The Family Listening Project, funded by the University of New Mexico and run by the Center for Participatory Research in collaboration with the Ramah Navajo community, is recruiting elementary students from the Navajo community for the fall semester.
The project recruits fourth- and fifth-graders and their families every year for a 12-week-long program that aims to educate and redue health disparities in the community..
“During the pilot project in 2002, community leaders developed the curriculum which included what they felt was important to teach the Ramah Navajo children today including history, culture and values,” according to a UNM press release.
The Ramah Navajo community takes ownership of the program and will make sure the program lasts longer, according to the press release.
“It is an important project. We want to teach the kids about their history, culture and ways of life,” said Benelda Cohoe-Belone, a member of the community and coordinator of the project.
Cohoe-Belone said that under the project, the recruited students and their families get together once or twice every week for dinner.
“The elders share stories about their cultures, values and history. They meet in a relaxed environment,” she said. “The students and their families also have a fun time, playing games,” Cohoe-Belone said.
She said the community ownership is the major part of the project.
“The community members actively participate. They are part of the project at each and every phase. They developed the curriculum themselves. They decide what they want to learn. They decide how to implement different parts of the project and then conduct the academic research and get authorship in the resulting papers,” she said.
The project has helped the youngsters learn about local knowledge and culture, she said. The project officials also arrange different activities where participants can express themselves freely.
“They can discuss their opinions about different historical events without any fear,” she said.
The project has also helped the local children learn their language. The participants introduce themselves in the local language, she said. The stress on local language has helped the communities improve their language skills, she said.
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JoAnne Luna, a health educator with the Ramah Navajo community, said projects like this have helped members of local tribes improve their quality of life by reducing health disparities.
“The local tribes face many problems due to the unavailability of the facilities,” she said. “Disregard for the local culture has added to the disparities in the community. CBPR (Community Based Participatory Research) projects are best suited for our community since they make use of the local resources and culture,” she said.
Dr. Nina Wallerstein, director for the Center for Participatory Research, said the CBPR projects not only involve community members but also empower them.
“The projects are long term. The researchers show cultural humility. They develop relationships with the community members and show respect for the local knowledge,” she said.
Sayyed Shah is the assistant news editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at assistant-news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @mianfawadshah.
