Holbrook Indian School
PHOTO: DENZIL MCNEILUS
A Navajo homestead in Canyon de Chelly.
A Seventh-day Adventist Boarding Academy Serving Native American Youth Since 1946
Hope Amid the Crisis by Diana Fish & Nicole Potgieter
T
he coronavirus was just gaining media attention when Holbrook Indian School began its spring break. One of our students, who had a less than ideal home life on the reservation, received permission from her guardian to spend spring break with the family of two other students, who lived in the Phoenix area. These two students also had challenges at home, so staff members offered to keep the three students during the break. However, the three
32
PA C I F I C U N I O N R E CO R D E R
were determined to spend their spring break having fun in the “big city.� Later, we received the news that all students had to stay home through the end of April, with the possibility that schools would be closed for the rest of the school year. Throughout the spring break, we checked in with these three students and were assured that all was going well. However, after the second week, the visiting student shared that under the circumstances
she wished to be with her family. One of our teachers was able to pick her up and return her to Holbrook Indian School. The next day, our director of development made the two-hour drive through the Navajo reservation to take the student home. At that point, there were only two cases of COVID-19 confirmed on the Navajo reservation. A revival meeting had taken place the week before, and it is believed that an outsider brought the coronavirus to the reservation. A