from
B1
Currently,
the Sonoran government is attempting to retaliate for Indigenous
protests in the capitol of Hermosillo. Indian people from across
Sonora, traveling by bus and without money for lunch, halted
traffic in the busy city with concrete blocks and human barricades
in 1998. Their actions came after the state stalled in negotiations
to deliver development funds for desperately needed homes, schools,
road and clinics, directly to the Indian Nations.
The
move for autonomy by the Traditional Council of Indigenous nations,
based in Obregon, is battling to halt the misuse and theft of
funds as they trickle through the Mexican Government and its
federal INI, similar to the BIA in the United States.
The
Traditional Council is composed of leaders of O'op (Pima), Mukaray
(Guarijos), Kikapoo, Yoeme (Yaqui), Yoreme (Mayo), Konka'ak
(Seri) and Tohono O'odham.
It
was during their despair, as the Yaqui women shared their news,
hopes and dreams of helping disabled Indigenous children in
Sonora, that a series of connections was triggered.
Earlier
Hudson donated one of his instruments to be raffled off at a
party Shockley
|
held to give
back to his friends. "We were Giving back for the blessings and
miracles in our lives," Shockley said.
In March,
Shockley, owner of the Dreamtime Pipe Co., and artist Susan O'Terra
Foster delivered a $750 check from the raffle to Maria Garcia,
for the efforts in Sonora.
"We're here
today to give it to someone who can put it to good use," Shockley
told Garcia. Garcia is vice president of the Truth and Right of
Women, and owns Café Cultural, and Indigenous organizing center
in Tucson, with her husband Joe
Garcia, Governor of the Tohono O'odham in Mexico.
"I want to
help out in any way I can," Shockley said.
Meanwhile,
Ronal Eagle Rosenberg joined the group. He is a board member of
the Sierra Madre Alliance which promotes Preservation of Tarahumara
Culture and the biosphere in the Sierra Madres of Mexico Rosenberg
just happened to know someone who had a 15-passenger van they
were willing to donate, in part, for a good cause for $500.
"When you're
talking about the Yaqui, you're talking about people without health
care," said Rosenberg, a
|
soft-spoken,
longtime activist in the borderzone and Mexico.
"If the mentally
disabled don't get direct attention-they don't stand a chance
of survival," Rosenberg said.
Finding the
subject of the didgeridoo simply irresistible, Shockley described
it as a hollowed-out wind instrument, traditionally made by Australians
using eucalyptus branches burrowed out by termites. Shockley now
handcrafts the soul-stirring instruments from the agave cactus
plant in the Sonoran Desert. The Choctaw musician made still another
offer-to teach Indigenous people in Sonora to craft the didgeriduoo
from local agave plants, as a cottage industry.
Shockley said
it is sad to see young people losing their culture and connection
with Mother Earth. Leaving it behind, he said, "Leads to sadness
of the heart."
Over calabacitos
(squash and cheese) and Mexican lunches, the group, joined by
Tohono O'odham human rights activist and elder George Ignacio
spoke of the magic and miracles that bring together people working
for common good.
"The spirit
works like that" Shockley said.
END
|