During the height of the pandemic, Pete Sands was delivering essential goods to households across the Navajo Nation when he started noticing something – older people asking for translation help. “The elders would ask me, ‘do you speak Navajo? I can’t talk to my grandkids because the language isn’t there,’” he said. “People kept coming to me, [saying] ‘you got to save the language somehow – you’ve got to help somehow.’” After this experience, Sands is now producing a children’s show called Navajo Highways. It centers on two puppets, Sadie and Ash, as they travel around the Navajo Nation learning their language and culture. Today on the news, we learn how Navajo Highways will fuse storytelling, art, and humor to promote Diné Bizaad and community.

// Show Notes //

Photo: Pete Sands with puppets (top left) Uncle Al and Grandma Sally, (bottom left) Ash and Sadie. Navajo Highways is a children’s TV show currently in production aiming to teach children about the Diné language and culture. Courtesy Pete Sands

// GoFundMe: Startup funding for ‘Navajo Highways’

https://www.gofundme.com/f/startup-funding-for-navajo-highways?qid=9ae8b3d9c05624eef73d2fa706652b3d

// Pete Sands & The Drifters

https://sandstradingcompany.com/home