Fernando Daza shares about his experience exploring Chief Richardville House, a Historical Myaamia (Miami) treaty house in Fort Wayne, Indiana. On a surprisingly chilly May morning, our class boarded the iconic Goshen College bus at Camp Friedenswald, our home for…
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Navajo & Hopi Nations
Study AbroadThe Power of Womanhood in Miami Culture
Study AbroadRestoring relationships with water and land
By Rosemary Baer, sophomore art education major We started our second full day with a morning hike through a portion of the Dowagiac River Restoration Project. While on our expedition we learned about the River re-meandering, saw lots of native...
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Relationships with our Indigenous neighbors
We left Goshen College Wednesday afternoon and settled in at Camp Friedenswald, our new home and host for the first half of May Term. Our group of eight students and two leaders have already experienced anticipation and disappointment together before...
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To Serve or Not to Serve
Craig Elias reflects on several of the service projects, or “community-engaged learning” activities, that our indigenous hosts invited us to participate in during the final weeks of our Navajo Hopi Study Service Term (SST): Today we talked as a group...
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Waking Up on a Mesa
Jonathan Orjala shares about the early morning hike that came at the end of a five-day “camp meeting” at our host church on the Navajo Nation: The Sunday we left Black Mountain Mennonite Church, about ten of us woke up...
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Hospitality
Alex Koscher shares his thoughts about the hospitality our group has received during our time in the Navajo Nation, contrasting it to what he encountered while stopping for lunch on the way to Grand Canyon National Park: Hospitality has often...
Study AbroadThe Chuska Mountains Welcome Me Back
Estefania Soto shares what she learned about the land from our Navajo teachers, beginning with the creation myth and applying this to an experience that connected her to this place: During my time with the Navajo I’ve listened, learned, and...
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The Day the Land was in Control of Me
Lukas Bontrager-Waite shares his insights after a challenging experience in the Chuska Mountains: There is a question that has especially been on my mind since this SST began: “what are we bound by?” Generally, my answer has always been the...
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“Hey guys, follow me!”
For Fourth of July the group headed out from Diné College and drove about an hour to the capital of the Navajo Nation, Window Rock. Our plan was to attend the Navajo Nation celebration, seeing traditional dancing, shopping at different...
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Finding My Clan
Areli Guzman shares her thoughts on Navajo clans and her family’s heritage: Yá’ át’ ééh (Hello) Shi éi Areli yinishyé (I am called Areli) Ákót’ éego Naakai dine’ é asdzáán nishłí (In this way, I am a Mexican woman) Here...
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Balance
Teresa Ross Richer reflects on a key concept in Navajo culture: Balance: a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions. In my culture, we do not seem to take to heart the concept of balance...
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Photography and Motherhood
Virginia Jimenez shares her reflections on an inspiring presentation by a photography student at Diné College: At Diné College we met various Navajo people who shared their culture with us — one of them was a photography student, Candace Harrison,...
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Prairie Dog Song
Ana Yoder makes connections with a favorite childhood memory: A Diné College student named Travis Mammedaty shared some Kiowa songs with us. A song that stood out to me in particular was a children’s song called the “Prairie Dog Song”...
Study Abroad300 Miles
Fae Sommers reflects on an unforgettable road trip: You can learn a lot about someone in 300 miles. Lukas, Jonathan, Micah and I stayed with our host father, pastor Daniel Smiley of Black Mountain Mennonite Church. On our second day...
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A Spiritual Connection with the Earth
Micah reflects on our visit to Cliff Palace, an Ancestral Pueblo archaeological site in Mesa Verde National Park: The story I would like to reflect on today took place at Cliff Palace, a cliff dwelling of the Pueblo people who...
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Teaching Others
What happens when thirteen eager Goshen College students step off an Amtrak train in Albuquerque, New Mexico to begin experiencing Indigenous cultures in the Desert Southwest? We’ll let the students themselves tell you their stories… Reflections...
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New Beginnings in the Southwest
Welcome to the 2023 Hopi Navajo Study Service Term! This summer’s group from Goshen College begins their adventure aboard an Amtrak train headed west. The students start in the lush green farmland of the Midwest and travel across the country...