4/3/2013 Gallup Independent: Groups Collaborate to Build Bennett Freeze Area Homes

7/28/2019 4/3/2013 Gallup Independent: Groups Collaborate to Build Bennett Freeze Area Homes

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One at a time

Groups collaborate to rebuild Bennett Freeze area homes

Brian Leddy/Independent Vi Nguyen, a volunteer student from Southern California, applies drywall mud in a Hogan inCameron, AZ. March 26. The Hogan is being constructed for Thomasina Nez and her seven children

By Kathy Helms.Dine Bureau [email protected]

CAMERON It was the evening of Passover, and from the hogan door a full moon could be seenrising in the distance. The frenetic beat of jackhammer against bedrock had stopped at last. The air wasfilled with the collective sigh of satisfaction as a group of sunburned, blistered student volunteerspeeled off their white dust masks and put away their safety goggles.

The ditch for the piping which would carry gray water away from the double kitchen sink was almostdug.

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Brian Leddy/Independent Christina Duarte, a volunteer student from Southern California, uses a pickax to dig a gray watertrench in Cameron, Ariz. More than a dozen students from Southern California spent their spring break helping build aHogan and construct a gray-water system for a family in need.

Thomasina Nez sat on a sawhorse inside her new hogan next to a bright yellow scaffold where JeanineBottoni and Brett McKean, Project Pueblo volunteers from La Sierra University, had been taping offsheetrock. Nez had just hauled the last load of sand and gravel to mix with the mortar students weregoing to use to build a platform for her new 300-gallon water tank courtesy of Johnny Depp and hisloyal fans, the JD Zone.

It's nice to see everything coming together. Really nice! Nez said. We're going to actually have alittle bit of running water. We're going to really appreciate that.

Usually the family gets their drinking water by hiking an eighth of a mile down into the Grand Canyonto a natural spring. The kids will carry the gallon jugs sometimes but then the older ones like mymom, myself and my brothers will carry the 3-gallon jugs out. We've been doing that our whole life.The water we have here in Cameron, it's not too good to drink, she said.

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Five years ago, Nez, 37, lost her husband, leaving her to raise seven children by herself in a single-widemobile home in the former Bennett Freeze area of Cameron Chapter. Her mother, Sarah Mann, and abrother have been helping out.

With the kids, I tried to apply for Social Security but they wouldn't let me have it, Nez said. Theytold me that my husband didn't work long enough, so we don't have much income. The only income I

have is my jewelry selling. That's how I've been raising the children. She also receives food stamps,she said.

Nez sells her jewelry 18 miles from home at the boundary of the Navajo Nation and Grand CanyonNational Park. That's up there in the mountains so there's trees and it's a lot cooler up there. During thesummer I take the kids up there and we stay up there most of the day. Then the kids go play in the treesand have fun instead of being hot down here, she said. During the summer we actually sleep outside,sometimes in the back of the truck, or else we bring a bunk bed outside.

Brian Leddy/Independent George Wong, a student volunteer from Southern California, uses a jackhammer to dig a trench inbedrock in Cameron, Ariz., March 26. Ryan Wycliffe, at left holding the shovel, is the director of Project Pueblo, anorganization that helps families in need on the Navajo Nation.

PERFECT MATCH

Because of her great need, Nez was chosen from among more than a dozen contenders to receive a newhome by the California-based non-profit group, Project Pueblo, cofounded by brothers Sean and RyanWycliffe. Some of the Project Pueblo students from UC Berkeley won a $5,000 grant to build a hoganshell, and a group of volunteers from Mesa Grande Academy came out the week of Thanksgiving, laida concrete foundation and built the shell in four days.

In March, another group of Project Pueblo volunteers returned to insulate and sheetrock the hogan,install a water tank and drainage system, and basically have the hogan ready for the family to moveinto by Easter, with Eagle Energy of Denver supplying solar lights.

