Helen Devore Waukazoo
 Minerva Award Acceptance Speech

Good Afternoon!  My name is Helen Waukazoo.  I am a Navajo Indian, originally from New Mexico, and I am a wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother.    
I would like to say thank you to Maria Shriver for your mission to help and encourage women to be the most they can be.  If it wasn’t for people like you, Maria, in my own life, that have helped and encouraged me, I wouldn’t be here today. 

Thank you to Target for sponsoring this event in a very special way.  This happens to be one of my very favorite stores and I am especially pleased that they are supporting this event.

Maria, a lot of people care about you and your mission to celebrate and strengthen women everywhere, and I am overwhelmed, grateful and honored to be a part of this, and to be honored in this way.   We applaud you and your efforts and we stand by you. 

I thank my Creator, God, for giving me the strength, health and vision to do what I do to better the lives of American Indian women, children, men and families.  I know that in order to have strong and healthy communities, it takes all of us to set an example for our children to be the best that they can be.   

As a first American, as the first citizens of the United States, I know that American Indian people have made huge contributions to our communities and to the United States.  Not just with our military efforts such as the Navajo Codetalkers, but in working side by side with other communities to make this a better place for us all to live. 

I strongly believe in voting and participating in our democratic government.  But, sometimes I am disappointed when people are elected and they forget the needs of the people who elected them.  American Indians are a voting community.  We are concerned about what is going on in our world.

In my language, and in my American Indian culture, we call leaders “warriors”.   Our leaders are our warriors.  They are chosen by our people for this great responsibility.  We gave them this honor for a purpose – to serve the people, not for the people to serve them.  A lot of times when people are elected we do not hear from them anymore.  In my culture, this is not the sign of a good leader.

What I know about leadership is that leaders must listen to the needs of the people.  Many times in my life this has not happened.  There are urgent needs in the American Indian community that we have been bringing to the attention of our leaders for many years, and very little is done. 

That is why I decided to do whatever I could to make the lives of my people, American Indians, better and healthier.  I decided that I would spend my life educating people.   My message comes from my American Indian upbringing:   Listen to people who have wisdom and experience.  Listen to your grandmothers who taught you what was right and wrong.

My father, who I was very close to, told me, “Little one, never forget you are an American Indian woman, you are Navajo, and don’t let anyone tell you any different.”   He taught me pride in our people, and the American Indian cultural and spiritual values that strengthened me.  In the Boarding School that I attended we were forbidden to speak our language and we were told that what we believed in as Navajos was not acceptable. 

My Dad told me that “The same Creator that created those people also created you.  You have the same wisdom and courage.  You can do whatever you want to do, whatever you dream, Little One.”  I learned over the years that my Dad was not wrong.  

I have used some of my Dad’s teachings in what I do.  In our program at Friendship House, we use the American Indian cultural approach in healing, because that is what we know, and what we have been taught for many, many years.   If I did not have this strength and teaching in my home in my early years, I would not be where I am today.  That is what I am now working to pass along to my people and the next generations. 

My family were sheepherders, and I know what hard work is!  As a working woman, we women know that having a family and a job on top of that is a huge task.  For me, I don’t finish my work until 9:00 at night!  But women’s responsibilities are very important and necessary to make sure our children grow up in a good way.  This is why I am thankful that this conference is geared to women, and I am very proud to be a part of it.

I have learned that success is like a ladder.  Each step comes with more responsibility.  You have to learn new things and each step gets harder as you climb.  I will tell you that if you want to climb that ladder and reach for the stars, as I have done, you must surround yourself with people who share your vision.  

How thankful I am to those in my life that have stood beside me.  I am thankful to my family.  I thank my children, some of whom are sitting in this audience, my husband who helps me and honors my mission to heal our American Indian people, and my relatives.   

I am deeply grateful to my Board of Directors who are sitting in this audience who share my mission to help and heal our American Indian people, and to those many people who have advised me, prayed with me, and guided me in what steps to take next.  Without these people, I would not be where I am today. 

My dream is for all of my American Indian people to become strong and healthy, in spite of the obstacles that have been put before us.  I know this is possible because this is what I have done, and this is what I now teach to others in my work. 

I am happy to be among so many women!  I am proud of you!  We should continue to work towards having a woman as president someday!  I know we can do it!  Our world is changing because women are daring to stand up and speak out, and because we work so hard and we never give up!  NEVER give up!

To Maria and all the women who have planned and worked on this conference, to all of you women here, and to those of us that are being recognized today, whatever your mission is, I congratulate you for being strong and courageous and taking a stand.  I am proud to stand with you and be recognized for my mission that I have stood for and loved doing, and I wish you all good things.

May the creator guide, direct and bless you in your life.  Thank you.