Hopi Update and our Gratitude this Thanksgiving!

We are so grateful for YOU on this day of community, shared meals, laughter, stories and love. We are honored to be collaborating together with you and the Hopi Nation, at this time of year that reminds us we can come together across cultures for the benefit of all. Though the history can be painful, we are the shapers of the present and future. We are grateful for the elders and wisdom-keepers, who hold the life giving traditions of the past through ceremony, story, song, skill and reverence. We are grateful for love and how it can heal the wounds of separation and colonialism. We are grateful for remembering, truth, and grace. We are grateful to be with YOU on this journey, inspired always by your heart and continued generosity and support.

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We are so happy to announce that traditional arts classes began this month as part of our Natwanhooyam Project on Second Mesa! Hopi littles, youth and adults alike are sharing and learning weaving, painting, beading and other cultural arts. Thanks to your generous donations on Indigenous People's Day, we were able to provide the materials and equipment required to pass on these teachings. For many of the youth this is the only place they can learn these cultural skills. As they engage in support of each other and a positive future, they preserve not just arts that can provide income later, but also life lessons woven into the teaching of each class. We could not have done this without you!

Our next step is to raise funds for Spring, when classes will move to the agricultural fields and focus on land stewardship, dryland farming, seed saving, permaculture, herbal medicine, plant wisdom, and Hopi language, incorporating entrepreneurship that one day could support the entire village with sustainable food and cottage industry. We will be building several traditional and innovative sustainable structures for the children's village - such as stone, aircrete, and Superadobe earthbag buildings, and plan to have build and plant community events which you can join!

THANK YOU FOR BEING ON THIS JOURNEY WITH US FOR ALL HUMANITY. THANK YOU FOR BEING A LIGHT.

MAY ALL BEINGS BE SAFE, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND LOVED.

Photos, from left to right: Belt weavers, Beadwork, Happy faces at Hopi Nation, Hopi youth running and playing on the mesa land, agricultural land assessment our partner and Hopi elder