KIVA, Loans that change lives!

KIVA, Loans that change lives!

 

                       

Becoming a Loaner at Kiva has changed my life dramatically! Visually seeing how other people in third world country's live can be emotionally draining. Many of these individuals live life on a day to day basis in most instances. The mere sum of $100 can change their life dramatically! And, in many instances it does! Click on the above link and see for yourself what $25.00 can accomplish for a deserving person of your choosing. KIVA allows people like you and me to make $25.00 loans directly to low-income entrepreneurs of your choosing in the developing world. You help to provide affordable working capital, empowering them to earn their way out of poverty. Your loan is then repaid as their business succeeds.

Check out the people Renee and I have loaned to. Every one of these loan recipients has become a part of our extended family. Renee and I are vested in these peoples lives. We wish them great health and huge success in their business ventures.

Tags: Kiva, Interest Free Loans,

Dave Walks Like A Bear's Wake

April 5, 2008

 

Today, I attended the wake of a native friend, who's name was Dave, Walks Like A Bear. I'd only known Dave for about 2 and a half years. Dave was a quiet soul, and very likable, once you took the opportunity to be in his presence. He was avoided by many people because of his dress. He certainly wasn't a well dressed man, but Dave was a genuinely nice man. I never heard Dave talk bad about anybody, and I never heard him swear or cuss! He loved to walk about local pow-wow's passing out comic strip cuts about native americans! Many people experianced Dave's good nature, but didn't really try to know the man. They will never know what a great, loving, huge hearted man Dave was. Dave, I already miss you tremendously, it's not often that a person encounters a genuine RED ROAD Native American.

Tags: Native Americans, Red Road, N.E. Pow-Wow's

Tell Them How You Really Feel!

Hi Folks!

If you're following my journal, you should be aware that I'm at odds with the US Government's treatment of Native Americans! If you agree with my accessment of the current situation on Native American Reservations you can help my negative advocacy towards the Committee on Indian Affairs, within the United States Senate by e-mailing them @ comments@indian.senate.gov or you can send a snail mail to them @

Committee on Indian Affairs

 United States Senate

 838 Hart Office Building

 Washington, DC

 20510

Please don't hold back in your comments to these people that are truly hurting the advancement of Native Americans! I need your support and millions of our brothers and sisters are depending on us to change how the US Government treats Native Americans!I ask you for your support and pray to the Creator that negatives things will come to pass!

Edward Curtis Chandler  (Broken Feather)

Haudenosaunee Metis Elder

Blackstone, Massachusetts

Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Reservations in South Dakota

Another Native American Tribe in desperate need of human intervention is the Lakota/Sioux people living on the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne River Reservations, in South Dakota.

.http://nativeprogress.org/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/

 

I'm appalled at the conditions that these Native Americans live under. There are national organizations that contribute funds to these Native American Tribes and reservations, but most funding goes into trying to design and impliment programs that'll build the infrastructure of the reservations. Individuals never see any direct financial benefit from these contributions! There are so many needs within the Native American community that tug on my heart strings, that I wonder where the focus of the world is headed? Most americans either don't know about the problems facing Native American families, or they know and simply don't care!

 

I concider myself fortunate, as a Native American Haudenosaunee (Mohawk)Metis, to have always been gainfully employed. I've lived a trememdously wonderful life, enjoying all of lifes riches and now place myself in the position to assist other native americans in real need of assistance. I owe this to my ancestors and my present family structure. I simply couldn't live with myself, if I didn't make dire and sincere gestures to help my fellow Native Americans.

If you are reading this journal, I hope you take the time to share this information with your friends and family. Anything that you can do to help, will be gratefully appreciated. The Lakota/Sioux people are very proud, but desperately in need of our help! Click on the above link and see for yourself how you can help.

