Short Summary

Chuu! Uklasish Pawatsqwachitl. My name is Pawa, Histukshilth Ahousaht, Tla-o-qui-aht. My ancestors are Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht and we come from Clayoquot Sound located on the west coast of Vancouver Island.  My next most elegant step is to co-create a learning village experience in October 2013 on this fiercely beautiful territory.

The deeper intention of the Hahopa Learning Village gathering is to seed a fulltime village where we can continue to practice. I’ve been part of the Art of Hosting since 2004. I’ve brought the AoH practices into my work with young indigenous leaders. And over the past 10 years I’ve been seeking to grow my own practice through apprenticing, hosting and most recently taking an extended learning journey through Europe to work alongside hosting teams and to dig more deeply into indigenousity — how can we all live more wisely together in respect and honouring of our Mother Earth?

The more I stepped into hosting, the more I could see that there needed to be a place where we can practice together and where our indigenous practices could be reclaimed and shared.  I thought “somebody should do something about this!”  Then I realized my name is “somebody”.  I’ve been in the trembling, but I know I have to step forward and I have a big dream.  First, October’s Learning Village and then a permanent village, where we can be in continual learning together.

How you can be part of this dream

My Nuu-chah-nulth elders say “it is kind to ask for help”.  And we need your help.

• We need funds to help sponsor local indigenous youth and elders to attend $175 / day x 10 days or 2 full time participants = $1,750.00  + $1,250 (core team expenses)
  
• If we do not reach our goal, all funds will first be used to sponsor local indigenous youth and elders for as many days as possible, if possible, additional funds will go to core team expenses.
  
• If we exceed our goal, all additional funds will be used to seed future learning village events.
  

The Impact

And if you can’t come yourself, please consider helping someone else to attend. Hahopa Learning Village is a strong supporter of mentoring programs both locally and internationally. Please consider supporting local indigenous youth and elders to attend or invite and support someone in your community to make the journey and be part of the Hahopa Learning Village.

We are inviting support, not only for this event, but to help us seed the ground for community and collective learning that can happen in the future.  We will be creating a website where you can see and support what we are building and dreaming of.  It’s time our learning came home to live in our communities again.

Other Ways You Can Help

Some people just can’t contribute, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help:

• Help Hahopa Learning Village to get the word out by making some noise about our campaign.
• Use the Indiegogo share tools.
• Coming Soon! www.hahopa.com