Meet Amber.

It’s been pretty tough on us as a nation, but also Indian country altogether. I know the minority populations have been hit even more so due to lack of health care, IHS, all the services available. And so with being indigenous cultures and people, you know, like our life was and s and traditions are already at an all time low, you know, we’re trying to reclaim our identity of who we are, where we came from in our stories, and those elders are like walking encyclopedias, all the knowledge that they pack and carry with them. You can’t go to college and learn about any of that.

So with COVID hitting, we’ve got so many elders, like a lot of my teachers, that I learned my language and a lot of things from have passed away. And it’s pretty tough, you know, and there’s no turning back. And so, like, everything that we’ve learned is just it means so much. And Covid, it’s just tough, you know?

And so I’m glad the different organizations are reaching out to help each other. And, you know, having this food distribution is just helping the people give back. You know, I know we’re all struggling, trying to get through this, but, you know, it’s helpful.

And other people reach out to say, like, hey, you know, you’re not alone. We’re in this together. You know. I think it was quarantine the whole being at home alone, secluded is really tough, you know, because Indian people like you have like, huge families, you know, like and you’re always gathering, you’re always having meals. And so by everybody being home, I know it’s given a lot of people a positive and negative impact. So including myself, of like you’re stuck in your own thoughts in your own world. And you can go either way with they can go positive and create some amazing things and like start businesses and stuff, or it could be negative. You could just like drink and be in your thoughts. And like, that’s why a lot of people have substance abuse issues.

“You don’t want to go through those feelings. ”

And I know being home like you’re just stuck in your own world in your own thoughts. And I kind of struggled with it at first, you know, like great, you know, just stuck home. But then it really gave me a chance, opportunity to really think of, like, who and what I am and about my family. You know, what’s really true to you? What is, what means the most to, you know. And so by staying home, I was I really worked on my mental health a lot during this pandemic time, you know, because I struggled with a lot of negative stuff growing up, you know, and it was slowly, slowly working on it over the years.

But the pandemic just really made me dive deep and, like, truly try to heal from the inside out. And so that’s true. You always hear that, like, you can’t help anybody unless you help yourself.

And so, like, I’ve dealt with a lot of issues, like  even talking to the people about them that I have issues with. And that’s something I would’ve never done, you know, like I just ran from it, ran from it.

But the positive that came out of it, you know, I had a son and he’s almost one now. And so he was one of those. He was already on the way before quarantinable. It just gave me that opportunity to stay home with him, you know, he’s almost in July, he’ll be one and like I could never imagine staying home the whole first year with him. Because you got to work. You got bills, you got diapers, you know, and so I just took it as a blessing.

“It’s definitely something positive that I love that came out of this quarantine pandemic. ”

And I just feel so much lighter, you know, being able to kind of be free like a burden was lifted off of me, even though among all the chaos and sadness and hurt and loss, you know, there is some definitely some beautiful things that came out of it.

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