Native American visitors perform ‘water walk’

MEMBERS of the Ojibwe Native American tribe visited the locality last week as part of a three-day ‘water walk’ protest against extractivism and mining taking place in Tyrone.

Beginning in Creggan, taking in a special event at Silverbrool Mills in Dunamanagh and finishing up in Derry, tribe members performed the water walk, a ceremony they routinely undertake on their own land back home.

The walk is a sacred purification event which deems activities such as fracking and mining as harmful to the water and therefore the earth along with it. The ceremony is performed by the female members of the tribe.

Lynda Sullivan, activist with the Making Relatives Collective, an island-wide environmental group concerned with preserving the environment, said that the trip went very well. Connections between the Native American tribes and the Save Our Sperrins group began during the Standing Rock protests against an oil pipeline back in 2016.

“We’ve been organising this for three years, gathering funds through crowd-funding and a generous donation from Friends of the Earth NI with a lot of behind-the-scenes work going on in order to make this happen,” she said. “It was a first for the Ojibwe tribe and there was a very special show of solidarity throughout. Every member had a wonderful time and loved the natural beauty of the countryside and delighted in the warmth shown to them by everyone whom they met and who hosted the group throughout their stay.

“The tribe members were very interested in the local area, culture and customs and there was much sharing of food and music from both sides. We were thrilled that they could share their sacred ceremony with us.”

Lynda concluded by saying, “I hope that we are in a position to invite the tribe back in a year or two, or maybe try and get a reciprocal visit out to see their land and experience their culture first-hand.”