Many people these days have begun to look at the travel industry with a critical eye. With gas prices rising and the dollar struggling, people are beginning to see that things in the world are not status quo anymore - things are changing. With that, mindsets are changing and people are starting to travel in a different way. A way that benefits other people who are in need, helps the environment or for cultural exchange. These are not new concepts for me. I took a year after high school to travel to Norway as an exchange student. It was a life changing experience. It changed the way I looked at the world, and helped me to see that people all over the world have ways of life that are unique to them and that I feel should be preserved. That fascinated me and still does. This is one of the reasons that I write this blog - it is because I believe that through travel and cultural experiences we can learn so much - not just about the world, but about ourselves.

After my Norwegian experience, I officially came down with the Travel Bug. Not just to see other places, but to really experience them. Being an outsider has its lessons. So while in college, studying anthropology and contemporary Native American issues, I found out about Black Mesa and Big Mountain - part of the Navajo Reservation in NE Arizona and their struggle for survival. To read more about the history and my experiences there, please read this.

I have stayed in touch with some of the people I met there and try to keep myself up to date with what is going on there on Black Mesa. These elders that live there, have a very hard life and they always need volunteers, people to go out to their homesteads, do a home stay, help with sheep herding, carding and spinning wool, cooking, chopping wood, cleaning and doing just about anything and everything to do with traditional Navajo life. I spent 6 months with a family there and it truly was a life changing experience (yep, that is me in the jeans and gray sweatshirt hanging with my Navajo grandparents and their children during a family reunion). Without that time in my life, I would not be the person I am today. I am so thankful for that experience, because even though I was there to help them, I think in so many ways they helped me more.

Black Mesa Indigenous Support Group - the group that arranged my home stay, is now calling for volunteers to go out to the land and stay with families. They are a small grass-roots all-volunteer group organized to work with and support the issues of traditional, indigenous peoples of Black Mesa who are impacted by the coal mining and forced relocation policies of the US government. There is a lot going on that you can participate in that will help immeasurably. There are people all over the world, struggling and living in third world conditions who face human rights violations all the time. It saddens me deeply, but what saddens me even more is the fact that we have a similar situation going on here in America, and so few people even know about it!

Continue reading to learn more about how your next vacation can be one that helps people in need.

*On a personal note, I will be getting married very soon, so posts/ updating comments will be more sporadic than usual with gaps - don’t worry I will be back with more travel articles and Saint Augustine Resturant Reviews!*

FIRST NATIONS, FIRST RESISTANCE—

SUPPORT THE STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL AT BIG MOUNTAIN, BLACK MESA, AZ.

On behalf of their peoples, their ancestral lands, and future
generations, more than 350 Dineh residents of Black Mesa continue
their staunch resistance to the efforts of the US Government– acting
in the interests of the Peabody Coal Company—to relocate the Dineh
and destroy their homelands. This land is the basis for the Black
Mesa peoples’ traditions, livelihoods, and spirituality.

At this moment the decision makers in Washington D.C. are planning
ways to seize tribal lands to extract mineral resources. The coal
companies are funding both the Republican and Democratic parties
because they have huge interests at stake. Presidential candidate
John McCain recently sponsored forced-relocation legislation
targeting these Dineh families; Peabody Coal, the world’s largest
coal company, currently has plans to expand its strip mine operations
and to seize more deep aquifers beneath these indigenous lands.
Peabody Coal Company has completely dug up burials, sacred sites, and
shrines designated specifically for offerings, preventing religious
practices. Not only were the principal concerns of the communities
directly affected by the legislation never addressed, those
communities were not even notified.

“The Big Mountain matriarchal leaders always believed that resisting
forced relocation will eventually benefit all ecological systems,
including the human race.” Bahe Keediniihii, Dineh organizer and
translator states. “Continued residency by families throughout the
Big Mountain region has a significant role in the intervention of
Peabody’s future plan for Black Mesa coal to be the major source of
unsustainable energy, the growing dependency on fossil fuel, and
escalating green house gas emissions. We will continue to fight to
defend our homelands.”

LIFE FOR RESIDENTS OF THE BIG MOUNTAIN REGION IN 2008:

Institutional racism fueled neglect and abandonment of public needs
such as water, maintenance of roads, health care, and schools. Daily
life for Big Mountain residents hasn’t changed too much over the
years, except that more of them have become elderly and now need
additional help. Due to lack of local job opportunities and federal
strangulation on Indian self-sufficiency, extended families are
forced to live many miles away to earn incomes and have all the
social amenities which include choices in mandatory, American
education. It is increasingly difficult for families to come back to
visit their relatives in these remote areas due to the unmaintained
roads and the rising cost of transportation.

ANNUAL SPRING PLANTING PROJECTS NEED EXTRA SUPPORT THIS YEAR

The consistent rain and snow this past winter have been hard on many
of the families living on Black Mesa, especially the elders. Because
of the roads being impassable for such a long time, supply and
medical trips were limited, as well as visits from extended families.
(Black Mesa is a remote area in the high desert, rich with canyon
lands and soft dirt that turns to clay when it gets wet.) But the
desert thrives on water; there are many healthy new lambs and baby
goats, as the life and land continue to cycle and regenerate. The
families are thankful and excited about spring planting and there is
much work to be done!

This spring, many fields left fallow will be planted. April is the
time for preparing them for planting. This involves fixing fences,
clearing out brush, and fixing water damage. May is the season for
shearing the sheep and planting the fields with corn, squash, melons,
etc.

BRING YOUR TOOLS:

Hand shears for sheering sheep, steel files, shovels, picks, axes,
mattocks, posthole diggers, a roll of barbed wire, fence posts,
leather gloves, heavy duty hoes, fencing pliers, and some single-axe
& shovel handles.

BMIS WILL HELP YOU COME TO BLACK MESA PREPARED!

You are invited to come to Black Mesa any time of the year, not just
spring and fall. You can come alone or as a pair for a longer
duration, or as an organized work crew for a shorter time. Since
establishing a routine is demanding on the host family, folks are
encouraged to stay a minimum of three weeks. If you are not able to
make this time commitment, check in with BMIS about organizing a work
crew to stay a minimum of several days to a week. Guests are
expected to be adequately prepared prior to staying with families on
Black Mesa, which is a very remote area in a high desert terrain.
Thoroughly read the Cultural Sensitivity & Preparedness Booklet and
fill out the supporter application form. ( http://www.blackmesais.org/
cultural_sen.html ) Email or snail-mail it to us. Contact BMIS as far
in advance as possible so that we can support you in your visit to
Black Mesa, answer any questions that you may have, and so that we
can make arrangements with your host family. We can also be reached
by our voicemail, 928-773-8086.

FALL ‘08 CARAVAN TO BLACK MESA IS IN THE WORKS!

Thank you. May the resistance of Big Mountain and surrounding
communities on Black Mesa always be remembered and supported!

Black Mesa Indigenous Support
P.O. Box 23501, Flagstaff, Arizona 86002
Voice Mail: 928.773.8086
blackmesais@riseup.net
http://www.blackmesais.org

Black Mesa Indigenous Support is a small grass-roots all-volunteer group organized to work with and support the issues of traditional, indigenous peoples of Black Mesa who are impacted by the coal mining and forced relocation policies of the US government.

http://www.blackmesais.org

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