Going home
Navajo children from Milan visit Window Rock

ABOVE: Nine-year-old Preston Tolth touches the Navajo Code Talker statue near Window Rock. Tolth was one of 34 students from the Milan Elementary Navajo Language summer camp who toured cultural sites in Window Rock, AZ Wednesday. BELOW: Tyrall Largo views a wall displaying the name of Navajo veterans in Window Rock Ariz. during a Milan Elementary School summer Navajo Language Camp. [photos by Cable Hoover / Independent]

By Helen Davis
Cibola County Bureau

MILAN — Thirty-five pupils left Milan Elementary School Wednesday morning but when the bus returned from an all-day field trip to Window Rock, 40 got off.

The field trip came about halfway through a Navajo Language summer camp at the Milan school. Maria Tapaha, teacher for the Grants/Cibola County School District’s Navajo language program during the regular school year, prepared the class for the trip in the earlier part of the two-week camp with lessons on Navajo history, government structure, how pupils should place themselves in the extensive Navajo clan structure and lots of language lessons.

Lessons continued on the bus trip to the seat of Navajo government as Tapaha and class assistant instructor Sandra Lewis kept the language lessons going and reminded the kids what to look for at the other end of the trip.
The school bus rolled up to Window Rock and the seat of the Navajo administration just as everyone had had enough of traveling.

First stop was the president’s office, where five additional pupils joined the group for a tour of tribal offices. The 1902 building was the first glimpse many of the pupils had of classic American architecture. The building provides the president, first lady and other tribal leaders a taste of mahogany woodwork, detailed trim that feels more like historic Philadelphia than the high desert.
First-grader Lee Lopez said that the building was one of his favorite parts of the trip.

The 1868 treaty the Navajo tribe signed at Fort Sumner after the exile following the Long Walk hung on the wall in the building.

Tapaha and Lewis said in the early part of the camp the pupils did lots of walking in visits to Cibola cultural sites like El Morro and

La Ventana; the teachers said they wanted the pupils, who usually ride in cars, to have some experience with walking so they could begin to relate to the experience of their ancestors.

A visit to the Council Chambers across the road from the president’s house had to be canceled because the Council was in closed executive session.

Instead, kids, teachers and language program helpers Lee and Duran Dubois, plus Duran’s guide dog, Gallagher, got a chance to see the democratic process in action under the trees when a several people who were trying to get tobacco banned in public buildings talked about their project and asked pupils to take part by signing plea and the group’s banner.

After lunch at the Quality Inn, everyone piled back in the bus and went to the zoo and the Navajo Nation Museum.
The zoo, where all the animals come from parts of Navajo lands, was a hit.

Shental Largo, 10, said the bear — who took a cooling wallow in a horse trough then did a bear dance — the red fox, and the eagles were among her favorites. Cheyenne Dubois agreed on the eagle, but added the wild turkey as one of her favorite exhibits. Kylynn Platero added the bobcat to the growing list of favorite animals in the zoo.

Traditional buildings stood about on the zoo grounds, adding the to sense of being a long way from Milan.

Female and male hogans illustrated the principle of everything having a male or female nature, with the domed eight-sided female hogan being the home. Lewis demonstrated how to enter a hogan, turning to the left and moving clockwise.

The male hogan, she said, is used for male ceremonies or as a sweat lodge. It has a pointier roof and long entrance wing. A zoo worker demonstrated how to repair the outside of the hogan using clay mud he dug up.

Across the parking lot, the museum gave pupils a chance to see many of the things they had learned about in class. At the end of a series of rooms, each representing one of the five worlds of the Navajo emergence, the kids could see traditional ceremonial items on display and take time to study historical objects.

The Window Rock trip is the high point of summer camp, but pupils said they liked the whole program. Cheyenne Dubois said she would keeping coming to it as long as she could, but had some doubts about having her parents in the classroom. “No comment,” she said. Tapaha said that after coming to the summer program, some pupils said they want to start the regular school year classes.

Next week, the school district will hold a Keres language and culture summer camp.