New Teacher Giving Back to Zuni Christian School

Growing up in the Zuni pueblo, located in a remote area of New Mexico near the Arizona border, was difficult for Natasha Natewa.

Surrounded by desert and mountains, the village is steeped in history. It has been the home of Zuni people for hundreds of years. And Zuni language, religion, traditions, and art are an important part of daily life.

But living on the edge of the Zuni culture can be difficult if you are seeking to live as a Christian. That can be even harder if, like Natasha, you are shy and have a hard time connecting with others.

“I didn’t feel loved,” she said.

Natasha grew up in a home like several others in Zuni; Christianity was part of the family, and yet so was traditional religion. Her great-grandfather was Rex Natewa, one of the early CRC evangelists to the Zuni people and stories about him and his work filtered down to her at home. “It was nice to know the history and that he was part of it,” she said.

So a sense of her great-grandfather’s work stayed with her when her parents sent her to kindergarten at Zuni Christian School, just down the street from her home. That is where things started to slowly change for her.

Natasha told us her story in late July as she met with us at the school she once attended and where she is now a new third-grade teacher.

At the time, she was busy preparing lesson plans for the fall and organizing her very own classroom in the school, which opened in 2012, replacing portable buildings that had been in use since a fire destroyed the school in 1971.

For generations, the school has been teaching children in the community, regardless of their religious background. The school building has also served as a community center for everyone in Zuni. The gym is especially busy, since basketball is popular in Zuni. People sometimes also come in to use the copy machine or phone.

Above all, the school is united with Zuni CRC in sharing the Christian faith with everyone it encounters. Often these are people who are struggling and in need of assistance of one kind or another.

“The people here in the school want to help. I have to give credit to the people who invested in me when I was a student here,” said Natasha.

Recalling a seventh-grade teacher who spent time with her and spoke with her about many things, including God, she said, “I knew she cared for me and wasn’t just preaching, and that’s what made it authentic.”

Natasha’s youth group leader also took time with her, she said, encouraging her to get involved in youth ministry. She remembers an after-school program in which a teacher would take them out to a nearby farm to learn about farming. Because of those connections, Natasha said, her faith grew and she began to feel less shy.

Teachers also encouraged her when she attended Rehoboth Christian School, inspiring her to study to be a teacher, she said, and eventually, despite some misgivings and anxiety, she applied and was accepted at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Ill.

Coming to Trinity as a Zuni from the pueblo in New Mexico was a major culture shock, said Natasha, and more than once she wanted to pack up and go home. But she made friends and grew to appreciate going to school in a more diverse urban area.

She graduated and returned home and, after a time, began working at Zuni Christian School as an aide. And now she will be a classroom teacher like those who had been so helpful to her.

“I think this can be my way of giving back,” she said. “I hope I can inspire the kids as my teachers inspired me. I know that a lot of the kids who live here don’t see themselves as anything worthwhile, and so they don’t put the effort into school.”

Not all of the students who attend the school are from Christian families, but they are welcome, and many come for the education. When their families can’t afford the costs, the school tries to find ways to help out.

“I’d like for the students to establish confidence and see that I am the way I am because God sees something in me.” When you know that God is with you and cares for you, she said, you can be inspired to work toward a better life.

Rev. Mike Meekhof, pastor of Zuni CRC, credits Natasha with showing such willingness to face challenges and to grow. She will be a great teacher, he said, and her firm faith has influenced others, especially her grandmother and her mother.

One of the highlights of her week these days, said Natasha, is going to church with her grandmother.

“I feel I can really connect with the sermons, and my grandmother loves the music time when she can sing some hymns,” she said.