Tuba City, Arizona
At first, I was wondering if Tuba City's naming has something to do with the musical instrument. It is not. It's a phonetic representation of a Hopi man who settled an area south of presen-day Tuba City called Moenkopi whose early settlers made agreement, and later named the settlement in his honor.
Many communities and township within the Navajo Nation are named based off English phonetic adaptation of Navajo words, and thus may not always be the accurate way the locals pronouncing them. Of course, nowadays most Navajo speaks English as their primary language and adapted the Americanized version.
The Navajo Nation itself spans over 27,000 sq-miles in parts of three states (Arizona, New Mexico and Utah). Roughly the size of San Bernardino and Riverside counties together, larger than the State of West Virginia and few other states. Orange County (948 sq-miles) is tiny in comparison to “The Rez.” Yet, living condition is far below what we have here in Orange County. That's a story for another conversation, for now, let me take you on a journey to Tuba City.
As mentioned earlier, Tuba City is the largest community in Arizona side of Navajo Nation. Just like Shiprock (largest community in New Mexico side of Navajo Nation), it has plenty of amenities from schools with turf football field we commonly see around Orange County, hospitals and a modern Diné College (Navajo Nation's community college) campus. Unlike a more modern-looking Shiprock however, Tuba City seems pretty low key, from the hospital to the college campus.
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The church we're partnering with is located on a street dubbed by the locals as “Highway to heaven.” That's because there are many churches lined up side by side on that same street. Pretty much all of the churches in town, except for a Catholic and a Latter-Day Saints church — which located next to each other on the other side of town.
Later on, I found out all these churches actually have good relationships with one another. Despite their differeneces (denominations, style, etc.) members of our church partners mentioned that they actually did many things together. And when a visitor visits but don't feel at home at their church, they'll refer (and even walk them) to other churches right next door, helping them finding a suitable home church for that person.
The church we're partnering with is one of the larger one, in terms of congregation and facility. They're located at an intersection from the afforementioned “Highway to heaven” and a major street leading to DMV, a Diné College campus, and town center.
It's facility has a hogan-shaped* main building that housed their Worship Center and kids classroom, as well as a multi-purpose room with a kitchen. It also has 2 (or 3) dorms separated from main building, also in hogan shaped with a (hogan-shaped) bathroom building in-between. There is also a residential house for the pastor's family.
*Hogan is the Navajo's traditional house, octagon-shaped and traditionally built with clay and woods. I'll talk more about this on another post, still in Tuba City series. — The story is up, read it here.
The dorms itself is usually being used to accommodate youth/teenage missionaries from their affiliated denomination. Each dorm has 7 bunk beds, if you're counting that's one for each side of the octagon (why not 8? because we need a door for people to come in and out LOL!), and a sort of open area in the middle. We were using one of this dorm as our storage during camp.
The youth missionares (from their denomination-affiliated churches) do many kind of activities, but their main contribution to the local community is wood fire. Winter can be pretty cold in Tuba City (especially for us Southern Californians, ha!), with limited resources for heating—especially for those who live outside the electrical grid, this is a big need for the community.
So the youth missionary groups would come from all over the country late in summertime to help the church members collect and chop woods. Members of community then can come and get those woods for their fireplaces to keep them warm during the winter months.
- - -
The Park where we had our camp is right at the city center, less than 5 minutes drive from the church.
At the main intersection of this city center, there's a restaurant on the North East.
Pretty much the only restaurant in the whole town, and yep . . . also shaped like a (giant) hogan.
A Taco bell on the South East, and McDonalds on the South West.
The park is right behind McDonalds on the South West corner of city center.
On the North West, we can find Navajo Interactive Museum, Historic Trading Post and hotel (a well-known 2 stars chain, that's also the only hotel inside the city limit—there's another one or two just within 5-10 minutes drive in Moenkopi. Not only it's technically outside of Tuba City, it's actually outside the Navajo Nation, it's part of Hopi reservation).
One of the afternoon we were there, after camp conculded for the day we visited the Navajo Interactive Museum where we learn more about their belief system and culture. The Navajo Code Talker museum is right next door in the same building as the Trading Post.
Me and my roomate enjoyed this museum the most. So much that the first thing I did upon returning home was to watch Windtalker — a movie about Navajo code talker during World War II. The museum itself quite small but very informative. We also had a little time on the Friday (last day of camp) to check out local crafts at that trading post.
