By Kalvin D. Perron
Staff Reporter
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Gii-bmosewag-kwewag. In the Ojibwe language, it means, "the women walked." That's exactly what the Mother Earth Water Walkers did - they walked. First, they walked around the shores of Lake Superior in 2003 and then around Lake Michigan in 2004. On Saturday, April 30, the women began to walk again - this time they embarked on a journey around Lake Huron. They left Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and ended their journey in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., on Wednesday, May 25, at the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians Cultural Lodge. The women plan to walk around Lake Ontario in 2006, and finish up with their final walk around Lake Erie in 2007.
Josephine Mandamin, Thunder Bay native and founder of the Mother Earth Water Walkers, said that the idea of the water walk came during a Sundance Ceremony in Pipestone, Minn. At the ceremony, Grand Chief E. Benton-Banaise-Bawdwayadun told the people of a prophesy that said the abuses of the water will result in severe shortages and that only those who can afford it will have water to drink.
"There will come a day when our water will cost the same as gold," she recalled him saying. "Ounce for an ounce."
Mandamin gathered some friends and together they walked over 1,200 miles along the shores of Lake Superior to raise awareness about the state of Mother Earth and her water. Mandamin said that they were only going to walk around Lake Superior, but soon changed their mind after an elder spoke to them on their journey.
"He told us that as a young child his grandfather always talked about a day that women would walk all of the Great Lakes," she said. "We knew he must have been talking about us, so from that moment on we decided to walk all of them."
The long walk for Mother Earth and Lake Huron was very difficult, according to Mandamin. They carried the Eagle Staff, small amounts of food and clothing, their tents and a copper pail full of water from the lake with them on their journey. Their day began each morning at 3:30 a.m., and because the Eagle Staff had to be put away at night, ended at sundown. Many cold and rainy nights were spent on the side of the road in their tents, when the women couldn't find lodging. Mandamin recalled that many towns were not very hospitable, while others were "extremely generous and caring about the state of water." With three of the five Great Lakes already completed, Mandamin said that the fight to raise awareness about the state of water will need to be carried on by a younger generation.
"Our mother is very sick and when she's sick she can't take care of her children," she said. "It is now up to our young people to carry on with what we are doing and saying about the state of our Mother Earth. Men, women, and children must work hand-in-hand, together, on this problem. When the water goes we, too, will go."
To learn more about the Mother Earth Water Walkers, visit www.motherearthwaterwalk.com.