Tags: Lakota Sioux, Pine Ridge Reservation, Cheyenne River Reservation

Wounded Pony's Passing

On January 11th. the New England Native American community lost the leader and Chief of the Rhode Island Abenaki Council. I'm truly stunned at Wounded Pony's passing to the Spirit World today. To me, he was a new found friend over the past two pow-wow seasons. I admired him for his Master of Ceremony's abilities, his willingness to help anyone, and certainly for his continued humor about everday events. Just being in Pony's presence brought about a sense of strength, that I personnally found uncanny. He certainly was a power to be dealt with, here in Southeastern New England, He was a true and genuine leader by his actions, his silence and his words! I offer my most sincere condolence to his wife Cynthia, his sons and his daughter. I pray that the Creator provides them with the strength to endure, during this trying time in their lives. Rarely do you encounter a person that has the ability to make such an impact on your life, as did Pony. But, he certainly impacted my life in a genuine and sincere way. Wounded Pony, please know that I sincerely miss you and that I'll never ever forget you!

Tags: R.I. Abenaki Council, Abenaki, N.E. Pow-Wow's

 

FACTS ON HONEY AND CINNAMON

It is found that mixture of honey and cinnamon cures most of the diseases. Honey is produced in most of the countries of the world.

Scientists of today also accept honey as a "Ram Ban" (very effective) medicine for all kinds of diseases. Honey can be used without any side effects for any kind of diseases.

Today's science says that even though honey is sweet, if taken in the right dosage as a medicine, it does not  harm diabetic patients.

Weekly World News, a magazine in Canada, in its issue dated 17 January, 1995 has given the following list of diseases that can be cured by honey and cinnamon as researched by western scientists.

HEART DISEASES: Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, apply on bread, chappati, or other bread, instead of jelly and jam and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol in the arteries and saves the patient from heart attack. Also those who already had an attack, if they do this process daily, are kept miles away from the next attack. Regular use of the above process relieves loss of breath and strengthens the heart beat. In America and Canada, various nursing homes have treated patients successfully and have found that as you age, the arteries and veins lose their flexibility and get clogged; honey and cinnamon revitalizes the arteries and veins.
   
BLADDER INFECTIONS: Take two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one teaspoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it.  It destroys the germs in the bladder.
   
TOOTHACHE: Make a paste of one teaspoon of cinnamon powder and five teaspoons of honey and apply on the aching tooth. This may be applied three times a day until the tooth stops aching.
   
CHOLESTEROL: Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of cinnamon  powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water, given to a cholesterol patient, was found to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood by 10% within 2 hours. As mentioned for arthritic patients, if taken 3 times a day,  any chronic cholesterol is cured. As per information received in the said journal, pure honey taken with food daily relieves complaints of cholesterol.
  
COLDS: Those suffering from common or severe colds should take one tablespoon lukewarm honey with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder daily for 3 days. This process will cure most chronic cough, cold and clear the sinuses.
   
UPSET STOMACH: Honey taken with cinnamon powder cures stomach ache and also clears stomach ulcers from the root.
   
GAS: According to the studies done in India &Japan, it is revealed that if honey is taken with cinnamon powder the stomach is relieved of gas.
  
IMMUNE SYSTEM: Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens the  immune system and protects the body from bacteria and viral attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and iron in large amounts. Constant use of honey strengthens the white blood corpuscles to fight bacteria and viral diseases.
    
INDIGESTION: Cinnamon powder sprinkled on two tablespoons of honeytaken before food, relieves acidity and digests the heaviest of meals.
   
INFLUENZA: A scientist in Spain has proved that honey contains  natural ingredient which kills the influenza germs and saves the patient from flu.
  
LONGEVITY: Tea made with honey and cinnamon powder, when taken  regularly, arrests the ravages of old age. Take 4 teaspoons of honey, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder and 3 cups of water and boil to make like tea. Drink 1/4 cup, 3 to 4 times a day. It keeps the skin fresh and soft and arrests old age.
   
PIMPLES: Mix three tablespoons of honey and one teaspoon of cinnamon to make a powder paste. Apply this paste on the pimples before sleeping and wash it next morning with warm water. If done daily for two weeks, it removes pimples from the root.
    
SKIN INFECTIONS: Apply honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts on the affected parts to cure eczema, ringworm and all types of skin infections.
   
WEIGHT LOSS: Daily in the morning 1/2 hour before breakfast on an empty stomach and at night before sleeping, drink honey and cinnamon powder boiled in one cup water. If taken regularly, it reduces the weight of even the most obese person. Also, drinking this mixture regularly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the body even though the person may eat a high calorie diet.
    