Yeah, this is not typical “Small Town USA” main street one might imagine, but that's the city center. We have hospital, and some medical facilities a few blocks north from the center, and police station/fire department a few blocks south, a stone throw away from the park where we had our camp.
Further south, we'll find a gas station, a shopping complex with a large grocery store, auto shop, and even a movie theatre. Accross the street from this complex (which is also one of the major highway in the area) is a hotel and a 24hr chain restaurant. Technically these are in the Hopi Reservation.
- - -
As the park where we have camp is right behind McDonalds, one of our biggest challenges is keeping the kids within the park so we can watch them, sometimes they just want to run-off to McDonalds.
One day, one of the kid (he's less than 10) asked us before he run there “Hey coach, I'm going to McD, do you guys want anything?” Apparently his grandma just gave him $100 that week, and he's feeling generous.
— I really don't want to focus on the poverty or socio-economic status in this post. It is true living conditions aren't that great, especially compared to Orange County/Southern California. Many live without basic amenities such as running water or electricity or other things we may take for granted. It is also true that natives has many benefits, however I just think poverty-related issues can be misinterpreted in many ways, so I'd rather talk in person on this matter.
The park has a skate park, a covered multi-purpose area (yep, octagon-shaped) where we held our Arts & Crafts, a playground where many of the little kids play, a basketball court and plenty of open area, some grassy, some gravels and some vegetation too. A typical public park. We even met a young couple from France on a road-trip across the states taking a lunch picnic there.
Yet it doesn't come without a challenge. Earlier in the week, we found out there are some undersirables and suspicious activities going on, despite Police Station and Fire Department are just practically a stone throw away from the park.
That surely put us on alert, and made us extra conscious watching the kids, escorting them to bathroom or playground or wherever they're going. After the second day of camp, I guess word got out, and we didn't see any of them anymore. Perhaps our presence scare them away. Anyway, we take it as a win. The kids now feel safe to play in the park.
Welcome to Tuba City!
Many communities and township within the Navajo Nation are named based off English phonetic adaptation of Navajo words, and thus may not always be the accurate way the locals pronouncing them. Of course, nowadays most Navajo speaks English as their primary language and adapted the Americanized version.
The Navajo Nation itself spans over 27,000 sq-miles in parts of three states (Arizona, New Mexico and Utah). Roughly the size of San Bernardino and Riverside counties together, larger than the State of West Virginia and few other states. Orange County (948 sq-miles) is tiny in comparison to “The Rez.” Yet, living condition is far below what we have here in Orange County. That's a story for another conversation, for now, let me take you on a journey to Tuba City.
As mentioned earlier, Tuba City is the largest community in Arizona side of Navajo Nation. Just like Shiprock (largest community in New Mexico side of Navajo Nation), it has plenty of amenities from schools with turf football field we commonly see around Orange County, hospitals and a modern Diné College (Navajo Nation's community college) campus. Unlike a more modern-looking Shiprock however, Tuba City seems pretty low key, from the hospital to the college campus.
- - -
The church we're partnering with is located on a street dubbed by the locals as “Highway to heaven.” That's because there are many churches lined up side by side on that same street. Pretty much all of the churches in town, except for a Catholic and a Latter-Day Saints church — which located next to each other on the other side of town.
Later on, I found out all these churches actually have good relationships with one another. Despite their differeneces (denominations, style, etc.) members of our church partners mentioned that they actually did many things together. And when a visitor visits but don't feel at home at their church, they'll refer (and even walk them) to other churches right next door, helping them finding a suitable home church for that person.
The church we're partnering with is one of the larger one, in terms of congregation and facility. They're located at an intersection from the afforementioned “Highway to heaven” and a major street leading to DMV, a Diné College campus, and town center.
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Hogan-shaped Church
This is the church we partner with in Tuba City
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It's facility has a hogan-shaped* main building that housed their Worship Center and kids classroom, as well as a multi-purpose room with a kitchen. It also has 2 (or 3) dorms separated from main building, also in hogan shaped with a (hogan-shaped) bathroom building in-between. There is also a residential house for the pastor's family.
*Hogan is the Navajo's traditional house, octagon-shaped and traditionally built with clay and woods. I'll talk more about this on another post, still in Tuba City series. — The story is up, read it here.
