Nibi Emosaawdamajig, (Those who walk for the Water), the Sacred Water Circle and the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies are mourning the passing of the great woman who led us in our knowledge of the water, how to be in relationship with the water, to care for and protect the water, that water is not a commodity, she is our life. Water is life.
Shirley Williams right
blue shirt Liz Osawamik
photo credit: Chris Welter
In spite of her personal challenges and physical limitations, Josephine-ba persevered in her dedication to teach us and to give us and to empower us to work together for the water here at Trent, in Peterborough and with the Indigenous leadership of Elder, Shirley Williams and Lead Water Walker, Liz Osawamick and local Indigenous leader, Dorothy Taylor, who leads the Sacred Water Circle, we learned together to enjoy the love we created together, for one another and especially, for the water.
For the past 10 water walks Josephine-ba accompanied the walks here in the Kawarthas, teaching us how to support the walkers, how the water, once picked up in its copper pail, never stops, but like the water in the river, flows on. At each of the 4 stops for the water blessings, she taught us how to ‘touch-down’ using the tobacco to interrupt the flow of the water and to allow it to stay still for the brief time while the blessing or the break took place.
Join Trent U. this year for the 10th Annual Kawartha Lakes Water Walk, we will be walking in honour of Josephine-ba and of course, ‘we do it for the water’.