CANCER: Recent research in Japan and Australia has revealed that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds of cancer should daily take one
tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon powder for one month 3 times a day.
   
FATIGUE: Recent studies have shown that the sugar content of honey is more helpful rather than being detrimental to the strength of the body. Senior citizens who take honey and cinnamon power in equal parts are more alert and flexible.
  
Dr. Milton who has done research says that a half tablespoon honey taken in a glass of water and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, taken daily after brushing your teeth and in the afternoon at about 3:00 p.m. when the vitality of the body starts to decrease, increases the vitality of the body within a week.
   
BAD BREATH: People of South America first thing in the morning gargle with one teaspoon of honey and cinnamon powder mixed in hot water, so their breath stays fresh throughout the day.

Plymouth revisited under new rules of engagement!

Indian history is gaining space with Pilgrim myth in the Massachusetts community that calls itself America's "hometown."

Plymouth, a seaside town 50 miles south of Boston, prides itself as the place where English pilgrims arrived aboard the vessel Mayflower in 1620, established a colony, befriended the indigenous natives and had them over for a feast in 1621.

As taught to generations of schoolchildren, that feast became the basis for the holiday almost universally celebrated throughout the United States in November as Thanksgiving.

The problem, according to Native American historians, is that it's just part of a quilt of many myths woven by the descendants of those early English voyagers who settled in what is now southern New England and drove some tribes to near extinction.

Now, some 381 years later, Plymouth continues to be a focal point of disagreement and animosity pitting the white European-based establishment against the descendants of the local natives.

It is an age-old story of invasion and conquest, where the victors get to write the history and the viewpoint of the vanquished is minimized.

For one thing, despite what is widely taught, those early colonists fleeing religious persecution in their native England did not initially refer to themselves as Pilgrims -- 44 called themselves "Saints" and 66 were referred to by the "Saints" as "strangers." The label "Pilgrims" came into being after the voyagers joined in signing the Mayflower Compact.

The natives who had occupied the land for thousands of years didn't call themselves Indians, or even Native Americans. They were, simply, the People.

The People in this case was the Wampanoag, a tribal name translated as the "People of the Dawn" or the "People of the First Light" because they lived in the east and were the first to see the sun rise each day. The Wampanoag are also sometimes now simply known as "The Indians who met the Pilgrims."

The story of the Plymouth Colony is told at the living history museum, Plimoth Plantation, which uses the original spelling of the word Plymouth. The museum is a recreation of the colonial village as it existed in 1627, and character actors portray various English settlers, and talk with visitors about events leading up to 1627, but know nothing of events beyond that year.

For a half century, the museum told the story of the colony from the viewpoint of the Pilgrims. Traditional Thanksgiving images showed large numbers of Pilgrims and few natives, failing to reflect realities of native history and ignoring the persecution of the Wampanoag.

In truth, according to the only written record of the event, a letter by Mayflower passenger Edward Winslow, 90 natives lead by the sachem, or leader, Massasoit, participated in the harvest feast with some 45 Pilgrims who had survived their first brutal winter.

It took the museum years to revise the myth that became an icon of American holidays, and Indian leaders generally were pleased with the attempt at greater accuracy.

Linda Coombs, a Wampanoag and native expert at the museum, called the attempt "gratifying" but added that while some people are recognizing that what they've been taught is not true, there are some who "still don't want to hear it."

The Wampanoag of today are politically motivated and keenly interested in cultural preservation. Their pressure over recent decades finally motivated the museum in recent years to establish a special exhibit that includes the viewpoint of the Native Peoples. The exhibit, called "Irreconcilable Differences 1620-1692," traces the history of Plymouth Colony from the landing of the Mayflower and covers the major points of interaction between the colonists and the Native Peoples.

Many white historians had considered the Wampanoag to be extinct, the demise the result of the bloodiest war in New England, known as King Philip's War, from 1675 to 1676. Although their culture was nearly lost, the Wampanoag tribe was revitalized and reasserted itself in the 1960s and 1970s. Members of the tribe as it is now constituted insist their genealogies prove its culture "did not disappear." In 1987, it became the first federally recognized tribe in Massachusetts.

