A Voice from the Eastern Door

Kahwatsiraien:ton During the Pandemic

By Mahlon Smoke

Since its formation, Kahwatsiraien:ton was designed to show full support to the community through love, knowledge, and language through educational classes, ceremonies, and food distribution. The pandemic has caused a lot of programs in Akwesasne to go virtual exclusively. Kahwatsiraien:ton has taken advantage of virtual meetings, sweat lodges and moon ceremonies and virtual classes to continue their work. Especially when it came to food distribution to help families during trying times.

Back in November, the members of Kahwatsiraien:ten applied for a COVID relief program through the Ontario Trillium Foundation, of which they were granted two funds. With those funds, the organization set aside half of each grant to distribute “Ready to Eat” meals for families in Akwesasne. There was no requirement for the food, nothing related to income or qualifications, simply a “first come-first serve” system to ensure families were given food for that day.  A nice treat to give families who may have been struggling or wished to enjoy a meal without worrying about the pandemic.

This event served at least 350 meals to Akwesasne families during the month of February. With the rest of the grant money, they have also managed to purchase new supplies for their meeting space, for when they can meet in groups again. This includes air purifiers as well to make sure everything is as safe as possible.

In the meantime, Kahwatsiraien:ton will continue to hold virtual meetings and ceremonies online through Zoom. It’s thanks to Zoom that teachers and group leaders have been able to reach people beyond Akwesasne and provide their services to people who usually couldn’t go to a ceremony or a class. With everything online, it also gives people a chance to see what goes on in a ceremony who may have been previously anxious or apprehensive about going to one. This applies to people who may have been unable to attend one but couldn’t due to time constraints or possible disabilities that prevented them from attending before. This wider reach is something that can happen now thanks to virtual online classes and something that teachers in Kahwatsiraien:ton have taken full advantage of and have plans for even more virtual classes. All in hopes of continuing to educate and provide for Akwesasne and possibly beyond Akwesasne.

The best place to find Kahwatsiraien:ton is on their Facebook page, where they will be posting times and dates of the next class. Some of the topics previously covered were sexual abuse, LGBT rights, the importance of medicine plants, and even more important topics. Though there are plans for a possible website for the organization, for now, Facebook is the best place for Akwesasronon to learn about upcoming classes and attend one of the monthly moon lodges on Zoom.

 

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