25TH ANNUAL AIDS CONFERENCE, BANGKOK, THAILAND
July 2004 – WISN Joins PROMETRA and TICAH (Trust for Indigenous Culture And Health) at the XVth Annual AIDS Conference, Bangkok.
WISN joined its partner NGOs, TICAH, which organized indigenous participation in the XVth International AIDS Conference, and PROMETRA and its international members from chapters in Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, USA, Cameroon. Activities included the building of an African village within the conference Global Village program, presentations in the Traditional Medicine Panel of the scientific session, and performances throughout the cultural program.
Promoting the use of traditional medicine and alternative therapies in the fight against AIDS, PROMETRA International’s presentation, “The Role of African Traditional Medicine in the Fight Against AIDS” outlined the multiple ways of healer involvement. Meetings and exchanges with persons from many continents set the stage for a wider understanding of traditional medicine and its role in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS (from PROMETRA website).
TRIBAL ANGLO-SAXON BIOCULTURE RESEARCH PROJECT, ENGLAND
With the support of Christensen Fund, WISN embarked upon an exciting and unprecedented piece of research, the application of Indigenous Science to the emergent reconstruction of the earth-based spirituality and wisdom of Anglo-Saxon peoples. After more than twenty years of searching for a European tribal Elder, WISN met the Anglo-Saxon Wizard, Brian Bates, who has dedicated his life to remembering and renewing the best of his peoples’ ancient traditions. Brian Bates joined Apela Colorado as co-Principal Investigator. A highlight of this work included the visit of Siberian Shaman, Dora Kobyakova, to ancient Anglo-Saxon sites and to museums to help identify artifacts which science has not been able to.
Native American Elders have long maintained that the world cannot be healed until the Western man remembers who he is. This research took a giant step in that remembrance process. A Report on the research is in progress.
ALASKA
Alaska is the last place in the UnitedStates where Native people still practice their sustainable, subsistence way of living and is one of the few places where the large animals of North America still maintain their migrations and life cycles. Alaska is also home to major oil and gas reserves and is under extreme pressure to develop. WISN is committed to learning from this powerful land and to serve wherever possible in the work of Native initiatives.
In 2004, Dr. Colorado was a keynote speaker to the US Environmental Protection Agency, General Assistance Program Training and to the Alaska Native Science Commission (ANSC), Annual General Meeting in Anchorage. Dr. Colorado met and sought counsel with traditional Yupik Elder, Ole Lake.
In 2005, WISN was an invited participant to an ANSCsponsored gathering of an indigenous educational planning consortia representing more than twenty indigenous academic and community programs throughout the Pacific and mainland U.S. The purpose of this important gathering was to consider the creation of an international indigenous science initiative.