Other tribes were wary of the kinds of projects in which well-funded researchers used American Indians as subjects or ran programs that gave the tribes no power.
"What we've seen in the past is, when outsiders come in, they want to force changes," said Mark Deese, a member of the Tuscarora Indian Nation of North Carolina, who uses volunteers at his youth camp. "They don't know that our traditional government needs to monitor what's going on."
Fleg and his wife, Shannon, a Navajo from Arizona, have built trust by offering the tribes complete control. The tribes create the projects, while volunteers provide the manpower. Volunteers don't bring their own project ideas, and they never collect data on tribe members unless the tribe asks them to.
Leah Genge said she will return to medical school in Canada with no illusions that, in a few short weeks, she changed the lifestyles that may mean early death for the children she worked with this summer.
But she said she leaves with a passion for serving marginalized people that will change her medical career.
"The barriers are not as obvious as you think they are," Genge said. "Services can be available, but if we're not culturally sensitive, then they might as well not be there."
Information from: The News & Observer, http://www.newsobserver.com
- Associated Press
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