Cante wasteya nape ciuzapi do. Ethan Emakiyapi Do. Oyate mitawa kin hena Mdewakanton na Ho-Chunk ewicakiyapi do. I currently live in Mniska(Whitewater), WI. I am not a fluent Dakota speaker, but will be in time. I feel relearning our languages is key to our survival, our languages contain the very root of our lifeways, they provide a means to relate. Through our lifeways we are all able to relate. And through this relation we can heal. Heal as people.

Our lives, preconception have been manipulated and subjugated through the games of wasi icun. For the larger part of my life, I was living the way “they” wanted me to. Only in recent years, have I began to enjoy life. This is because I relearned how to live. I learned the relatedness of all things. I learned there is an alternate route in life than the one the wasicu steers us down. I found this route or way if you will, through relations. I began participating in our ceremonies. These same ceremonies my ancestors were participating in for many generations. The ceremonies have purpose, meaning and vast amount of power in them. We must help eachother out, we must extend a hand and know we can lean on each other. Do not allow our kin to fall into the traps, set up by the wasicu. At age 19, I truly can feel the healing process. And I Know that it begins with our relations.

First Nations Network