We are honored to announce that Josephine Mandamin has agreed to deliver one of the keynote addresses at the Friday Night Awards Dinner at the Penokee Hills Education Summit.
A First Nations Grandmother, Josephine Mandamin, Anishinaabekwe from Manitoulin Island, made a sacred walk around each of the Great Lakes over a period of five years, and then traveled from Kingston, Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean along the St. Lawrence River.
“Each of the 24,113,700 steps taken was a prayer for the water, for Mother Earth, for the animals, the birds, the insects, the trees and for us, all two-leggeds. Together the walks were one prayer for life. The 2011 Water Walk united all the waters of our Mother Earth. Water from the vast Pacific Ocean, from the Gulf of Mexico, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Hudson Bay was gathered in copper pails and carried by hand to the shores of Lake Superior. Ocean water from the four directions traveled the miles with Anishinaabe women and men walking side by side.”