No magic bus
Forgotten People see no signs of recovery

Ula Hardy gathers wood to heat their bus as a storm approaches in Tuba City, Ariz. in November. Hardy lives in a bus with her husband after her home burned down several years ago. Hardy's home was on Bennett Freeze land so she has had trouble getting assistance to rebuild. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Brian Leddy

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

TUBA CITY, Ariz. — Ulalaine Hardy, 45, and Roderick Wagner, who is in his 70s, live in the former Bennett Freeze area. They make their home in a 1974 bus north of Tuba City near the three water tanks. They have no running water, no electricity.

The couple are just two of the nearly 7,000 Navajo people living in the former Bennett Freeze — an area about the size of the state of Delaware where only 3,110 single-family residences are considered habitable.

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