Thanksgiving & Holiday Appeal 2018 Dear Friends & Supporters of Red Wind Councils, Warmest greetings to you & your loved ones in this Holiday season! Red Wind Councils had its birth 32 years ago when Veronica, a young Maya woman & her 3 small daughters, appeared at our Center seeking shelter. They were covered in bruises, battered, traumatized, & fearing for their very survival. We took them in, gave work to Veronica & medical care to her family & they slowly began to heal in body & spirit. For the first time, Veronica dared to hope for a better life away from the abuses of her indigenous husband. In this safe environment, she worked diligently & was able to revive the ancestral Maya weaving skills from her grandmother & eventually teach her daughters. With our Red Wind craft projects for 3 decades now, Veronica has become our master weaver & has taught many young women to bring back the dignity of their Maya heritage. In many ways, Veronica s story is the story of all the Maya women of Chiapas. Nearly destroyed by the oppressions of a "machista" society, they have been despised far too long for being poor, for being women, & above all, for being indigenous. But in this dawn of the Era of Woman, their spirits are awakening, & out of the harshest conditions, they are arising & standing strong, & today taking their places at the center of their families & their communities. They are holding a renewed powerful vision of a just world where their daughters can now break free of this centuries-old nightmare. Cont. Page 2 Red Wind Councils, a charitable U.S. non-profit, fosters spiritual consciousness & a restoration of social justice through awakening into the promised return of indigenous Council Ways & the struggle of Maya people.
In this newsletter we continue with the Part 2 on the theme begun last year: Women s Indigenous Awakening. I warmly invite you to read the story of Karina, another poignant example of a young Maya woman, who has shown this year a tremendous determination to stand against the oppressive ways of her upbringing. For all of us at Red Wind, it is a tremendous privilege to participate in the struggle of these brave & inspiring Maya women. And we can t do this without your kind & vital help. Join us to support abundantly this new dawn for the Maya women of Chiapas & for all that they give to the world. Muchissimas gracias for all your generous support, Ohki Forest for Red Wind Councils / in Chiapas & the U.S. A Promising Future Karina, the Story of a Young Maya Woman Today more than ever, Maya women are taking a stand against the terrible abuses they have suffered at the hands of their fathers, husbands, & brothers. Once a balanced matriarchal & matrilineal culture, the Maya were forced in the Conquest to submit to a patriarchal system that espoused the painful values of machismo. Women went from the dignified center of their communities lives to the dispossessed outskirts, expected merely to be silent servants to the needs of their fathers & husbands. Fortunately, with the 1994 s Maya uprising, this has begun to change. We have seen in our 32 years of work with the Maya how access to means of economic independence & stability, along with an increasing consciousness of the injustice of their conditions, have brought a growing determination among the Maya women to achieve their own autonomy. We have witnessed this again & again. We wish to share with you the story of Karina who has done just this last winter, coming forward to ask for our support so she could transform her life. Karina is a lovely young indigenous woman who had been living all her life with a physically & verbally abusive father & older brother, & a Cont. Page 3 ~ 2 ~
passive abused mother who is herself caught in the harmful values related to machismo towards women & daughters. Karina had been sent to school by her brother so she could eventually help support the family financially, in fact to exploit her even further. Her every movement was tightly controlled by her family, & she was often unjustly & harshly punished, even though Karina is a fine young woman dedicated to her studies & is a very hard worker. Unfortunately, the situation escalated as the result of her failing her exams, caused by sudden unannounced changes in the education curriculum & not due to any lack of application on Karina s part. The majority of the students had also failed their exams because of these last-minute changes in the program, yet her parents refused to understand this. When Karina called us at Red Wind in Chiapas asking for help, she had been virtually imprisoned & starved for over a month in her father's home as a severe punishment. Her situation had come to a head one evening when the family had driven to San Cristobal, & while her father & brother were screaming awful reproaches at Karina once more, she could take no more so she jumped out of the car at a stoplight & ran away. Having nowhere to go & totally penniless with only the clothes she had on, she managed to contact us at Red Wind. Karina arrived at our Center in the middle of the night, crying, depressed, & afraid of repercussions from her father. We gave her immediate shelter & legal advice as to what to do going forward. We gave her work at the Center & the promise of a new beginning. This was New Year s Eve, a significant omen for Karina. Red Wind provided her with a work & funding until she could resume her studies. She now has found a good stable part-time employment & is studying in another city, well-cared for in the home of teachers. She often visits our Red Wind Center, it is beautiful to see her flourishing in her newly acquired independence. Karina made a brave step & everyone at Red Wind has been so proud of her. She said to us with deep emotion that to have people tell her how proud they are of her is another first in her life. Never had she received words of confidence & care for her. Through all this, she has found a sense of hope for the first time in her life & is so very grateful. Karina is but an example of the help Red Wind has provided for 32 years to many Maya women of all ages in similar abusive situations. ~ 3 ~
