What's Happening

June 4, 2024, New York, New York – Indigenous People need to be accepted for who they are and for the gifts they bring to the world and need to be offered a place at the table, especially when decisions are being made in the area of sustainability and restoring Earth. 

Those were the takeaways of Sister Mary Rae Waller, OP, and Rose Johnson after they attended the first week of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). Sister Durstyne Farnan, OP, Dominican UN representative, and the Dominican Leadership Conference (DLC) sponsored the women’s attendance at the Forum. (Read more about Sister Durstyne’s experience of the Forum.) 

Rose, of Comanche and Aztec descent, is a member of the People of the Four Winds, an evolving group based in Adrian and composed of people with Native ancestry, people who serve in Native communities, and other interested people. Sister Mary Rae is of Cherokee heritage. 

The 23rd session of the forum, held April 15-26, 2024, drew 2,000 participants from around the world in addition to UN delegates. The theme was “Indigenous Peoples’ Right to Self-Determination in the Context of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” 

The United Nations first issued its Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007. The formal UN proceedings focused on ways for Indigenous Peoples to enhance their rights to self-determination through such means equal access to funding.

Rose and Sister Mary Rae attended side events – workshops and forums offered by civil society, UN governments, and their NGO partners. They came away from the Forum with new perspectives – and a new understanding of their identity. In the opening session, David Choquehuanca, Vice President of Bolivia, encouraged participants to embrace awareness of themselves as “Ancestral Peoples” rather than Indigenous Peoples. 

“Indigenous relates to something that’s boxed, put away,” Sister Mary Rae explained. “Ancestral embodies memories of healing, memories as guardians of life relationships on Earth.”

We speak for ourselves, Rose said. “We talk about our own ideas as ours. It comes from generational ancestors. We all have a gift of some sort that we can speak out about.” 

Rose and Sister Mary Rae focused on the need for the governments and the mainstream culture to listen to Indigenous Peoples in the area of the environment. “We ask that you see we carry in our genes the memory of how to keep in balance,” Sister Mary Rae said. “We ask of you, let us bring our insight, our experience, and our knowledge to help save Earth. We’re not asking that you don’t have all your advancements but invite us to the table.”

Much of the conference focused on climate change and on mining companies that have been moving into native lands without their permission. Rose and Sister Mary Rae attended a reflection session by Indigenous Peoples of South America, focusing on mining practices and on mining companies that came into the Amazon 10 years ago, cutting down trees and bulldozing. The UN began to monitor the mining companies, beginning a process in which the miners would first have to engage with the Indigenous Peoples.  

“What they’re doing is killing the bloodline of Earth with their mining and stripping,” Rose said. “Mother Earth gives us everything we need when we need it … Mother Earth can heal herself if you give her time.”

Sister Mary Rae gave an example of the healing power of Earth. Part of the Amazon rainforest was destroyed and went barren, she said. “The ancestral people came in, began working with and nurturing her, and she came back to life. Earth has her own life force and if it’s nurtured and brought back into balance, it can be restored,” she said.

Rose and Sister Mary Rae also reflected on efforts in the past to kill the culture of Indigenous Peoples. Rose pointed to the boarding schools in the United States that tried to force children to adapt to the white European culture. Some children lost the use of their native language in the boarding schools, she added.

The boarding schools followed the notion of “kill the Indian and save the person,” Rose said. But “you can’t kill the Indian. You can’t kill what God made in our hearts. You can’t kill our soul, even though they tried.”

Rose added that she felt safe at the UN. “I was amazed,” she said. “The first thing I thought of was that could have been shot not long ago for all of us being together.” In the opening session that began with a procession that included an Ecuadorian drum and a pan flute, “I knew I was in the right place,” Rose said. “It was really an interesting time, and I definitely would do it again.” 

Sister Mary Rae sees hope in the healing of relationships between Indigenous Peoples and people of the dominant culture. “The advances in society have given us the opportunity, and the mindset of the United Nations has really helped so much with advancing the rights of all the people,” she said. “We still have a long way to go, and I felt the commitment to stay the course.”
 

By Sister Michelle S. Salalila, OP

December 21, 2017, Angeles City, Pampanga, Philippines – “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you’” (Lk 1:26-27).

This is the greeting of the angel Gabriel to Mary during the annunciation, words of affirmation of Mary’s role in the salvific work of God.

In the school community at Dominican School of Angeles City, angels were also sent by God on December 13 to bring the Good News, bittersweet truth to open the minds of students and faculty, and challenge them in their everyday life. 

The children from the Lumad indigenous people had been invited to share their experiences with our students to make them aware that outside the four corners of their school are social unrest, injustices, and deprivation of education because of militarization. Our students need to learn that life is more than the social media, Wi-Fi connections, gadgets, the need to belong, and peer pressure. 

Sister Zenaida Nacpil, OP, Chapter Prioress of Our Lady of Remedies Mission Chapter, based in the Philippines, made this point well. “There is a bigger school of life,” she said. “Education does not depend only on books and we learn not only in school."

During the open forum, Jenky, one of the Lumad children, shared her amazement at seeing the huge buildings of the Dominican School of Angeles City. She felt the privileges of the students, who are provided with every facility they need for their education: a safe space, stable rooms, laboratories, armchairs, and every other necessity. Jenky added that, as soon as her group arrived at the school, she felt free and safe.

Jenky also said that our students should be grateful for the presence and dedication of their teachers. At Jenky’s school, their teachers are killed. The military are afraid that if the children learn how to read, write, and count, they will have the confidence and fortitude to fight back for their rights. Because of the militarism, most of the Lumad children study every day, wherever they can, yet are still lacking in education.

The Lumad children also spoke about the importance of the land. Because life came from the land, they said, we need to treasure and protect it. Many of the Lumad children born on the mountains are deprived of their rights to education, a decent and peaceful life, and the leisure to enjoy their childhood. 

The Lumad children also said they do their best to preserve their culture, languages, and dances – and respect for the culture itself. 

Lita, one of the Lumad teachers, spoke of the hard life of the children. They wake up early and till the field before going to school. At the end of the school day, they return to the fields to continue their work. A collective people, they share their harvest with the whole community. 

Lita also said that the Lumad children desire to finish their education not for money or security, but to give back to their community. Most of them are education students, planning to go back to their communities and teach their tribes how to read, write, and count. 

Jenky especially mentioned the use of technology in the low land. She said that, in the mountain, technology is never part of their lives, yet they each have a simple and happy life. 

After the talks, the Dominican School students shared what they had learned. “This is eye opening to us,” a 10th-grade student said. “Living a life far from what your life is, after this, we should be more appreciative of what our parents and school [are] giving us.”

A ninth-grade student said, “Bullying is a big problem in our school. But listening to your stories, we have to reflect now how to take care of our classmates and appreciate their beauty and giftedness. I am inspired by your stories how the military bully you, yet you still stand for your rights.” 

An eighth-grade student said she now appreciates the value of education. “Some of us, whenever we feel studies are so hard to finish, we automatically think to quit, to stop,” she said. “Yet, listening to your stories, we now have that sense of value for education, that what we are encountering is nothing compared to your experiences.”

The day was a time of inspiration and challenge. The Dominican School students received a message that they will either take seriously or let pass and forget. But we teachers and administrators, as their guides, will never get tired of challenging them and exposing them to national situations in the Philippines. We want them to be involved and have hearts for these national situations. We hope that through our guidance, like Mary in the story of the annunciation, they may be afraid of what they heard but later on will accept the truth and stand for it.

 

Lumad children and students of the Dominican School of Angeles City pose during their day together.