A card sent to the school several years ago said, “I am about 80 years old (Navajos don’t celebrate birthdays) and a widow. I live with my son Alvin, my daughter Gloria, and four grandchildren — Gerald, Germaine, Rhonda and Roman. We live in Teesto Housing, which is quite modern and has electricity and indoor plumbing. I can’t write or speak English, so my daughter does my writing for me.”
The housing is like a FEMA trailer, though many on the reservation still live in hogans and raise sheep for wool as they did long ago, said Broadway kindergarten teacher Sally Beam.
Each year the Broadway kindergartners do chores at home to raise money to send weaving supplies to Bahe for wool made for the patterns Navajo women weave, sent through the Adopt-A-Native-Elder program in Park City, Utah.
Beam coordinates the program for the school’s five kindergarten classes. The money also pays for a box of food and gift certificates for Bahe.
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