Anthony E. Pollard, an activist historian at Plimoth Plantation, and known by his Wampanoag name as Nanepashemet, wrote before he died in 1995 that the Wampanoag have proved by being a dynamic culture they will continue to exist despite continued challenges to their traditions and values.

The town of Plymouth draws thousands of tourists each year primarily because of its historical ties to the Pilgrims and the 1621 feast that became the core of the myth so ingrained in America's sense of national
identity. The Wampanoag regret many non-native people still believe the myth.

It was Plymouth's annual Thanksgiving Day celebration in 1970 that brought the cultural conflict into the national spotlight. Local planners sought out a Wampanoag to deliver a speech at a state dinner celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrim landing. They asked Wamsutta Frank James to speak
in praise of the white man for bringing civilization to "us poor heathens," according to Moonanum James, a co-leader of United American Indians of New England.

When event organizers read in advance what Wamsutta intended to say, they denied him the right to speak because his remarks did not fit the state's need to keep the Pilgrim mythology alive. Wamsutta refused to give a speech written for him by the state "that would keep the lies alive," said Moonanum
James.

Instead, native people from throughout the Americas came to Plymouth to mourn ancestors sold into slavery, burned alive, massacred, cheated and mistreated since the arrival of the Pilgrims. The natives call the gathering the National Day of Mourning.

At the 30th National Day of Mourning on Nov. 25, 1999, Moonanum James complained native peoples were not welcomed in Plymouth because "those who do not want the truth to come out have tried many times and in many ways to silence us."

"They wanted to keep the Pilgrim mythology alive," Moonanum James said. "They needed to keep the truth buried."

He said what was in Wamsutta's speech that so upset officials was that the reason the nation's focus was put on the Pilgrims and not the earlier English-speaking colony in Jamestown, Va., is that in Jamestown "the circumstances were way too ugly to hold up as an effective national myth," such as cannibalism on the part of the white settlers.

Wamsutta also planned to say the Pilgrims did not call themselves pilgrims, did not come here seeking religious freedom but, rather, as part of a commercial venture and they did not actually land at what is now called Plymouth Rock, derided by natives as a monument to racism and oppression.

The only truth in the whole mythology, according to Wamsutta, is that "these pitiful European strangers would not have survived their first several years in 'New England' were it not for the aid of Wampanoag people."

The annual National Day of Mourning turned ugly on Nov. 28, 1997, when police confronted a group of from 100 to 200 Indians trying to march through the historic district of Plymouth. Witnesses said police beat and gassed the group, arresting about 25 on charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly.

Earlier in the day a group of historical re-enactors dressed as Pilgrims had marched through the same area to commemorate the first Thanksgiving without incident. Indian demonstrators argued without success that they had the same right to freedom of speech.

United American Indians of New England said the most sickening part of what happened is that the police attack was executed simply to protect the sacred image of the Pilgrims and the sacred image of Plymouth as a tourist shrine. The police assault was planned and carried out simply to protect the
tourist industry in Plymouth, the native activists said.

The confrontation did have positive results. Two years later, under an agreement with town officials, two plaques articulating the Indian view of Thanksgiving were dedicated by the Indians, one on Cole's Hill near the statue of Massasoit, and one in the town's Post Office square.

The Cole's Hill plaque reads in part: "Many Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers. To them, Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of their people, the theft of their lands, and the relentless assault on their culture."

The Post Office square plaque tells the story of Metacomet, the son of Massasoit, who became known to the English as King Philip. Massasoit was the first and staunchest ally of the settlers for 40 years until his death in 1661. When Philip became the tribal leader in 1662, he initially honored treaties made by his father with Plymouth Colony. Philip, however, later called upon native people to unite to defend their homelands, resulting in King Philip's war. The bloody conflict lasted from 1675 to 1676 when Philip was murdered and his head impaled on a pike and displayed near the town square.

With the end of the war, resistance to further colonial settlements in southern New England basically ended and the native tribes came under complete control of the colonists.

The struggle continues today, however, as Moonanum James said, to free the land "from the lies of the history books, the profiteers, and the mythmakers."