After taking it easy the first few days in order to acclimate to the altitude and heat, the team got down to business early on Monday morning with all hands on deck in order to set up for VBS. Thankfully the three members of the team who caught some sort of stomach bug right after we arrived in Arizona are now feeling much better and are back to normal. Thane, the school's principal, Annie the new assistant principal and all of the teachers are away taking recertification training so in their absence, our liaisons this week are Paige and Katie, two young ladies interning here at Hopi Mission School as well as at the Hopi Health Care Center in Polacca and the Hopi Wellness Center here in Kykotsmovi. Both are in health science programs at Furman University in Greenville, SC and are here for the summer. They are both delightful and fun and we've more or less adopted them into the team.
Our VBS theme this year is "Going Fishing", focusing on a different "fish themed" Scripture story each day. Monday revolved around God's promise to Noah and the story of the ark. Tuesday was about trusting and obeying God through the lesson of Jonah and the whale.
Our VBS theme this year is "Going Fishing", focusing on a different "fish themed" Scripture story each day. Monday revolved around God's promise to Noah and the story of the ark. Tuesday was about trusting and obeying God through the lesson of Jonah and the whale.
As in past years, the week starts out slow with only a few kids attending at first but this usually gets better as the week progresses and the word gets out. This year we are feeding the kids a light breakfast of a hard boiled egg and fruit before the fun and games of VBS begins in earnest and each day features crafts, games and songs, skits and snacks. Monday's snack was an ark made out of half a banana and animal crackers, arranged two by two of course. :-)
While most of the team are helping at VBS some of the rest of us divided up to work on other projects. Steve, Andie and I began tackling the weeds that have taken over the playground. In that respect the rainfall has been a mixed blessing. The crops are doing well this year but the weeds are also flourishing and are pulled up in order to discourage any snakes, poisonous or otherwise, from getting too close to the school. Reinette, Ann and Lynn went to work in the school library, cataloging the schools books and adding them to an online database/card catalog.
Since VBS is only held in the morning and it's too hot to work outdoors in the afternoon, we usually reserve the time between lunch and dinner to rest, recoup, reflect, prepare for the next day's activities and partake of various cultural experiences. On Monday a small group drove up to Hotevilla on Third Mesa to visit our friend Bob who runs the Hopi School or Hopitutuqaiki.
Bob is a pahana (non-Hopi) educator and music teacher who came to Hopi to do his post graduate work on Hopi music and essentially never left. He has lived in Hopi for over 40 years and the Hopi School has been in existence for 11 of them. It is primarily an arts and crafts summer program but Bob hopes the school will eventually be able to hold classes year-round. Their teaching philosophy is based on the traditional way Hopis have always learned things, in a master/apprentice relationship rather than in a more modern classroom setting, so classes are limited to between 3-6 students. In addition to teaching traditional Hopi crafts such as kilt weaving, sash and belt making, basket weaving, etc., they also offer classes in glass blowing and stained glass, cooking, quilt making and acrylic painting.
We make it a point to eat dinner at 6 PM every evening and Bill always prepares plenty of food. Our table is open for anyone to drop in and have dinner and we are constantly encouraging everyone we meet to come down and "come eat!" That evening we shared dinner with Keith and his mother, Mary who both work at the school and who brought piki bread and hohoysi for everyone. Felicia, one of our oldest friends, also came down from Shungopovi on Second Mesa with her daughter, Janice and her son, Darion who is just about 9 months old. Needless to say there was much laughter and catching up and with the team being mostly of the female persuasion, Darion became the center of attention.
Before bed last night, the skies cleared enough for us to see the stars and finally get a good view of Jupiter and Venus in conjunction in the west. Living so close to Baltimore and DC there is far too much light pollution to truly appreciate the glory of the heavens above us at night. Out here it is dark enough to see thousands of stars and the Milky Way. It's a spectacle that once witnessed will not soon be forgotten. All of our youth members were thrilled.
Before bed last night, the skies cleared enough for us to see the stars and finally get a good view of Jupiter and Venus in conjunction in the west. Living so close to Baltimore and DC there is far too much light pollution to truly appreciate the glory of the heavens above us at night. Out here it is dark enough to see thousands of stars and the Milky Way. It's a spectacle that once witnessed will not soon be forgotten. All of our youth members were thrilled.
A few more kids showed for VBS this morning and Steve, Andie and I were joined by Amanda on the weed pulling brigade. We're making real progress and it shows. We're hoping to have the playground in good shape by week-end. 
Thankfully weather has been cooperating with us. Some morning cloudiness kept temperatures in the mid to high 80s with no humidity to speak of, of course. Rain falling all around the Mesas has also helped as it rapidly evaporates which cools the air. All in all, it has been quite comfortable so far. Reinette, Lynn and Ann went back to assist Paige in the library, while Bill and Joyce went over to the HOPI Substance Abuse Prevention center to visit another of our friends, Kevin, who is the director of the program which operates under the guidance of The Hopi Foundation.
After lunch, I drove a small group of first time team members up to the public radio station, KUYI (88.1 FM / kuyi.net) to meet Richard, Thomas and Trina and to help out for a few hours by cataloging CDs and sorting and filing some of the station's vast and eclectic music collection. It was especially heartwarming for me to find out that they are still using an Excel database that Norm and I created for them back in 2011. At Richard's request because no one at the station had the necessary technological skills, we consolidated multiple Word tables into a single Excel workbook, adding filters and search functions to make it easier for them to catalog and document their collection which is growing all the time. Part of KUYI's mission is working to preserve the Hopi language (lavaye) and music (tatawi) by recording native speakers and traditional Hopi ceremonial and social songs. While we were there a lady picked up a set of 40 year old recordings to take back to the kiva because over the years some had forgotten the proper way to sing them.
After lunch, I drove a small group of first time team members up to the public radio station, KUYI (88.1 FM / kuyi.net) to meet Richard, Thomas and Trina and to help out for a few hours by cataloging CDs and sorting and filing some of the station's vast and eclectic music collection. It was especially heartwarming for me to find out that they are still using an Excel database that Norm and I created for them back in 2011. At Richard's request because no one at the station had the necessary technological skills, we consolidated multiple Word tables into a single Excel workbook, adding filters and search functions to make it easier for them to catalog and document their collection which is growing all the time. Part of KUYI's mission is working to preserve the Hopi language (lavaye) and music (tatawi) by recording native speakers and traditional Hopi ceremonial and social songs. While we were there a lady picked up a set of 40 year old recordings to take back to the kiva because over the years some had forgotten the proper way to sing them.
By coincidence, Richard is heading to DC tomorrow in order to advocate for continued funding for public radio in general and for non-profit Native public radio in particular. Stations like KUYI provide an invaluable service to remote areas like Hopi. KUYI itself serves not only Hopi but a large portion of the Navajo reservation as well and at times can be heard as far away as Flagstaff. There have been times when heavy snowstorms have crippled the radio stations in Flag and KUYI has been the only station in the area able to continue broadcasting and providing much needed news and public service updates to this corner of Arizona. Before we left Richard had us record another "shout out", identifying ourselves and our Hopi VIM team along with repeating the station's call sign and frequency info which is used between programs and required by law.
Paige and Katie joined us for dinner tonight along with Kevin. My friend Leon also came down with his family and I got to meet Roni and their two children, Mamie and Percival for the first time. This is the part of the day that I enjoy the most and find the most meaningful - sharing a meal with friends new and old and just relaxing at the end of the day in fellowship and friendship.
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