Cherokee Healing and Wellness Coalition

Prayers for 2012 Forgiveness Journey

terry — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 01:49:37 +0000

THANK YOU for joining us each morning with your prayers from November ^th through December^th . Your prayers were felt as the Wellbriety Drum was played in Cherokee, NC with song, prayers and hanging tobacco prayer ties on a tree. We are grateful that your prayers were lifted for the success of the coming together of all in the 2012 Forgiveness Journey.

Please click the banner below to visit our sister site for more information.

Cherokee 2012 Journey to Forgiveness and Healing

terry — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 01:42:20 +0000

The Healing and Wellness Coalition was formed in 2002 because of the growing concerns in the community about substance abuse, diabetes and depression, loss of cultural identity and other issues. The Coalition is an unincorporated non-profit association which does not have tax exempt status. We do have an Employer Identification Number. We have an elected Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. The Coalition has no paid staff; all members donate their time and talents. Our fiscal agent is Turn It Around Ministries, Inc.

Our mission statement is: The Cherokee Healing and Wellness Coalition is committed to enhancing the lives of people by honoring and reclaiming the seven Cherokee core values especially by the reduction of substance abuse in a comprehensive manner. The seven core values are: spirituality, harmony, education, sense of place, honoring the past, strong character, and sense of humor.

In 1838, the US Army forced the Cherokee people to leave their homeland in the Southeastern US and travel, through terrible conditions, to Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. Most Americans know that thousands of Cherokee people died on the Trail of Tears, but few people recognize its lasting impact on the descendants of those who survived the removal, and those who remained behind.

Healing and Wellness Coalition members who are enrolled in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) and non-enrolled members want to unite with the Cherokee Nation and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee in Oklahoma in sponsoring a journey to healing by forgiveness. The journey will begin with a 1 ½ day conference in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Participants will then symbolically retrace the Trail of Tears in reverse from Oklahoma to North Carolina by car or bus, stopping at significant locations performing healing ceremonies at each place, and ending up with a 1 ½ or two day conference in Cherokee, NC. Tentative dates for the journey and conferences are May 19-26, 2012.

The Journey to Forgiveness and Healing is an effort to address how historical events, i.e. Trail of Tears and boarding schools have affected the Cherokee people for generations and how these events caused an almost near loss of our culture and identity primarily as the result of the forced removal, assimilation and acculturation process. Research indicates these historical events alone have had catastrophic psychological/emotional effects on those who actually experienced them. Therefore, the trauma that has been passed down through the generations is related to the substance abuse, domestic violence, and various health and mental problems that continue to plague Cherokee families today.

By inviting the young people in this community to participate in this journey, the Healing and Wellness Coalition hopes to educate and inform those in attendance how to break the cycle that is the cause of many of these problems. It is our goal that this event will be a life-changing experience for all participants and especially for the youth who are our future.

Conferences will include nationally known and local speakers, Tribal leaders, community members and presentations on the removal and its impact on the Cherokees generationally. We plan to discuss how self destructive behaviors spring forth as the result of a traumatic history in the form of unresolved anger, physical, emotional, sexual abuse, drug and alcohol dependence, wounded spirits, complicated grief, inability to maintain healthy relationships, inability to express feelings and caring emotions to family and relations in an appropriate manner.

The Coalition is committed to giving those in attendance an opportunity to openly address issues that have affected their lives personally, professionally, spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally. We want to give participants an opportunity to release emotions and express feelings of how they perceive the Trail of Tears affected Cherokees as a people. We hope that all who participate will on some level achieve a sense of peace within themselves. We hope to model combating these cycles to tribal members and to other cultures across Indian country and beyond to non-Native cultures who have suffered oppression.

Expected outcomes of this event are:

To support and assist breathing new life into developing an overall cultural awareness of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Cherokee tribes in Oklahoma.
To teach tribal members and other groups who have experienced oppression through a traumatic history, how when one experiences trauma it affects the following generations through ill health and emotions.
To educate how self destructive cycles spring forth from any traumatic history and take the form of anger, abuse, drug and alcohol dependence and other health problems, broken spirits, resistance to relationships, an inability to express feelings and caring emotions to family and relations.
To produce a resource guide to be used by others who have suffered oppression to learn the devastating effects of historical grief and intergenerational trauma.

