Students from Azerbaijan Learn from American Indians

A group of 21 student leaders from Azerbaijan traveled to southern Arizona to learn about civic engagement from a group even few fellow Americans get to meet: the Tohono O’odham American Indian Nation. Active citizens involved in immigration and border issues, as well as minority rights, the Tohono O’odham served as an example to students learning how to create positive change in Azerbaijan.

The study tour was the culminating event of the six-week Study of US Institutes for Azerbaijani Student Leaders on Civic Engagement program.

The Tohono O’odham is the second-largest American Indian nation in the US, with its cultural land overlapping the US-Mexico border. Despite a history of wars, forced relocation to less suitable lands, termination, and forced assimilation, the Tohono O’odham people kindly welcomed the international participants. The Tohono O’odham people and their land sit at the center of key issues in America today: US border issues, immigration, high unemployment, diabetes, and citizenship rights.

During their visit, students ate at the local Desert Rain Café, which serves locally farmed Tohono O’odham foods and is a part of the larger Tohono O’odham Community Action organization, “dedicated to creating healthy, sustainable, and culturally vital community on the Tohono O’odham Nation.” Students heard how members work towards their goal through the café, a store selling locally made products, and a variety of community projects. These efforts, which were recently highlighted by the White House , work to combat issues of malnutrition and Type 2 Diabetes in the community by bringing back the agricultural economy and traditional diet of the Tohono O’odham.

From one student’s perspective, “I have broken my stereotypes about Native Americans and their way of living. Before visiting the U.S., I had thought they live like in old Western movies.”

By exploring specific issues faced by the Tohono O’odham, students gained insight into how change occurs on a broad scale. For example, students engaged with tribal leaders, the US Border Patrol, and the community to learn more about US-Mexico border issues. Tribal leaders discussed their collaboration with the US Border Patrol to ensure tribal members’ access to their cultural lands while deterring illegal immigration. Students also heard about how the border and illegal immigration impacts them. Describing the experience of driving through the semi-permanent check-point on the US-Tohono O’odham’s border, the Chief of Police said, “Every day I’m asked if I’m a US citizen, every day for 12 years.”

At the end of the program, one student said, “There are no limits to the spheres that a person can be engaged in for the life of his community in the US. We saw very different organizations in absolutely different fields but still serving the community, trying to contribute.”

Through their visit to one U.S. community, the Tohono O’odham Nation, students had an opportunity to engage and begin to understand at a much deeper level the intricate layers of American society. Now back in Azerbaijan, these youth are implementing projects such as hygiene campaigns and activities supporting orphans, using what they learned about civic engagement and applying it to the good of their own communities.

The Study of US Institutes Program for Azerbaijani Student Leaders on Civic Engagement is funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State and implemented by IREX.