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Native American communities are making efforts to protect and provide for their oldest members. They say they are saving lives, but they are also saving their culture and a part of themselves.
Associated Press
As Monica Harvey watched, crowds flocked to a Sam’s Club in northern Arizona where she works, picking shelves clean of toilet paper and canned goods. Native American seniors couldn’t move fast enough, and Harvey saw their faces fall when they reached empty shelves.
The Navajo woman wanted to help tribal elders get household staples without leaving their homes and risking exposure to COVID-19, so she started Defend Our Community, a group that delivers supplies.
Tribes across the nation are working to protect elder members who serve as honored links to customs passed from one generation to the next. The efforts to deliver protective gear, meals and vaccines are about more than saving lives. Tribal elders often possess unique knowledge of language and history that is all the more valuable because tribes commonly pass down their traditions orally. That means losing elders to the virus could wipe out irreplaceable pieces of culture.
Tribes try to shield elders and their knowledge from virus azdailysun.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from azdailysun.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.