Native brothers and sisters need- not your outrage at a team name, but your outrage at the living conditions present in our own country. 

To put it succinctly: 

30% of the Navajo Nation does not having running water in their homes. 

10% do not have electricity. 

1 in 3 don't have indoor plumbing.  

This is our own backyard. Our own country. 

What are we going to do to help? 

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