Holding onto our Elders - Sweetwater

On behalf of our dear friend and sister, Sweetwater Nannauck (Tlingit), we are extending an important ask out to you all today, as she is needing and looking for medium to long-term housing. We who have learned so much from her are raising money to support her housing stability in these difficult financial times of the Covid-19 pandemic.

                                   Photo: Portrait by Mel Ponder

The original Native elders of this land, the aunties, uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers are some of the most sacred treasures we still have. Their wisdom, patience, willingness to teach and share their traditional ways, strengths of survival and connections to the great Mother Earth and Spirit, are some of our richest resources. We must do our best to support them during these challenging seasons.

The few short years I have known Sweetwater and witnessed the work she does with her various communities has been incredibly inspiring. I have sat in on Decolonizing Our Activism workshops she hosts for those in the community seeking more historical knowledge on systemic racism of Native peoples. She has been a lifelong mentor and advocate for Native youth through numerous projects and efforts. She is a prayer warrior and hosts various prayer circles for BIPOC. She is a strong advocate for climate actions and protection of the environment, tribal sovereignty rights, against tribal disenrollment, and ICWA rights as she has hosted and organized as Director of Idle No More Washington.

Prior to the Covid-19, Sweetwater often travelled providing workshops, presentations, keynote speaker, consulting, and organizing. She works with the University of Washington and has regular student interns and service learning class volunteers every quarter come to her for her Native perspective and guidance while fulfilling their volunteer obligation for a class. She’s helped 4 of these students get into graduate school with letters of recommendations, and helped 3 get jobs by being a reference for them. Her dedication to the youth is her inspiration to continue the work.

                       Photo: Paddle to Standing Rock by Hemene James

As the Director of Idle No more Washington, Sweetwater hosted numerous political and climate actions and teach-ins for the community. The gatherings have stopped. All of the in-person conferences and events have stopped. As Native people we gather in community as a means of cultural survival, and like so many of us; these gatherings that served as livelihood for Sweetwater have stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sweetwater has spent much of her life organizing in the Native community and Seattle at large, and now she needs a home where she can continue her work, can you support her by contributing and sharing this GoFundMe? Your generous contribution will help her continue her work in an online format, thereby reaching those searching for how to renew their connection to Mother Earth, how to work in a respectful way with Native American leaders, activists, and organizers.

For more information about Sweetwater, please visit this link from the
Idle No More Washington  website.

             Photo: JC Epong

Thank you so much for your love, support, and donations. It is our hope and prayer that we look back on the year 2020 as a time of great change and coming together, supporting one another in a good way.

                          With so much gratitude,
                                      Evette, Karen and Evan