wfn.org | Indian missionary conference helps tribe affected by fires

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

July 29, 2002  News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.   10-34-71B{327}

By United Methodist News Service

When wildfires swept through Arizona in June, some of the hardest-hit people
were members of the White Mountain Apache tribe who depend on the logging
industry for employment.

Native American disaster relief workers from the Oklahoma Indian Missionary
Conference became bridge builders between the Apache tribe and disaster
relief agencies in Arizona.

The missionary conference's disaster relief workers were invited to Arizona
by Dallas Massey, chairman of the White Mountain Apache tribe, and a tribal
liaison from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the United
Methodist Committee on Relief.

The tribe had some animosity toward the federal agency because of past
experiences, and the borders were "pretty much closed" to government
workers, explained David Wilson, promotion and interpretation director for
the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.

"It is hard for Native Americans to ask for help. We were able to make the
connections that a non-Indian would not have been able to make," said
Phillis McCarty, coordinator for the conference's disaster relief program.
"We were able to talk to tribe members on a one-on-one basis."

Fires did not damage any homes on the reservation, but two sawmills were
destroyed and more than 600 people lost jobs. The timber industry is the
tribe's second-largest employer. Tourism and a casino in Whiteriver, one of
the reservation's biggest communities, represent the major industry. Tourism
is down because of the fires.

"It will take 120 years for the timber industry to return to that area,"
McCarty said. 

With the start of the rainy season, the tribe is concerned about flooding,
fearing the problem will be worsened by the absence of trees and vegetation.

McCarty and Geri and David Gill spent about 10 days in the area, trying to
provide basic survival aid to the tribe. They concentrated their work on two
of the smaller communities on the reservation, Cibecue and Carizzo. 

The reservation has school year round, and classes are resuming following a
brief break, McCarty said. The high unemployment rate has meant no money for
families to buy school supplies and clothes for their children. The Oklahoma
Indian Missionary Conference team responded by helping coordinate a shipment
of school supplies and other essentials for the two small communities.

"We hope we have planted the seed for the tribe to become more active in the
state VOAD," McCarty said, referring to the Volunteer Organization Active in
Disaster. She hopes that the Indian missionary conference's involvement will
help the tribe take advantage of the aid that government agencies can
provide.

The White Mountain Apache tribe lives on its ancestral homeland in east
central Arizona. The tribe has more than 12,000 members on nine major
reservation communities.
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United Methodist News Service
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