13 INTERNATIONAL INDIGENOUS Grandmothers

Here's a group everyone should know about:

The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers:

"These women, from Asia, Africa, and North and South America, met last October with U.S. political activists, including Ambassador Carole Mosley Braun, Gloria Steinem and Alice Walker. Here’s how The Thirteen describe themselves: 'WE, THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF THIRTEEN INDIGENOUS GRANDMOTHERS, represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come. We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth and the destruction of indigenous ways of life. We believe the teachings of our ancestors will light our way through an uncertain future....'

“During a prayer offering to the group, Rita Pitka Bleumenstein, a Yupik grandmother who teaches about Native American culture world wide, broke down into tears. She talked about a vision she had when she was nine years old that if she doesn't pass her traditions down to young people and teach them to save the earth, 'We're going to suffer,' she said.

"’I don't cry very often,’ she continued. ‘I didn't cry when my husband passed away and I didn't cry when my mother passed away, but when something like this council happens I cry. I think we were put on this earth to do it because the grandmothers told us that when you start something you don't stop. You carry it on. You finish it.'" MORE >>>