February 15, 2017
We're now in Ali Chuk or Ali Jegk as our host spells it. We arrived here on February 6th. There are also two individuals who are Dine' here. On February 7th we spent a good deal of time hearing the current situation, with a visit to the border fence. As Ofelia was explaining the situation, I did a facebook live feed.
Later the same evening we attended a meeting of the Gu Va district council to hear the Tohono O'odham Chairman speak about the Tohono O'odham response to President Trump's executive order. All three of us were surprised and disappointed in the talk of the chairman, in fact, the entire council and audience seemed to feel it was less than enthusiastic to merely speak of a "resolution" with negotiation.
The next day, February 8th, in the arbor (a ceremonial place), we met to explore lingering questions and to strategize Ofelia's thoughts and her plan. She really wants to place this in the hands of the local district youth if there's to be a resistance to the wall, we're working with her on strategies for bringing the youth together and working on a plan for an ongoing nonviolence training that's strongly culturally based.
Feb 9th, Janie and I headed into Tucson for a rally for the "March to Oak Flat". We're planning on attending the March on Feb 16th through 19th. We returned to Ofelia's the next day and will remain with her until the 16th. Most likely we'll return to Ofelia's after the March to Oak Flat to finish our planning.
The rally went well and we met some friends from Standing Rock and also from Two Rivers Camp - Stop Trans-Pecos Pipeline. I haven't reported on our activities at Two Rivers.
Yesterday, Feb 11th, we helped around the yard and home, and assisted with preparing the site and preparing food for a ceremony for the youth. This ceremony was only for O'odham youth (with two O'odham adults) and consisted of a sweat and discussion about how this ceremony is done, they are planning on doing this ceremony every two weeks, given the current situation. Ofelia needs to get to other communities to include other youth in this planning. We're working on getting her a gas card to help with expenses in this travel.
There hasn't been much talk of VFP in this dialogue except they all know that we represent VFP and that VFP is supportive of human rights and Native rights and respect. We are planning on carrying the VFP flag in the March for Oak Flats if the organizers say it's appropriate.
Thanks for reading, M'ni Wiconi. By the way, you can see where we are if you google Ali Chuk, Arizona. We're just south of the village and a few hundred feet north of the border fence.