SACRED SITES RUN 2008By Olivia Chumacero
May this day find you in good health and with much respect we send this letter to you and your community.
As indigenous people we have endured many atrocities and extermination tactics throughout these past five hundred years. These unconscionable actions were and continue to be executed not only towards our communities but; to the land , the waters, the air and every form of creation on this place we call home. Because of this devastation and disrespect of life in all its forms, we are now living precariously on our Mother Earth through the age of global warming.
What remains true however, is that as traditional indigenous people we respect everything that sustains life. We know that the human being is here as caretaker. We have maintained our responsibility diligently as the ke
epers of wisdom in spite of the continuous onslaught against us and our traditional ways. We remember our relationship, our connection with the four directions and the manner in which to live on our Mother Earth .
This responsibility that we carry demands that we honor it through positive and creative actions, and therein the reason for the Sacred Sites Run. Our goal as spirit runners is to weave indigenous wisdom and scientific knowledge together, so that we may assist in the necessary healing during this age of global warming. In the end we are all one tribe, the human tribe and we all have only this one home, our Mother Earth.
In conjunction with, the running to and honoring sacred sites in remote indigenous communities; we will share information on alternative and green based energy and water conservation, to all our hosting communities.
We are confident that the bridges created in the midst of this Sacred Sites Run, will endure for generations to come. Through past and present experience, we know that it is not the usual behavior of the rest of the world, to honor and respect land or people in indigenous communities; therefore we undertake this Sacred Sites Run conscious of both the responsibility and the urgency of the times.
We extend an invitation to you, your family, your friends, and your community, to join us in this multi-tribal Sacred Sites Run this year during the month of April. We will begin the run honoring the sacred site of the Hopi nation , in the Second Mesa, Arizona and continue through the state, cross the border to finish in the sun pyramid in Teotihuacan, Mexico.
We take it upon ourselves as spirit runners to follow through with our responsibility as caretakers to our Mother Earth. We hope that you will be able to join us as a runner, support staff, host, sponsor or perhaps in thought and or spirit . Please contact us if this is something that touches your heart and spirit. And we look forward to working together for the benefit of the future generations .
With all respect,
Olivia Chumacero –International Director
213.618.0420 cell & land line 631.714.5083 (until February 12, 2008 only)
Sacred Sites Run 2008
P.O. Box 31276
Los Angeles CA. 90031
Sacred Sites Run Coordinators
International Director Arizona Coordinator Mexico Coordinator Olivia Chumacero Ruben Saufkie Sr. Helen Samuels chumacero@spiritruns.net rmsaufkie_h2opi@yahoo.com hcontact@tekio.net
Olivia Chumacero is from the Raramuri tribe in the Copper Canyon of Chihuahua, Mexico and as a traditional spirit runner has coordinated transcontinental runs for many decades. She honors her ancestral responsibility to live everyday as a caretaker of life in all its manifestations - one home, one Mother Earth, one tribe –the human tribe.
Helen Samuels is an Ashoka Fellow recipient, she has created an international network that supports urban, rural and indigenous youth as stakeholders in the emerging DO-IT-YOURSELF culture of social and environmental restoration. Ms. Samuels has supported transcontinental runs for the last 20 years, reestablishing north–south routes that connect 1st nation peoples of the Americas for the purpose of ceremonial exchange and honoring environmental practices.
Ruben Saufkie Sr. is from the Hopi Water Clan of Second Mesa, AZ. He coordinated the runners on the historic H2OPI run that carried the message “Water is Sacred” from Hopi to the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico, City in 2006. He is deeply committed to being a messenger for Water and has traveled worldwide in doing so.http://www.spiritruns.net/213-618-040
