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Dear World,

We are so close to finishing the Hoghan which will be used as a traditional healing space, meeting space, and learning space for Diné People! We have been gathering in these structures since time immemorial and they are our compass of how to live. All of our teachings and understanding of our Sacred Homescape (as our elder Marie Galue calls it) are embedded and encoded in the four directions of the hoghan. We will use this structure to remind ourselves and future generations about our responsibility to care for our homeland, our world, and how exactly to do that. This hoghan is a launching space for our value system to continue to be disseminated and embodied for generations to come. There is evidence now that increased cultural knowledge can directly descrease risk of youth addiction and suicide for native youth and improve academic success and self esteem! We believe in this wholeheartedly and dedicate a lot of our time to engendering spaces where this traditional knowledge/identity can be reaffirmed and support for native youth and families.

Financial transparency is important to us! Please see budget, receipts, and invoices here. Please note that main organizers are working on a volunteer basis.

Retaining wall blocks, tons of dirt, scaffold, moisture barriers, equipment rental… costs are adding up. We would love some support to get passed the finish line! This hoghan is intended for community use, for ceremonies, and as a meeting place for present and future generations to learn, heal, grow and create. Every grain of sand we place into the plaster, every log we assemble, will serve our people and the transmission of Diné biná’nitin, our traditional knowledge.

We are a group of about 30 Diné People (Navajo) who believe in perpetuating the knowledge and traditions of our ancestors. Building our hoghans is a part of that endeavor. This is one of several hoghans (traditional architecture for learning, praying, and living) that have gone up for our high desert communities and we intend to continue making them. When we step into this space, as one of our relatives says, it inspires ancestral memory. It helps us connect to who we are, and our children need this more and more, as many studies are proving that connection to traditional knowledge is correlated with higher self esteem, better academic performance, and healthier lifestyle. Our community currently has a 1/2 diabetes rate for the adult population, our median household income is $30,000/year, many struggle with the chemicals colonization has seeded in our world—but we are strong, we are resilient, and we won’t let these things keep us down. With small boosts and footholds like connection to ceremony and elders, we can do so much. We believe in giving our people that refuge on their journey.

Last fundraiser we raised almost $25,000 and the average donation what about $30, so please do not think your little bit does not help!

Indigenous Architecture: Traditional Hoghan for Socio-Ecological Healing #2

help us get to the finish line for future generations of life!