School is in full swing again and I’m back to talking with students. Last week two students talked to me about one or both parents being in jail. One said, “My mom is in jail for domestic violence and my grandma chased off my dad. There is a restraining order out on him so we can’t see him anymore.” The three children are living with Grandma as a result of the parents’ problems. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon on the Reservation. Many of our students are being raised by grandparents for one reason or another. Just this last spring an 87 year old grandma passed away who had been raising six children so the mother could work out of the area. With her death these kids lost the only real mom they knew. In addition to the widespread family upheavals many witness things that fill them with fear. An example is what one boy told me, “My uncles come around drinking and fighting and shooting their guns. My brothers and sisters and I hide in the house with the door locked.” Childhood terrors shape children and will affect the rest of their lives.
Another area of fear that I often hear from the kids is their experience of bad dreams about family members who have died, coming back to do them harm. Their culture teaches them this. The spirits of the dead return and have the potential of doing evil to those they visit. Domestic violence and death are just two of the things that make kids afraid in a culture based on fear. Fear pervades all of life for the Navajos.
And so we have many precious little ones who feel abandoned and afraid. The problems seem overwhelming and yet, as the song we sing says, “Our God is Bigger. Our God is Stronger. Our God is Higher than any other.” He is greater than all the sin and dysfunction. He knows and cares about children’s hurts and so we continue telling them about Jesus who says, “I will never abandon you” and “Because of Me, you don’t need to be afraid.” It is no small thing to be able to listen to and love hurting people as Jesus’ representatives.
On the encouraging flip side is how I often hear that students are really glad to be here because at Immanuel Mission School they get to hear about God. Please pray they will be able to feel His love and to hear the Truth we are seeking to communicate.