Water Walkers

Lake Superior is a big lake. Some say it is an inland Sea. My Anishinabe people call it Gitchigama or the Great Sea.

Lake Superior is a very large body of water that some people consider to be an inland sea. It is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world’s surface fresh water. It has a coastline of nearly 10,000 miles and spans across the border between Canada and the United States1. It is also home to many fish species, islands, and shipwrecks23.

The name Lake Superior comes from the French term le lac supérieur, meaning the upper lake, because it is above Lake Huron4. However, the Ojibwe people who live around the lake call it gichi-gami, meaning great sea4. This name reflects the lake’s immense size and power, as well as its cultural and spiritual significance for the Ojibwe people. Quote from Microsoft Bing

Water Walker's have been moving around Gichigami for 34 days and today is the finish. They started this morning at 5:00 a.m. All most all ran at least a part of their 1/2 hour turn carrying the water. Every step is a prayer and every prayer is meant for the water.

Water is life. Back in the early eighties, two Native American women from Canada came down to meet with women in Minnesota. I was there at one of those meetings. It was an urgent meeting and they talked about the importance of family and water as medicine and life.

They let us know that our water was in danger and that as women we had to act. Many have done a small part by bringing back full moon ceremony, starting water ceremonies on the Mississippi in Minnesota and around the country.

You will find water ceremonies in other parts of the country as well.

The women made it clear that it was not the job of Native women only. The ceremonies have been in Ojibwe. The songs, the prayers, the dress, medicines and protocol have been introduced by Native women. But all women are welcome to carry the water.

Men are always welcome to support the women and do not carry the water on the walks or in water ceremonies. They do carry the staff.

There have been water walks around the country to bring attention to the importance of water. The one that just finished was a similar one to the one that happened twenty years ago.

Water is life

and due to strife

our life is in danger

not just by a stranger

but from all of us!

~

Too many times we fuss

over what others do.

It is important to look

in the mirror and we can write a book

on all that we do that isn't helping

the water, our life from pollution.

~

There is a solution.

Repurpose, reuse, recycle

to name a few, some ride a bicycle.

Buy less plastic, and don't use a straw.

~

Please stop polluting, I plead

fast food plastic all over it is greed

buy cheap, make a big profit

Garbage is piling up and it

doesn't seem to be getting any better.

~

People need to hear this, write a letter.

Teach your children

and grandchildren

to pick up after themselves I shout

and pick up after another and not get found out,

or they will have to do another good deed.

~

It is called planting a seed.

It teaches good moral values I plead

and how to save the water, our life.

Water is life, and due to strife

there is work to do. Let's pick up

some pollution today and fill our cup

With good fresh, clear water!