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Not only are we able to try to help change the life of Thomasina, but I know my life, my brother's life,his girlfriend, my fiancee our lives are forever changed because of this experience, Ryan Wycliffesaid. We really wanted to do something that would have a long-lasting, tangible impact on people'slives and so building a home for somebody, we thought, was the best way to accomplish that. We hopethat it's the start of more projects like this over the next decade.

Wycliffe first came to the Navajo Nation in 2009, where he connected with Marsha Monestersky of thegrassroots group Forgotten People and received a crash course on the needs of the Navajo people in theformer Bennett Freeze area.

I knew right away that this was where we were supposed to be. There was just too much of a need. Ihad read about the Bennett Freeze, but once you see it, it's a completely different thing. It wasimpossible for me and my brother and our organization to turn away and not come back to help,Wycliffe said. This isn't just one person or one organization. It's multiple people, multipleorganizations working together.

Marsha is not from this area but she's dedicated her life to helping these people, and we would neverhave found out about this if it wasn't for her. We're very lucky to have met her. She's almost a MotherTeresa, of sorts, in this area because of what she's done and what she's dedicated. We've very thankfulto her and Forgotten People for allowing us into their lives, he said.

TEMPLATE FOR FUTUREThe Nez hogan is just the beginning, Monestersky said. It has now been nearly four years since theBennett Freeze was lifted and residents are still waiting on the tribal government to help them rebuildtheir lives. Meanwhile, a number of nonprofit groups have joined forces to bring the basic necessities toas many people as possible.

We have developed estimates from Home Depot invoices to be able to replicate this (hogan). Ourwater system designs were reviewed by Engineers Without Borders at Georgia Tech and we had twocertified engineers out here last week. They're giving us blueprints for our designs. We're also workingwith Georgia Tech to design bathrooms with compost toilets so all we have is a gray water system, noblack water systems, she said.

This is survival. This is to improve people's quality of life and help them survive the effects of U.S.government neglect and Navajo Nation neglect. With our roving crews we are traveling hundreds ofmiles of unmaintained, ungraded roads in remote areas to serve those in the greatest need throughoutthe former Bennett Freeze and the Hopi Partitioned Land.

Jordan Blackwelder, a La Sierra student from Corona, Calif., and a member of the Project Puebloleadership team, spent most of Passover behind a jackhammer and running to get dirt and gravel. It washis third mission to the Navajo Nation. I think one of the greatest joys that I have is seeing the people'sfaces when we're all done. At the end of the trips we're all tired, but knowing that we've been able tomake an impact is one of the best joys I can have in my life, he said.

For Jeanine Bottoni and Brett McKean, it was their first trip to Navajo, and the chance to help Nez wastheir inspiration. This is my first mission trip. I didn't know what to expect, McKean said as he

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smoothed out a section of drywall tape. It's really rewarding. It feels good to help her out. We're allworking as hard as we can to get her moved in.

Bottoni agreed. I've never done this before. I don't really know what I expected. I expected that wewere going to be doing some building, but not as much as this. I'm really sore like I'm super sore. It'sreally fun. The first day we got all of the insulation in and we started putting the ceiling up. The second

day we got all of the walls and half of the ceiling. And then today we just finished up the ceiling. It wascomplicated fitting it in the right place, she said.

ALMOST HOMEInside Nez's mobile home, a cat and her kitten sleep in a cardboard box in front of the wood stove.Nez's mother and brother are stretched out on bunk beds stacked in the corner of the living room, eyesglued to the television where a young Clint Eastwood is about to get the jump on Chief Dan George inThe Outlaw Josey Wales.

While the family is warm and inviting, the mobile home itself is bursting at the seams. It used to bethree bedrooms but we took one wall out so we could have a bigger living room, Nez said earlier inthe evening. It's two bedrooms now, and that's what we all stay in. During the winter we all sardine upin there.

For now, the children are away at school and Nez is dreaming of all the extra space the new hogan isgoing to provide.

It's really wonderful. I'm glad I'm getting this so me and my kids can have a bigger area to sleep in,she said. The kids are really looking forward to the house being done.

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4/3/2013 Gallup Independent: Groups Collaborate to Build Bennett Freeze Area Homes

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