If you would like to leave a comment please login or register using the button on the left sidebar under the "Voices" logo. If you have not registered yet fill in the register side of the popup form. You will be e-mailed a validation link. Check your e-mail for your validation link and click it. Then you are all set. Come back to this section and click the Login/Register button again and login. Once you are logged in you can comment using the form at the end of each story. Just click the "Read/Write Comments Link."
Photos from Bakersfield
Below are a few of the photos available to view from our Voices from the Walk Photo's section. We now have more than 40 photo albums available to view, so be sure to check it out.
Comments (1)
3/8/08 written by jenrain,
March 09, 2008
We met up with the group at the Avi outside of Laughlin. They had been able to take a short break for a day or two and the People of the Fort Mohave tribe sent us off in the morning with a couple of songs and a bird dance. It was great! Then a young lady from the Fort Mohave tribe joined us for the walk. It was her first day also.
The morning starts with a talking circle where the group goes over any issues and also greets new walker's and gives them information about what to expect from the walk.
In our little group it was Jackie Dunn (Lakota) and her granddaughter Deysha, and me. We were able to walk about 10 miles with the group and believe me they don't mess around, they are going at a pretty good pace. They take breaks about every 3-4 miles and that is where everyone talks and socializes. There are people from all over the world on this walk. It was hard to keep up for me! The spirit of the people carries you and makes you want to do walk on and to go on, so I was able to make it through half of the day. I talked to one woman from Australia who said it does definitely get easier after the first couple of days. Somehow your heart and your spirit wants to conitinue but the body doesn't agree!!
There are a group of Japanese walker's and most of them don't speak English, but they had learned some Lakota songs and sang them and drummed as we walked. One of the Native gentleman was teaching them new songs also. There are several Buddhist monks walking and they are the one's at the front with the Native people setting the pace and chanting as they walk. Several flags are being carried along with the Eagle staff at the front.
I would say we had 30 or so people walking on Saturday. Their spirits and strength are amazing. I know one gentleman is walking for Health care reform because he cannot get his knee operated on and it was giving him problems, but he still walked and kept up with the group. One man walked in his bare feet. Many people walked with health problems and pain, but they were in high spirits and encouraged others to have strength and to go on. The walk is for Mother Earth and indigenous rights. Many people carried trash bags and picked up trash as we walked. I thought that was so terrific and showed the example of being steward's of the Earth.
It was a cool thing for me to see Dennis Banks there and also Harry Goodwolf Kindness, who was one of the original walker's 30 years ago and wrote a book about it. Well known people in the Native community and celebrities in their own ways.
I also got to see my good friend Willie Fargosa there who has made many walks and who is a wonderful caretaker of the Earth and an activist in many ways.
It was an amazing experience and we hope to meet up with them again in a couple of weeks (after my feet heal! LOL) in Arizona. Every step you take on the walk is a prayer, a prayer for Mother Earth and for the struggles of the People. I could see how, if I was able to walk for longer than 10 miles, how I might be clearer in my thinking and my prayer and my focus. Thank you to the phenomenal people who have taken this on. It was so cool to be part of history.
Write comment
You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.
The morning starts with a talking circle where the group goes over any issues and also greets new walker's and gives them information about what to expect from the walk.
In our little group it was Jackie Dunn (Lakota) and her granddaughter Deysha, and me.
We were able to walk about 10 miles with the group and believe me they don't mess around, they are going at a pretty good pace. They take breaks about every 3-4 miles and that is where everyone talks and socializes. There are people from all over the world on this walk. It was hard to keep up for me! The spirit of the people carries you and makes you want to do walk on and to go on, so I was able to make it through half of the day. I talked to one woman from Australia who said it does definitely get easier after the first couple of days. Somehow your heart and your spirit wants to conitinue but the body doesn't agree!!
There are a group of Japanese walker's and most of them don't speak English, but they had learned some Lakota songs and sang them and drummed as we walked. One of the Native gentleman was teaching them new songs also. There are several Buddhist monks walking and they are the one's at the front with the Native people setting the pace and chanting as they walk. Several flags are being carried along with the Eagle staff at the front.
I would say we had 30 or so people walking on Saturday. Their spirits and strength are amazing. I know one gentleman is walking for Health care reform because he cannot get his knee operated on and it was giving him problems, but he still walked and kept up with the group. One man walked in his bare feet. Many people walked with health problems and pain, but they were in high spirits and encouraged others to have strength and to go on. The walk is for Mother Earth and indigenous rights. Many people carried trash bags and picked up trash as we walked. I thought that was so terrific and showed the example of being steward's of the Earth.
It was a cool thing for me to see Dennis Banks there and also Harry Goodwolf Kindness, who was one of the original walker's 30 years ago and wrote a book about it. Well known people in the Native community and celebrities in their own ways.
I also got to see my good friend Willie Fargosa there who has made many walks and who is a wonderful caretaker of the Earth and an activist in many ways.
It was an amazing experience and we hope to meet up with them again in a couple of weeks (after my feet heal! LOL) in Arizona. Every step you take on the walk is a prayer, a prayer for Mother Earth and for the struggles of the People. I could see how, if I was able to walk for longer than 10 miles, how I might be clearer in my thinking and my prayer and my focus. Thank you to the phenomenal people who have taken this on. It was so cool to be part of history.