David provided a tour of the Navajo nation, which is in the four corners area of the western U.S.
The Navajo Nation was formed in 1868, and 13 different acts of congress have tried to manage it. There are only 175,000 residents in an area roughly the size of West Virgnia, most of whom identify as native American. There are few towns and families live spread out, which is cultural. It is also due to a climate that produces little grazing for cattle, which requires 50 acres per head.
There is 50 percent unemployment, and most children live in poverty. There was formerly a coal mine which provided significant employment. However it closed, and a coal-fired electric power plant closed due to the lack of coal, which increased unemployment. 40% of the residents of Navajo Nation are without indoor running water. In addition to those issues, the residents don't own the land. The federal government owns the mineral rights and license uranium mining in the past. This has polluted the water supply down to approximately 600 feet and has no doubt caused significant cancer among the residents.
Navajo Nation faces many challenges.
Water poverty is quite prevalent in Navajo Nation. Water is scarce, and it must be transported some distance for household use.
Solutions that work in other places don't work for Navajo Nation due to climate, terrain, and cultural expectations.
Rotary clubs in the Navajo Nation area realized that helping overcome the water poverty of the area was addressing a major Rotary concern. However, they needed more funding than even global grants could provide. Enter Dig Deep and George McGraw.
George McGraw attended the UN Law School and saw water as a human right. He was one of the first people to write about this perspective, which brought him lots of attention. This also coincides with Rotary's understanding that water is an element of peace. McGraw founded Dig Deep and began drilling wells in Africa. A major donor helped him to realize that water poverty is also a problem in the U.S., where 2.2 million people live in water poverty. The greatest concentration of water poverty is on the Navajo Nation. When McGraw realized this, the work of Dig Deep came to the U.S. in Appalachia, Texas, California and the Navajo Nation. In addition to improving water resources, the organization teaches water hygiene and water conservation.
Dig Deep developed a solution which works in Navajo Nation, which cannot use the hub and spoke arrangement of many water systems. Key to installing a system is that the homeowner must apply for a system.
Since water provided by nature doesn't fill the homeowners' tanks, it is necessary for water to be delivered. This was hard for RI to understand on the first application for a global grant. They weren't sure that the project met the requirement for sustainability. However, they were soon. convinced.
The lady pictured above is Darleen, who is the heart and soul of this project. She was a school bus driver on the reservation. She saw that kids who families couldn't get water were bullied because they weren't clean when they got on the bus. She started taking water to their homes, so they could bathe before school. Now she delivers water for the tanks.
Five global grants have been approved to provide water systems to approximately 300 homes in Navajo Nation. David Simmer's club funded the fourth grant. Work has been slowed by the pandemic, when no outsiders were allowed on the reservation. Rotary's and Dig Deep's efforts have increased interest in addressing this terrible situation of water poverty in our own country. David has spoken to as many as 85 clubs on this subject, which also helps to bring attention and resources to bear on a solution.
After David's presentation, Prasad Menon, who is district foundation chair, said that our district has given funds to the Dig Deep Project. There is growing awareness and interest in supporting the project. Debbie Stanwood grew up in Arizona, which she thinks of as beautiful country. It's hard to realize there is such hardship in the same state. Linda Pendergast traveled to the Hopi reservation which is located within Navajo Nation. The kids were only allowed to take a 1 minute shower every other day. She hates seeing that very little has changed in 60 years. It is a tragedy.
This was a moving presentation. We were made aware of a situation in our country that needs more attention and that Rotary has begun to address it. As much as we are tired of Zoom meetings, it was good that we could hear from David Simmer who was giving the presentation from Winslow, Arizona.
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