The dorms itself is usually being used to accommodate youth/teenage missionaries from their affiliated denomination. Each dorm has 7 bunk beds, if you're counting that's one for each side of the octagon (why not 8? because we need a door for people to come in and out LOL!), and a sort of open area in the middle. We were using one of this dorm as our storage during camp.
The youth missionares (from their denomination-affiliated churches) do many kind of activities, but their main contribution to the local community is wood fire. Winter can be pretty cold in Tuba City (especially for us Southern Californians, ha!), with limited resources for heating—especially for those who live outside the electrical grid, this is a big need for the community.
So the youth missionary groups would come from all over the country late in summertime to help the church members collect and chop woods. Members of community then can come and get those woods for their fireplaces to keep them warm during the winter months.
 |
One of the 3 hogan-shaped dorms the church has
This one serves as our storage for the week
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- - -
The Park where we had our camp is right at the city center, less than 5 minutes drive from the church.
At the main intersection of this city center, there's a restaurant on the North East.
Pretty much the only restaurant in the whole town, and yep . . . also shaped like a (giant) hogan.
A Taco bell on the South East, and McDonalds on the South West.
The park is right behind McDonalds on the South West corner of city center.
On the North West, we can find Navajo Interactive Museum, Historic Trading Post and hotel (a well-known 2 stars chain, that's also the only hotel inside the city limit—there's another one or two just within 5-10 minutes drive in Moenkopi. Not only it's technically outside of Tuba City, it's actually outside the Navajo Nation, it's part of Hopi reservation).
One of the afternoon we were there, after camp conculded for the day we visited the Navajo Interactive Museum where we learn more about their belief system and culture. The Navajo Code Talker museum is right next door in the same building as the Trading Post.
Me and my roomate enjoyed this museum the most. So much that the first thing I did upon returning home was to watch Windtalker — a movie about Navajo code talker during World War II. The museum itself quite small but very informative. We also had a little time on the Friday (last day of camp) to check out local crafts at that trading post.
Yeah, this is not typical “Small Town USA” main street one might imagine, but that's the city center. We have hospital, and some medical facilities a few blocks north from the center, and police station/fire department a few blocks south, a stone throw away from the park where we had our camp.
Further south, we'll find a gas station, a shopping complex with a large grocery store, auto shop, and even a movie theatre. Accross the street from this complex (which is also one of the major highway in the area) is a hotel and a 24hr chain restaurant. Technically these are in the Hopi Reservation.
- - -
As the park where we have camp is right behind McDonalds, one of our biggest challenges is keeping the kids within the park so we can watch them, sometimes they just want to run-off to McDonalds.
One day, one of the kid (he's less than 10) asked us before he run there “Hey coach, I'm going to McD, do you guys want anything?” Apparently his grandma just gave him $100 that week, and he's feeling generous.
— I really don't want to focus on the poverty or socio-economic status in this post. It is true living conditions aren't that great, especially compared to Orange County/Southern California. Many live without basic amenities such as running water or electricity or other things we may take for granted. It is also true that natives has many benefits, however I just think poverty-related issues can be misinterpreted in many ways, so I'd rather talk in person on this matter.
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The Skate Park
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The hogan-shaped Pavillion
That brick building in the background is the restroom, playground right next to it, and basketball court to the right. This was on Sunday afternnon when we were getting the lay of the land for camp in the following week.
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The Basketball Court
Golden arches on the backdrop
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The park has a skate park, a covered multi-purpose area (yep, octagon-shaped) where we held our Arts & Crafts, a playground where many of the little kids play, a basketball court and plenty of open area, some grassy, some gravels and some vegetation too. A typical public park. We even met a young couple from France on a road-trip across the states taking a lunch picnic there.
Yet it doesn't come without a challenge. Earlier in the week, we found out there are some undersirables and suspicious activities going on, despite Police Station and Fire Department are just practically a stone throw away from the park.
That surely put us on alert, and made us extra conscious watching the kids, escorting them to bathroom or playground or wherever they're going. After the second day of camp, I guess word got out, and we didn't see any of them anymore. Perhaps our presence scare them away. Anyway, we take it as a win. The kids now feel safe to play in the park.
Welcome to Tuba City!
