Saturday, our final day!

Today is our last scheduled day of group activities in Minneapolis and the day didn’t disappoint. We started off the day meeting Detrick LaPointe at the Ojibwe Tribal Center to hear about his research and perspective. A Lakota Sioux raised off the Rosebud reservation, he provided an interesting perspective of applying data analysis to a population that has been victimized by researchers in the past. His background in psychology lent itself well to his current work in promoting technological leadership with the University of Minnesota. The main focus of their work is to provide equal access to the internet as many of the reservations within the Americas do not have adequate internet coverage. He introduced us all to the concept of “space internet” with the mobilization of SpaceX increasing the number of global satellites internet transmission might be satellite-based in the future which would increase the scope of coverage.  The access to information is another key determinant of health affecting many tribal populations.

After learning from Detrick, we were visited by Dorene Day an Ojibwe midwife working to bring back the sacred ceremonies and practices of home birth. She is a gifted storyteller and wove a humorous and profound history of how she was drawn to the traditional birthing techniques of her people. Telling us of her parents that were both talented keepers of their culture, lived in rural Minnesota with their 17 children.  Her father was a talented trapper and singer who could sing for 7 days without repeating a song. Her mother was the core of the families strength, working incredibly hard to raise her children in the relative wilderness. Dorene told us how the Ojibwe language was lost within one family as her older brothers and sisters went to a school where they were beaten for speaking their native language, so to save the children from harm, her parents switched to speaking English at home. Dorene, the youngest of 17 children, was not raised in a household that spoke Ojibwe and had to work hard as an adult to reclaim her language. She told us of her midwife training, her own personal birthing stories and how they were able to blend traditional practices at a hospital birth for her daughter.  Within one birth story it showed both incredibly prejudice and understanding by different Physicians within the hospital towards the Ojibwe choices surrounding the birth and incorporation of birthing ceremonies within a Western setting. After learning of all the abuses suffered by Native Americans by medical professionals it was warming to hear of this modern day marriage of practices. It was a joy and honor to listen to Dorene’s journey and lessons on traditional midwifery.

After lunch, we all migrated towards the First Nations Kitchen for our afternoon service activity based in the Native American Episcopal Church. We were introduced to Reverend Robert Twobulls  who told us of the mission of the First Nations Kitchen to provide Indigenous foods to Indigenous peoples to help fight the epidemics of obesity and Diabetes that plague many tribal members. The Kitchen serves once a week and the menu is comprised of healthy alternatives and traditional diet of the Plains people. Next we heard from Shyla who gave us a lecture on Manoomin (wild rice in Ojibwe), the cultural basis and importance of traditional harvesting.  Imbedded in her presentation were several videos of traditional harvesting and processing, showing the amount of labor it takes to harvest and sell this staple.

Our next speaker was Joanna Hill, who is an indigenous seed keeper and teacher who works to teach about culture through food. She told us about “the food prophecy” contained within the 7 fires prophecy and the sacred relationship with food.  She shared some important insights around the “order of assimilation not being allowed to provide [their] own food.” The over-arching message over the power of food within the Ojibwe culture and the use of food as a determinant of health was an often-overlooked topic within our discussion of health in general.  Afterwards we broke into teams, cleaning, preparing the hall for their next meal and breaking up the ample ice deposits on the streets surrounding the church. A small group ventured to Gandhi Mahal, a local Indian restuarant, to speak to their staff about how the business serves as a platform for food justice and how they work to serve fresh vegetables with their own aquaponics system. We helped harvest some peppers and rejoined our brethren at the Church.

Aquaponic garden in Gandhi Mahal

Handpicked peppers in Gandhi Mahal

Sarah, bringer of light, and queen of the spotless kitchen.

Ice beware, the breakers are let loose!

The whole gang got together for Jamaican take out at Angie’s house, before heading out to see her daughter Hema star as Belle within her High School production of Beauty and the Beast. All of us were rather staggered by how well the production was done.  The costumes, the music and set design were really impressive and really redefined our interpretation of a high school musical. They didn't even need Zack Efron. After congratulating our leading lady we all headed home to Angie’s house for a much anticipated sleep.