The Continental Society Daughters of Indian Wars held its 33rd national council recently. Seven Arkansas Daughters, including state President Sharon Stanley Wyatt of Pine Bluff, attended.
In addition to business, participants learned of the dire circumstances on the Navajo Reservation in the Four Corners area of the U.S., according to a news release.
Sombrero-Navarette
Benton member and supporter, Belinda Meacham Jones, introduced guest speaker the Rev. Tweedy Sombre - ro-Navarrete.
Sombrero-Navarrete is Diné (Navajo), a pastor and mission - ary for the United Methodist Church in the Four Corners area. She is in Shiprock, N.M.
“With an estimated impoverished 174,000 residents, it is the largest Indian reservation in the U.S., spanning portions of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. A third of the households on the reservations do not have access to running water, electricity, phones or paved roads. This combined with cultural practices of shaking hands and multigenerational and extended families living together, has contributed to the spread of the covid virus, the highest in the nation,” according to a news release.
Asked what is the number one item Sombrero-Navarrete would request for the reservation she said “a water truck.” Running water is not feasible because of the contamination from uranium and coal mining. Although the uranium mining companies have closed, the mining sites and contamination have not been cleaned-up, according to the release.
Recently the reservation received several water tanks through donations, but a truck is still needed to fill those tanks. A new water truck price exceeds $200,000.
The 93 CSDIW national council members voted to supply another water tank to the reservation.
The Arkansas CSDIW is assisting the Native Americans with school supplies spearheaded by Jones. Jones and her husband, Danny, also purchased one water tank for the Navajo Reservation.
People interested in donating school supplies, a water tank ($500) or can assist in acquiring a water truck, may contact Belinda Meacham Jones at belindamjones@bellsouth.net .