If additional information is needed or for any questions, please contact Coalition Chairperson Beth Farris at 828-421-9855 or gsmw_beth@yahoo.com or Project Coordinator Patty Grant at 828-554-6549 or patty.grant@yahoo.com.

CHWC Community Day Event Photos

terry — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:53:51 +0000

Community Day Event

Community Day

Community Day Raffle Results

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:05:46 +0000

Here are the results of the Community Day Raffle. Congratulations to all of our winners!

Toni Tahquette

Diane Herring

Xander White

Sasha Vrtunski

Jenean Hornbuckle

Cheryl Ward

Zahay Grant

Jan Valder

Margaret Reyes

Sarah Johnson

Whitney Berber

Lisa Taylor.

4th Annual Community Ceremonial Day

terry — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:57:08 +0000

Cherokee Community Celebration Day,

October 22, 2011

The Cherokee Healing & Wellness Coaltion sponsored its 4^th Annual Cherokee Community Day this past Saturday at the Tsali Manor Pavilion. Friends and families gathered on a beautiful fall day to honor, promote and reclaim some of our Cherokee traditions.

Community Day

Identifying of one’s clan family is a standard activity during this annual event as is the Cementation or “make friends” (Atunah) activity. The Atunah is one of the seven ceremonies that was traditionally held during this time of the year. The importance of this ceremony was that the Cherokees came together after their New Year ceremony for thanksgiving, renewal, reclaiming and forgiveness of relationships. This event showed how important community cohesiveness and individual relationships were. It was a time to forgive all passed wrongs and ill feelings one had for others, and a time for individuals to commit to loving and caring for each other. Tom Hill, the Fire Keeper for this event, kept the fire blazing while individuals took time to identify those others for whom they carried ill feelings, hatred or dislikes toward. This process included, writing down the names and then throwing the pieces of paper on which the names were written into the fire. This act demonstrated a mental and physical way of saying, “I forgive you and will no longer carry these feelings inside me, clearing the way for me to have a loving and caring way of living.” The Cherokee knew that carrying hostility divided our People and that clearing away negative energy in our bodies promoted good health and kept peace among our people.

After this, a Friendship Dance was held, led by Keawa Bone and the singing done by Kevin Jackson.

This year another Cherokee practice was introduced to the people. Several scientific research results were shared. For example, the importance of what drinking water has to our bodies which is 70% water; how the effects of drinking a daily quota of water has on reducing the risks of bladder cancer, colon cancer and the possible reduction of heart disease. Additionally, they were told of a research done by a renown Japanese doctor, Emirates Emoto, who found that words, feelings, and thoughts have a profound effect on water and the water produced either clear, brilliant, beautiful crystals, or ugly, dark, deformed ones depending on the intent delivered to them, either, spoke, thought, or written…it didn’t matter in what form, only that the water took on the attitude. This particular research information should lead us to question what our behavior is doing to others since our bodies and planet are both 70% water!

The people were reminded of how the Cherokees used water in their daily lives and how it was also used for healing. For thousands of years, the Cherokees have known the importance of water, they have used water as medicine and practiced “going to water” in their daily lives, or during preparation for important ceremonies and activities. There were also special people who could use Ama in their healing practice. The Cherokees had knowledge of this life-giving resource many years before scientific “discoveries”. Two elders brought water from a spring high in the mountains for the event, and a prayer of thanksgiving for the water, acknowledging the Creator’s gift, and all’s of life’s dependence on it was given by Pastor Jack Russell. The Ama was then offered to anyone who desired to partake.

The Traditional Feast once again provided people with an opportunity to enjoy some of the Cherokee foods, bean and chestnut bread, squash, beans and corn, wild greens, frog legs, rabbit casserole, quail gravy and deer gravy, wishey and slicks, and various fruits and berry dishes, watercress salad, along with blueberry & hibiscus tea.

The group dismissed by singing a hymn in the Cherokee language.

The Cherokee Healing and Wellness Coalition sponsors this yearly event because it is committed to encouraging a healthy life style and healing by the promotion of Cherokee traditions along with the Seven Cherokee Core values. Many thanks for your partication in this event and your donations that made it all possible. Sgi.