‘Buddy Walk’ celebrates people
with disabilities

By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

KAYENTA — People with disabilities have prominent roles in many Navajo stories. In one story Rose Hulligan heard, the beautiful people got tired of “Down Boy” because he did not act how they perceived as normal. They put him in a temporary shelter because they were too busy with their own concerns to care for him. Others saw and thought it was a good idea to put their handicapped children in the temporary shelter.

One day the children walked to the east and were out all day. They came back in the evening with white painting on them. The next day they walked to the south and returned with turquoise paint. On the third day they walked to the west and came back with yellow paint on them. Finally on the fourth day, the people became curious where the children were going and one person was sent to follow them.

The person followed them and where they stopped, the Holy People came out. The follower noticed that the children were happy and went back to the people and told them, “These children are loved by the Holy People.”

The people then wanted the children to come back but they never returned. The Holy People told them that they were taking the children. They also told the people, “When you are blessed with such a child, they have something to teach you.”

Hulligan herself was blessed when her daughter Rochelle gave birth to a child with Down Syndrome. Less than 7 months after she was born, the baby passed away, but like in the story, she had something to teach her family which resulted in the beginning of the Four Directions Buddy Walk in Kayenta.

“It was very painful to lose her,” Hulligan said.

She added, “If we still had her, we wouldn’t have done the buddy walk, because we were looking for answers. She taught us so much even though she was a baby.”

When Rochelle had her daughter, she realized that it was difficult to find resources for parents with children born with Down syndrome. She and her family decided to work toward making such resource packets available for new parents of children with Down syndrome.

To raise money and awareness, the buddy walk was born. This is the third year that the event is being held. This year’s event runs from at 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Monument Valley High School SAC auditorium and will include a 1.6 mile walk and a 5 mile run.

Runners and walkers, who collect pledges, go in the four directions for the buddy walk. Young children head to the east, teenagers go toward the south, adults go west and elders walk to the north.
Several guest speakers will present, including Carrie

Raabe, a woman from Flagstaff who was born with Down syndrome and leads a successful life.

Hulligan said that Raabe is an excellent speaker and a role model.

“We’d like families to see that if there’s services provided, they can be successful. We can expect that for our kids too,” Hulligan said.

The goal, Hulligan said, is to hold the buddy walk for four years. In the coming year, committee members of the buddy walk expect to meet with hospital officials and distribute the packets. Next year at this time, the committee wants to be celebrating the distribution of the resource packets with a powwow and a gourd dance.

Hulligan noted that a child with Down Syndrome from Shiprock requested the gourd dance because he participates in such activities.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” Hulligan said.
Information: (928) 283-4342.