Our Mothers’ Voices (working title)

Fundraising campaign by Pachamama
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Proposal

To write a book telling the stories of multiple generations of Native women affected by the residential school system. True, first-hand accounts would be interspersed with historical information presented by the author.

Premise

We cannot hate those who we have come to understand. But we cannot understand those whose stories have never been told. Our Mothers' Voices will, I hope, help to create a healing bridge between Native and non-Native people.

Target market

Non-Native women, educators, political and community leaders, and the general public.

Rationale

The efforts of the Canadian government to "kill the Indian in the child" have had terrible consequences for First Nations people. White Canada understands virtually nothing about this, nor do they realize the devastation the residential school system wrought among Native families. From the propaganda films of the 1940s and '50s to the lack of adequate mainstream media coverage of the residential school system, we have developed a very skewed picture of who Native people are and what they have undergone as a group identified by and singled out for cultural genocide solely because of their race. As Wab Kinew recently pointed out in 8th Fire (cbc.ca), Native people in Canada were never conquered. They negotiated in good faith with the newcomers, only to find themselves in giant outdoor prisons called reserves, reduced to begging to survive. Contrast this with the French, who were conquered on the Plains of Abraham, yet who were permitted and continue to thrive on this continent.

Many were sacrificed on the altar of the residential school system - beaten, raped and murdered (it is estimated that 50% of the children taken from their homes never survived), or merely sent back to the reserve to navigate a world they no longer understood, no longer knew how to value - but not welcome in the world they had been taught to revere. Survivors are affected by substance abuse and domestic violence on reserve at higher levels than are present in the surrounding non-Native community, and this is immediately traceable to the residential school experience.

And yet...despite this ugly reality, they are still here. They still have hope. They advocate for their rights as human beings and as citizens. They carry on, raising their children, expressing their creativity and working to give the next generation a better shot at a good life than they, themselves, were given. How is this even possible?

They are courageous, resilient, intelligent and gentle.

What good will this book do?

I am hoping this book will show the reader the very real circumstances Native women experienced in the residential school system, from the moment they and their siblings were kidnapped by agents to the day their own children were kidnapped and on to the present day challenges they face as the recipients of the effects of a multi-generational assault on their families just because they were Native.

I am also hoping this book will show the reader that we all share that most important human trait: our humanity. We all love, hope, dream and strive to make our way in the world. We also react to stress in common human ways. People of all ethnicities fear alienation, are suspicious of people who have lied to them in the past, use a range of mechanisms to cope with tragedy, and constantly strive to improve conditions for their children. It is this very human response to life and the effects of the residential school system I want readers to appreciate. We cannot hate those we have come to empathize with.

What keeps people of different ethnic groups separate from and suspicious of one another is a complex mix of shared history, propaganda from either/both sides, lack of information and most significantly, the lack of a well-thought out effort to contextualize the human experience as human, rather than as characteristic of an "other" culture/race/ethnicity.

Why Our Mothers' Voices?

Why not Our Fathers' Voices? Women are the keepers of the home, that soft place to which we all return from the battle, maybe wounded, maybe just worn out; they are the heart and soul of the family and the community. When the women of a community are systematically destroyed, a community suffers loss at the level of the soul.

Telling their stories will, I hope, help Native women to exorcise the devils of the past and recapture the souls of their families and communities and nurture them back to strength.

Marketing redux

On a more pedantic level, telling their stories will strike the hearts of other, non-Native women (the most likely target market for a book of this nature), who may, I hope, begin to identify with Native women in more human and humane terms. In turn, I hope this exposure will inform the hearts and souls of these readers and influence the children at their knees to, if not fully understand, at least be curious enough to want to learn more.

Who will I be talking to?

Women who were in the system, daughters and granddaughters of women who were in the system. I have sources within the Native community who can connect me directly with interviewees currently residing in both Canada and the US.

Why do I need this money?

Quite simply, to keep house and home together while I do this work. I estimate I will need to interview upwards of 50 people (which may involve travel expenses), coordinate the filming of several interviews, research the schools the interviewees went to, to give some historical background to their personal stories, and finally to write the book.

I estimate the interview process will take about two months, and the research/writing process will take three to five months.

Rewards

Please see rewards scale elsewhere in this proposal.

All contributors will receive the grace of having helped to heal a centuries old wound in our collective soul.

Rewards

Contributors of $20.00 and more will receive a copy of the book signed by the author.

0 Backers

Contributors of $100.00 or more will receive a copy of the book signed by the author and interviewees, as well as an acknowledgement in the front/back matter of the book.

0 Backers

Contributors of $1,000.00 or more will receive a copy of the book signed by the author and interviewees, as well as receive an acknowledgement in the front/back matter of the book. As well, contributors of $1,000.00 or more will receive a half-hour video of the author discussing the researching and writing of the book.

0 Backers

Contributors of $5,000.00 or more will receive a copy of the book signed by the author and interviewees, an acknowledgement in the front/back matter of the book, including a 50-word bio, and a copy of a one-hour video of interviewees reading their personal stories and discussing them with the author.

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Organizer

Apr 26

Getting the word out

Update posted by Pachamama at 04:01 pm

Have reached out to Native contacts on Facebook and my personal email list to promo this fundraiser. If you are on this page out of curiosity and like what you see, please consider forwarding to people you know who may be interested in following my progress or contributing. Sami!

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Apr 26

Facebook promo and deeper issues

Update posted by Pachamama at 01:19 pm

CLICK ON Pachamam TO SEE FULL UPDATE We cannot hate those we have come to empathize with. My next book project, for which I am seeking public funding through GoGetFunding, will show the reader the very real circumstances Native women experienced in the residential school system, from the moment they. . . . .

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US$0.00
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No more donations are being accepted at this time. Please contact the campaign owner if you would like to discuss further funding opportunities