Steward Stories

“When we make these connections and return home, we know we are not going home alone. Like the ripple effect, we return home with a tangible outcome: the affirmation that we are not alone as we forge our return to our Indigenous rootstock.”

Tūrama Hawira, an inaugural member of the Restoring Balance Advisory Council from the Whanganui River in Aotearoa, reflects on what it means when Indigenous Peoples come together in sacred spaces. During his visit to Isleta and Acoma Pueblos, the generosity and teachings he received reminded him of the wisdom traditions from home and a powerful truth: when we make these connections across lands, we return home knowing we are not alone in our journey back to our Indigenous rootstock, connected by our shared roots.  

To understand our ripple effect is to understand the power of Indigenous Peoples coming together for meaningful dialogue and exchange. When we come together and step into sacred spaces, we are able to share our stories in relationship to place. Like traveling up our river into the heartland or standing before a sacred mountain, it is through experience that we are able to share why we love and are passionate about our ancestral land and waters.

I witnessed this ripple during my visit to Isleta and Acoma Pueblos. My wife, Naani Waitai, and I were welcomed with generosity and teachings that carried deep resonance. While visiting these sacred places and sites, I was reminded of tribal stories from home:

Isleta Pueblo: The solutions for tomorrow, lie in the wisdom traditions of the past.

Chaco Canyon: The length of a person’s shadow is cast by their ancestry.

Acoma Pueblo: The tree that holds unyielding, to its rootstock is the one who remains after the tempest storms subside.

Pueblo of Isleta Museum/Cultural Centre: Since our assimilation into the education systems of the colonizer, the Indigenous branch has been merely grafted to a foreign tree, producing strange new fruit. Totally unpalatable. It is time, to return to the rootstock of our forebears.

These teachings remain a ripple of gratitude and acknowledgement for the hospitality and care we received. When we make these connections and return home, we know we are not going home alone.  

Like the ripple effect, we return home with a tangible outcome: the affirmation that we are not alone as we forge our return to our Indigenous rootstock.

As the planets have aligned above, so too have we from below.

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Support for this exchange was provided by grants from the Environmental Defense Fund and the Thornburg Foundation.