Help for Navajo Nation
New Albuquerque resident spearheads relief effort
Dozens of students took their place in the assembly line. Bags of beans and granola, as well as bars of soap and fruit waited to be packed into the Rainbow Boxes.
In the past two weeks, 14,000 boxes were put together at the World Central Kitchen.
Those boxes went out to the Navajo Nation. There are different drop off points within the Navajo Nation, which has seen devastating numbers during the pandemic.
“With the pandemic, it’s even a worse situation,” says Amy Yeung. “The focus right now is on our children. They are what is sacred to us because they are the future of the continuation of our culture and language. It’s been a traumatic month with all the chaos in the country.”
Yueng moved to New Mexico and opened a storefront in Old Town six months ago called Orenda Tribe. The company has been around since 2015 and is focused on eco-conscious clothing.
After years as a successful design executive, Yueng was ready for a new chapter in her life.
Moving to New Mexico nearly six months ago offered the chance for her to create a deeper bond with her indigenous roots.
Yueng’s design business slowed when coronavirus hit, and she decided to throw her energy into humanitarian aid.
On July 5, she teamed up with Grammy-nominated singer and mental health advocate Jewel and Taos musician Lylah June for the “Voices of Siihasin” benefit concert. The event featured Awolnation, Jason Mraz, Jessa Calderon, KT Tunstall, Mike Posner, Sia and others.
Yueng organized the event after witnessing the devastation the pandemic had on the Diné Tribe.
“We have been No. 1 in COVID positive cases for far too long. It has been really traumatic for our little ones, as it has been for all of our children,” Yueng says.
The “Voices of Siihasin” event raised $200,000 in additional funds, which is enough to pay for more than 21,000 care kits for the children of the Diné community.
Orenda Tribe has supplied four
tons of food and over 150,000 masks and other protective equipment to Dinétah (Diné Homelands).
World Central Kitchen is a not-for-profit organization that provides meals in the wake of natural disasters. It was founded by chef José Andrés in 2010.
Orenda Tribe is collaborating with World Central Kitchen on the project to provide meals to Diné children.
World Central Kitchen’s COVID-19 response efforts have distributed produce and pantry staple boxes equating to over 500,000 meals to the region so far, and will provide meal kits to thousands within Dinétah.
Jewel says she’s tried to be a good ally to indigenous people.
Having grown up in Alaska with no running water and then being homeless in San Diego, Jewel knows the struggle.
She started a charity in 1997 that brings clean water to underserved areas, one of them being the Navajo Nation.
“I was adopted by Native uncles when I was little and they radically changed my life,” Jewel said. “I met Amy through social media and her work with the Diné women. They are finding ways around bureaucracy.”
Jewel says the biggest misconception about the Navajo Nation is that they have their own government and isn’t our problem.
“This is our problem and we owe the indigenous people our respect,” Jewel said. “They’ve been hit hard by COVID and it’s the humane thing to do. It’s difficult to get information out to the masses because it’s so spread out. There’s a lot of love and tremendous respect in this project.”
Yueng brought in June to help curate the Native voices for the benefit.
June says the biggest misconception is that Diné people are poor and in need of charity.
“We actually responded to this pandemic with more agility and seriousness that most of the country,” June said. “Diné needs solidarity and not charity. We had instituted stay-at-home orders sooner than most surrounding states. We were just more on our game. What you do have is that the death rate is higher than it should be because of the lack of infrastructure. That has to do with 500 years of stripping us economically over and over again.”
Yueng said because the government has been slow to respond to the Navajo Nation, it was imperative she jump in.
“Our kids are the most vulnerable,” Yueng said. “The pandemic has exposed a lot of inequities in our infrastructure. In general, the outside world has seen this hole open up and they are becoming so compassionate to help. With our time and money, we can create change. That’s the movement we’re pushing and we will make that change.”