Lifesaving Projects for Women 2017-2018 For over 30 years, Red Wind Councils has been committed to helping our Maya sisters & brothers in their struggle for a more dignified & just life. We have been able with the support of our donors, such as you, to bring about major changes in communities by promoting health, decent living conditions, & economic justice for indigenous who have suffered centuries of the most terrible injustices & abuses. Literally enslaved a mere generation ago, this transformation has been nearly miraculous & a testament to the outstanding strength of a people who managed throughout the worst abuses & exploitation to hold onto their resilient roots in the Earth. Here are just some of the projects that we have done in this past year (end of 2017 & 2018) made possible with your donations & the untiring dedication & efforts of our Maya compañeros: Red Wind has provided 3 tons of corn to remote communities facing malnourishment because of severe flooding & poor harvest in 2017 In September 2017 Chiapas was hit by a devastating magnitude 8.2 earthquake. Red Wind Councils aided people whose houses were destroyed & who needed emergency medical care We administered over 500 vaccines for children in communities with the help of health promoters whose education & voluntary service we support Over 175 Fogones (wood-saving stoves) were built & dispensed in remote communities, saving much wood & preventing excess air pollution, as well as protecting the eyesight & respiratory health of young children & women who traditionally use open fires in their kitchens We dispensed 550 pairs of reading glasses to Maya women & elderly who rely on their ability to create, under poor light, their hand Cont. back
weaving & embroideries in order to feed their families In 2018, Red Wind has provided ongoing emergency medical funds to many in need: Margarita, whose arm was damaged in an accident, but was able to resume her work necessary to her family s survival Ongoing medicaments for a young Maya father who suffered traumatic brain damage in a logging accident in the summer of 2016 Continued provisions for hospitalizations due to childbirth complications, & antibiotics for potentially deadly childhood infections The Awe-inspiring Craft Projects of Maya Women From Ohki Forest's 30 years of work with the Maya women, Visions of the Earth/Ixmalé Craft Project has had an enormous impact on the crafters' lives, their families & communities. From her very beginnings in 1986, Ohki has encouraged indigenous women & provided the materials & training for them to rediscover & revive their ancient ancestral heritage of weaving & embroidery. The sale of these exquisite crafts now provides a real foundation for the autonomy of women by transforming the lives & futures of their daughters. And not only have these talented women in our Red Wind Craft Project realized a measure of financial stability, they are also finding new pride in their ancient Maya heritage after over 5 centuries of colonization, discrimination & disregard. With the recognition of their skillful creations, the Maya women are learning to value themselves as indigenous & as women. Their millenary patterns are finding new evolutions of the Maya vision of the world in the work of Amalia Ixmalé Forest, Ohki s daughter, who combines the traditional skills of the Maya women weavers with contemporary designs. Red Wind Councils periodically offers the work of the talented crafters of Chiapas in craft fairs & other venues in the U.S., providing a market that would be otherwise completely inaccessible to the Maya women. 100% of the proceeds are returned to the crafters to support their families, creating a flow of opportunity & resources
Donate Why Support Our Work with Maya Women? The vision of Maya grandmothers, mothers, sisters & daughters is to create a true autonomous future for a new way of living in their communities. The Maya women are holding an important light of hope for the world. Your generous donations for any amounts provide essential funding for education, health care, food security, & social & community development projects for the indigenous of Chiapas. We rely on your financial contributions as they make possible our work with these courageous & inspiring Maya women & people. The ripple effects of your donations touch so many lives & literally change their future & bring a better world for us all. The Maya people send their heartfelt gratitude for your support & they offer sincere prayers for your constant well-being & that of your family. In this Holiday season, please generously give to the Maya women so they can continue to dream & create a better way towards true justice Please send your donations for any amount to: Red Wind Councils P.O. Box 1064 Pepperell, MA 01463 (978) 633-7388 / pathways@redwindcouncils.org Donate by credit card on our websites / Click PayPal button Consider adding 5% for the costs of credit card processing so as not to reduce the impact of your donation to the Maya www.redwindcouncils.org www.ohkiforest.com All your contributions are tax deductible Tax ID#: 20-3633995 Entire Brochure 2018 Red Wind Councils, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ~ 4 ~