PHOENIX
- Elda Butler is a woman of many words, many Mojave words. Butler
worked with high security clearance as a stenographer at the Pentagon
in Washington. But when it was time to go home to her Mojave people,
she did so, and helped rescue their language from extinction.
"Be
true to thyself," is her message.
Butler
taught the Mojave Bird Songs and helped develop the AhaMakav Alphabet
to preserve the language. Weary of the lack of truth in history,
she helped tell the Mojave story in the book "Bitterness Road."
For
her efforts, she was recognized Oct. 5 as one of six Arizona Indian
Living Treasures and honored this year at the banquet of the non-profit
organization founded in 1988.
Looking
back, Butler recognizes that it took strength and determination
to remain far from home in boarding schools. She worked summers
to have money for the school years, giving up summers with her parents
at home.
Stressing
the importance of language, she said it is language that allows
Indian people to tell of the horrible things that have happened
to them. It is also language that makes it possible to work with
others to make things better.
Remembering
her life, she said when her parents became too elderly to care for
themselves, she and a sister moved home for two years rather than
have them placed in an elderly care facility.
Butler
said her parents were very poor, but she never thought of it that
way. "We always thought we were very rich," she said.
Remembering
her parents, she said, "We gained our strength from their strength,
our love from their love and our caring from their caring."
Although
she worked at the Pentagon and served on the Mojave Tribal Council,
she said it is her work in cultural preservation that is the centerpiece
of her life.
Living
in Arizona's east-central mountains, White Mountain Apache Eva Tuleen
Watt is carrier of the names, the words that carry forward the songs,
sacred places and healing herbs.
Watt
always wanted to tell her own story, the way she wanted it told.
Now, her dream is being realized with the upcoming book, "Don't
Let the Sun Step Over You."
"White
people write books about us, but they aren't right, they tell lies
about us," said Watt. She said whites should go and talk to Apaches
first before writing anything.
Vincent
Randall of Camp Verde gave a tribute to his aunt, his mother's sister,
and explained the book's title. He said, "You had better get up
early, don't sleep late."
Randall
said Watt always wanted people to know the truth about Apache life.
"Apaches
didn't just go live on a reservation and live happily ever after
eating rations."
Speaking
to the crowd of family and friends, Randall said, "You tell your
story and you'll find we have common things. Not only is our blood
red, but we share the same disappointments, we share many things."
Praising
Watt, he said, "She is an encyclopedia of wisdom and technical information."
"As
she has said many times, 'it is the children who need to know this,
so it will never die.'"
Watt,
a renowned moccasin maker and storyteller, is cultural advisor to
the Nohwike Bagowa, the tribe's cultural center. She was a charter
member of the tribe's cultural advisory board.
She
also served as a key advisor to the Western Apache Place Names Survey,
contributing dozens of names and much oral history to the database
of 2,000 places, stretching from the Mississippi River to the Pacific
and into Mexico.
Randall
said those who know her consider her friendship a gift. "It is a
great honor to know her for our people."
Louis
Wauneka, Navajo from Fort Defiance, has also found words a means
of passage on his life's journey, both as a storyteller and as a
humorist in healing work in alcohol and mental health treatment.
Wauneka
has taught in high school and college. He has lived a life of hunger
for education, appreciation for humor and humble gratitude for it
all. He is a stone cutter, silversmith, potter, weaver, drum maker
and storyteller who enjoys tanning and beading.
As
a counselor, he urges others to use their cultural heritage to heal
negative forces in their lives and step back on the positive road.
Combining
art with traditional values, Wauneka takes his message to children
who have cancer, singing Navajo songs for them, and the mentally
ill.
For
those with mental problems, clay can be a great healing force for
the person fashioning it.
"Silversmithing,
pottery, basketmaking relieves stress and depression," Wauneka said.
There's also another magic ingredient.
"Humor
makes people feel good. It is something I use a lot to make them
well," Wauneka said as he was honored as a Living Treasure.
"To
make a person well, you have to give him back his mind."
Wauneka
said to become healthy mentally again, a person must be active.
"Making arts and crafts is a way to give a person back their mind
and make them well."
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