Healing Our Spirit Worldwide-North meets South (and East and West)

I will be traveling with some of my Canadian (and Alaskan) colleagues  this week and next to participate in this meeting in Hawaii.  For those unfamiliar with HOSW, I encourage you to check out the  website and review the History/Covenant created at earlier gatherings.  See background info and website link below.  Consider becoming a friend to this important movement.  Healing Our Spirit  Worldwide (HOSW)  The Sixth Gathering  Honolulu, HI  September 3-10, 2010 http://www.hosw.com/index.php OSW History/Covenant The Healing Our Spirit Movement The Healing Our Spirit Worldwide movement began as one person’s vision to create an international forum and movement focused on the alcohol and drug abuse issues and programs in Indigenous communities throughout the global community. With the Second Gathering (1994) in Sydney, Australia and the Third (1998) in Rotorua, Aotearoa (New Zealand), HOSW established itself as the international cultural and spiritual movement celebrating the tenacity and resilience of Indigenous peoples around the world in the struggle against alcohol and drug abuse. The fourth gathering of HOSW held in Albuquerque, New Mexico (2002), expanded the vision with the inclusion of health and governance issues. The Fourth Gathering provided two important developments: • The Covenant – a document to be designed for use at many levels, promoting health  and healing and ensuring these issues have a prominent place in the everyday life of  Indigenous peoples around the world – was formulated to provide guidance and direction  for Indigenous peoples in developing models of healing, self-determination and wholeness. • The International Indigenous Council (HOSW IIC), the vision-keeping and advisory body  consisting of Indigenous leaders from different countries. The Fifth Gathering expanded the vision with the inclusion of health and governance issues in relation to alcohol and drug abuse Held in Edmonton, Canada (2006) saw increased participation of indigenous Peoples from the Pacific and expanded the vision of the Covenant  of HOSW to make it one of the world’s most remarkable documents. The Fifth Gathering’s Indigenous Delegation from Central and South America, sponsored by  NNAPF, set the stage for their full and active inclusion in the HOSW movement.  The Sixth  Gathering is reaching out to more communities in Central & South America, as well as to those in Africa.  Spread the word! Healing Our Spirit Worldwide Covenant Celebrating that our Creator has given Indigenous Peoples, who belong to the land  and the sea, a unique and rich collection of gifts including mother earth, the sky and water,  or families and nations, our culture and wisdom and our own lives; Recognizing that these gifts rest at the heart of our past, our present and our future; Believing that the Spirit is the energy that empowers us to share, replenish, protect  and respect these gifts according to the Creator’s design; Remembering the devastation and confusion that colonization brought, including  alcohol and disease; Grieving for the land taken and the loss of communal life; We the Indigenous Peoples of the world having come together as part of the  Healing Our Spirit Worldwide movement declare with one voice and heart our resolve  to strengthen the Spirit of our Nations and Peoples, to clear from our hearts and minds  the clouds of confusion and doubt. We hold as true and as our guide the teaching of our grandmothers and  grandfathers that; We hold a sacred role to protect, maintain and respect the Creator’s gifts  so that our children and generations of children after them may live a healthy and rich life; Our responsibility to address, enhance and restore our sacred role; as custodians  of these gifts we need to make wise decisions because we are accountable to the  Creator and to generations to come; The health and well-being of our people and nations is built on our ability to maintain  compassionate, functioning relationships within ourselves, with the earth, each other,  our families and communities; Knowledge and wisdom are our partners and we must enrich them both and use them  well if our children are to build a meaningful future. We commit ourselves to work in unity and with resolve to strengthen and  heal the spirit of our Peoples.