Virginia Yazzie Ballenger, Navajo Nation “Both of my parents did not speak English, but yet they had jobs. My father worked as a maintenance man in a warehouse. My mother wove rugs and was a janitor at a hospital in the evenings. When I was young, my mom taught me the importance of prayer. In the morning, she would say, ‘It’s time to get up. Get up before the sun comes up. Before it gets light outside. Go outside and offer prayer.’ I would take white cornmeal outside and I would pray. Then at noon, we offered corn pollen and in the evening, when the sky is turning orange from the sunset, we would offer a yellow cornmeal. Times were hard for us growing up, I didn't see us as being poor. But now when I look back, we didn't have a lot. But my mother always taught me the importance of prayer and that feeling has sustained myself and my family.“