'Like a lifesaver': Nonprofit group builds hand-washing units for Hopi, Navajo families without running water

TUBA CITY — Ilene Dabila saw pictures on social media of a Red Feather hand-washing station set up at a house on the Hopi Nation.

With no access to running water or electricity at her home in Lower Moenkopi, the 68-year-old Dabila knew she wanted one. It would be a step up from washing her hands out of a bowl.

"It's good for people like us," she said. "Every day we have to haul water."

At first, she didn't have any luck reaching the Red Feather team, but that changed when she saw them delivering another unit in the area.

Dabila went up to a team member and asked if she could have one. Her name was added to Red Feather's list of clients on the Hopi Nation.

On Aug. 19, Dabila picked up her new hand-washing station at the Tuba City Chapter House.

"This is really nice," she said. "It'll last longer."

The station is made up of two modified 35-gallon trash bins. One bin is for clean water, the other for gray water. They are connected with two hoses and a foot pump. The gray water trash bin has a small sink installed into it, made of PVC pipes and a plastic wash bin.

Dabila will be able to pump clean water from one trash bin using the foot pump. The water is pumped through the PVC pipes and comes out the top into a plastic wash bin and drains into the second trash bin.  

Dabila was happy about the hand-washing station and said they'll actually get to wash their hands without having to scoop water into a bowl. 

"Now I just get to pump on it," she said.

Dabila picked up her new station after the staff from Red Feather hosted a workshop at the Tuba City Chapter House on how to build them. Hers was one of the models built by participants on Aug. 19.

Moving into communities

Red Feather is a nonprofit organization based in Flagstaff that works with Native communities to develop and implement sustainable solutions to the housing needs, its website states.

The workshop was provided to several people, including chapter house workers and volunteers from the CORE foundation. About 15 hand-washing stations came from the workshop, one going to each group that participated to use as a prototype to build more.

The goal of the workshop is for participants to take the knowledge from the session and implement it within their own community.

"They can have clients come in and build their own hand-washing stations," said Darleen Cortez, Red Feather program coordinator.

The number of units completed at the workshops varies, but Cortez said they hope the work they're doing will turn it into hundreds by the groups who participate.

"If we were to do it alone, it's going to take quite a while to get everyone," Red Feather program manager Shannon Maho added. This is the start of moving it into their communities.

A tremendous demand

When the pandemic hit, the Red Feather team couldn't go into Navajo and Hopi communities to help with their usual work, such as weatherization or home repairs. Executive Director Joe Seidenberg said the group started looking for other ways to help the communities.

He saw an example of a hand-washing station built by LavaMaeˣ and felt it could be a good way to help the Hopi and Navajo communities during the pandemic.

Seidenberg said they posted the idea to their Facebook page, asking if anyone was in need or interested in a hand-washing station. They got an immediate response. 

"The requests for the units started rolling in and we realized there was a tremendous demand for hand-washing units," he said.

A high number of Navajo and Hopi families do not have access to running water, Seidenberg said, and without the convenience of turning on the tap, maintaining proper hand hygiene is difficult.

The stations built by Red Feather are hands-free, and once filled can offer up to 500 hand washes, Seidenberg said.

Since they started developing the units in April, Maho said they had a goal of 150, but  have handed out over 230, with at least 250 still on the waiting list.

The clients have been extremely grateful, Maho said. 

"It's like a lifesaver for them," she added. "It may not be plumbing in their home, but it's something close to it."

Seidenberg said that "these systems are not designed as a solution to the water crisis, that could take decades of work," but it fills an immediate need that could help reduce the rates of infection of the coronavirus.

"Washing one's hands is an important part of staying healthy," Seidenberg said, but even when the pandemic passes, the Red Feather team sees the service continuing 

"We still have a huge population of people who don't have running water," Cortez said.

That's why they're offering workshops on how to build the units. Seidenberg said they want to transition the work into local community groups so people can build the systems themselves and help meet the tremendous need Red Feather has seen.

"Our goal is to distribute until there's no more demand or until we feel like the community groups that we have trained are able to meet that demand independently," he said. "We feel it's really important to help make communities and families more resilient during COVID and beyond."

'It's education'

During Red Feather's workshop in Tuba City this month, participants were delighted with how practical and easy the hand-washing station is.

"It's more convenient," said Kyle Kaya, a volunteer with the CORE Foundation.

He said a lot of people in the area know what it's like to wash their hands in a small wash bin, emptying it after each use. This hand-washing unit makes it easier with fresh water pumped in.

Kaya and his colleagues built four units during the workshop.

Tuba City Chapter Executive Manager Durann Begay and Chapter Planner Nelson Cody said they'll have a discussion about whom the chapter could train in the Tuba City area now that some of the chapter employees have completed the workshop and know how to build the stations.

Begay said she even sees them offering it to the public. 

"It could be a family that doesn't have running water who is interested, they could come out and learn," she said. "It's education."

Red Feather is able to offer the workshops and build the hand-washing stations through donations. The group currently has a fundraiser set up with a goal of $45,000. As of Aug. 24, they have raised over $43,000. 

More information about Red Feathers' work can be found on their website.

Another opportunity to help

Another team working to provide hand-washing stations to families on the Navajo Nation is a nonprofit organization called the WATERED. 

The WATERED is a water acquisition team of seven people based in the Phoenix area and was established by Yolanda Tso from Chandler.

She said the idea to develop hand-washing stations came from seeing a need and the importance set on CDC guidelines for hygiene during the pandemic. As a Navajo woman, she understood that lack of infrastructure across the Navajo Nation meant that not everyone has access to running water.

She started a fundraising effort on Facebook in April.

"I just saw the opportunity to be able to help," she said.

From the Facebook fundraiser, Tso said they were able to raise about $15,000 and purchase 110 hand-washing station sets.

A complete set provided by the team costs $150, Tso said. The set includes a foot pump-powered hand-washing station, a 5-gallon bucket to catch the gray water, a bottle of liquid hand soap, a reusable cotton blend hand towel, a roll of paper towels, a roll of toilet paper, a refillable jug of water, a cleaning product to sanitize the station, and a pack of drinking water.

Tso and her team delivered the first round of hand-washing station donations to the Navajo Nation on June 24.

At the donation center there, she met with Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Miss Navajo Nation Shaandiin Parrish. The stations would be given to COVID-19 individuals who do not have running water at their homes.

Tso said they provided the hand-washing stations directly to the Navajo Nation donation center because she felt that team has the best idea on who would need the units.

"We just knew there was a great need for these tools," she said. “We want to show our support through our actions and we want the Navajo Nation to know we are here to help with what we have.”

Tso and her team are working on raising funds for their second round of donations. They established a GoFundMe page with a $15,000 goal. As of Aug. 24, they have raised $6,620.

"It really touches my heart to be able to give back to the Navajo Nation because that's where our culture and our cultural identity resides," Tso said, and none of it would be possible without help from her team and the donations to their project.

Reporter Shondiin Silversmith covers Indigenous people and communities in Arizona. Reach her at ssilversmi@arizonarepublic.com and follow her Twitter @DiinSilversmith.

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