For Native American Day and Indigenous People’s Day why not adopt an elder?

October 12, 8:21 AMCross Country Travel ExaminerLindsay Godfree

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Navaho woman cards wool for weaving rugs at Sheepdog Festival in Utah

Today is Columbus Day, Native American Day and Indigenous People's Day depending on where you live. Thoughts today turn to our country’s Native Americans; with holiday giving and winter around the corner the message of Adopt-A-Native-Elder Program  is very timely indeed.

Originating in Park City, UT, Adopt-A-Native-Elder Program creates a Bridge of Hope between Native Americans and other cultures. There message is “to reach out to one another, share our gifts,” and mend the broken circle of our relationship with the Land and the Native Americans who hold it in sacred trust.

This Program was featured at the Sheepdog Championship Festival at Soldier Hollow near Heber, UT, where the Navajo weavers were demonstrating their arts. It supports the traditional Elders who live in the cultural and spiritual traditions of The Dine' (Navajo) People. 

If you have ever driven from Arizona to Utah toward Lake Powell on Highway 89 you will get the feel for their plight. Many of them live in traditional hogans,  and some raise sheep as a means of maintaining themselves.

It turns out that you don’t really get to take one home. The Adopt-A-Native-Elder Program provides needed food, simple medicines, clothing, fabric, and yarns to help these Elders live on the Land in their traditional lifestyle. As they have become elderly, it has become more difficult for them to support themselves on the Land in their traditional ways.

This Examiners Takeaway: Travel allows us to see how others live. In this time of economic turmoil our hearts are softened to the hardship of others as we try also to solve our own economic and ecological issues. It is possible to contribute even if in small ways to groups and organizations that we care about. To sign up for a newsletter for Adopt and Elder.  
 

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