Winter Emergency Relief Efforts at Ramah Navajo
Snow is great if you get to play in it and then head home to a city where all of your needs are a quick jaunt to the store, like I do. But living in a remote area when a big storm hits can make daily life challenging for some, especially on distant parts of the reservation. The Ramah Navajo reservation has seen it’s share of powder this winter, and the resulting mud from the melting of all that white stuff creates access problems. The chapter house has been delivering loads of supplies of food, water, firewood and hay to residents who either live on inaccessible roads, or are elderly and unable to make the journey into town.
Like many newspaper assignments, this one came down the pipes at the last minute. I believe it said something like “Get a photo of the water tanker at Ramah Market”; not really the most exciting photo idea for an impact story about the area’s recent bout with winter weather. Luckily, some of the information I received was incorrect, which forced me to track down a chapter official who put me into contact with his crew of guys delivering hay. So I ended up spending a couple of hours delivering hay and mud bogging through remote backcountry on the Ramah Navajo reservation. Kevin Chatto and his crew were working 12-14 hour days, sometimes off the clock, trying to get hay and do welfare checks to old grandma’s, grandpa’s and families stuck in the mud way out in the middle of nowhere.
It turned out to be a really gratifying assignment, I only wish I had had more time, but the daily newspaper deadline was looming and I had to leave.
