Volunteer workers learn ‘bííghah, héí’
Special to the Times | Krista Allen
The lights come on for the first time in a home served by the "Light Up Navajo" project.
By Krista Allen
Special to the Times
NAATSIS’ÁÁN-RAINBOW CITY, Utah
By the count of three, say “Bííghah, héí,” said a staffer for Navajo Tribal Utility Authority as she took a photo of the crews from Lehi City Power and NTUA standing with Tonya Little Garcia.
“Bííghah, héí!” shouted the crews as Garcia stood in the middle. Aaron Binks, Rorry Hiskey, Austin Lewis, Kevin Stephenson and Chad Taylor – the five-man crew from Lehi City Power in Lehi, Utah – spent a week in Western Navajo recently installing electricity service for nine Diné families.
Hiskey says he and his team all volunteered for the Light Up Navajo Project, or what NTUA leaders call “Partnerships for People,” because it is a partnership between American Public Power Association and NTUA, along with utility companies across the country, that are working together to connect Navajo homes to the electrical grid.
“So our boss actually brought it up in a safety meeting, wondering if there would be any volunteers who would want to come down here to be part of this,” Hiskey said, “and a bunch of us jumped aboard, and they (Lehi City Power) made it happen for us. And it’s been good.”
Hiskey said he learned a lot of things while working here for a week, including experiencing frybread and even learning from the Navajo crew three Navajo words: “bíígah,” “yá’át’ééh,” and “áoo’.”
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Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow