What’s in the Heart, a film about the health crisis among Native Americans
What’s in the Heart -Why Native Americans suffer the worst health in the USA. from Kitty Farmer on Vimeo.
As I was sick and feverish, I had a lot of time to think. One thing I thought about most was all of the people who don’t have access to health care. I thought about people who are ill and who don’t even have a warm dry place to sleep or access to clean water, a hot bath or a steaming cup of tea.
Then, an important Tweet caught my eye. I discovered a film and campaign called What’s In the Heart, which is documenting the alarming health crisis among Native American people. Due to historical trauma and countless broken treaties with the US government, Native people are currently suffering the worst health care situation in the country.
What’s in the Heart aims to educate the American public about the nature of this crisis and also features stories about all the incredible Native people who are working hard in their communities to bring about healing and positive change.
Some alarming statistics:
Death Rates among Native Americans as compared to the general American population:
Suicide: 72% Higher
Diabetes: 249% Higher
Alcoholism: 627% Higher
Please support this important campaign by spreading the word and donating what you can.
Buffalo Going Home
Someone sent this video link to me a few months ago. It documents the return home of a herd of buffalo from Catalina Island to Rosebud South Dakota. I’ve watched it several times and it always brings tears to my eyes.
As the Lakota man speaks in the end of the video, “Tatanka is home now. They feel good already. You can tell by the way they are acting. People can feel it too. They are what kept us alive for a long time. It’s our way of life. Their way of life.”
May we all find our way home!
Curanderismo classes with Dona Estela Ramon
Doña Estela Roman, Curandera from Cuernavaca
Director of International Center for Cultural and Language Studies Cuernavaca, Morelos Mexico
Estela Roman has actively been involved in the promotion and preservation of traditional medicine/ancestral practices in her community Temixco, Morelos Mexico. When she was nineteen she helped organize women’s groups for community training on basic health care. She came from a traditional family of 12 children and her grandmother and other relatives were well known for practicing traditional methods of healing using techniques of massage, herbal medicine, spiritual purification or limpias. She carries on a passion to serve the community and has pursued investigation of best practices and modalities to work in her community and other places where
she has been invited. She majored in Sociology at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and earned her degree at the age of 30. Estela believes in formal education and hands on experience. She has dedicated to work full time as a social worker and activist in the region where she lives. She has a Master’s degree in International Peace Studies from the International Institute for Peace Studies at the University of Norte Dame. She was granted a full time scholarship as a peace scholar due to her work in the community and outstanding academic achievement.
Estela will facilitate three “platicas” conversations at The Birthing Project, 1900 T Street, Sacramento. You are invited to join us.
April 20, Sunday 2-6 pm Aires de los cosmos
(cosmic energies/entities; non-organic to the human body)
$50/person
April 21, Monday 7-9pm The Sacred Four Directions and Prayer
$30/person
April 22 – Tuesday 6-8pm Aires de la Tierra (earth energies/entities)
$30/person
Space limited to 20 people per platica. To register contact Carmen Hernandez at Carmen.hernandez@comcast.net or (916) 730-1623.
And, Sponsored by the UC Davis Chicana/Latina Research Center
Thursday April 24 5-7pm, Free
Indigenous Sexuality, Our Medicine and The Care of
Restoration of our Bodies using Ancient Techniques
(Food will be provided) HIA Conference Room – SSH 5214
Social Science and Humanities Building, on the 5th floor, UC Davis Campus
Ohlone Healing Center, Berkeley
Curanderismo Lecture: Friday April 18th from 7:30-9:30 PM $20
Workshop on Los Aires; Saturday April 19th from 1:00-5:00 PM; $60
SPACE LIMITED: RSVP & deposit to save a space. 510-540-8010
If you would like a personal appt with Estela contact Liz Swan at 916/479-5386.
Contact Trudy 323-3089 if you have any questions or would like to schedule a platica.
More on the Sacred Fire
Apela has uploaded another video to youtube of her talking about the Sacred Fire Ceremony on March 21st. The lighting is a little eerie, it’s like she is talking from the Spirit World. She says some very important things about the meaning of the ceremony:
“40,000 years ago, the ancestors built the sacred fire. They built this fire with great power & great purpose. They built it in such a way that we, their descendants would awaken in the right time and reignite the sacred fire to remember our relationships with each other and to remember our sacred relationship with the Earth.”
Link to Sacred Fire Website
Apela Colorado now has a website dedicated to the Sacred Fire on March 21st. Check it out:
OneSacredFire.org
Healers from all over the world will be joining together in this ceremony, including Zulu High Sanusi, Baba Credo Mutwa in South Africa, and Tata Yawanawa from Brazil.
Here’s an excerpt from the site:
An Invitation to Light Your Sacred Fire and
Renew the Earth March 22, 2008
“In reigniting this fire in Kyrgyzstan, its leaders will stand in the last location that the people of the earth stood together as a single community of humanity, 40,000 years ago. By supporting this ceremony with your simultaneous global fires, this event will powerfully re-create the single community of humanity.
The ceremony’s ability to spark remembrance is exponentially enhanced through global participation; the more of us participate, the more fuel is created to feed this sacred fire.”
Buffalo Messenger- Restoring Peoples and Earth to Health
I was excited to find a video by an Aleut elder and spiritual teacher of mine, Ilarion Mercuelieff on YouTube. He talks about the epidemic of diabetes in the Native American communities and how it can be addressed through natural methods. I think the most important thing he says is at the end of the video, where he talks about the prophecies of these times and what is happening to Mother Earth, and to our own bodies:
Iliaron says, during these times, “Mother Earth is waking up from a great, deep sleep. And as She does, her vibration goes up. And for those who cannot maintain in their bodies a mirror of what Mother Earth is doing and waking up themselves, they are not going to be here very much longer…..
……and the Elders say we can’t give the world anything we don’t have ourselves, and so if we’re here to restore our cultures, restore our way of life, restore our communities back to health and restore Mother Earth back to health, we’ve got to start first with ourselves.”
