Healing Wounds Ministry
A Ministry Dedicated to the Care and Concern of our Native Brothers and Sisters and for Healing after the Boarding Schools
Each quarter Healing Wounds Ministry promotes a new Native organization to contribute to. This ministry is designated to help the healing of the boarding school histories which transpired after Father Baraga's passing. These organizations are based on four principles that were a main part of Father Baraga's work with the Native populations.
GoFundMe Native Charity
Keepers of the Sacred Tradition of Pipemakers
The Native pipe still plays importance with the Native Populations today, even those who are Christian. This organization was created to help others understand about Native traditions and pipes in addition to helping others to learn about Native crafting. Please support the Keepers today.
The Pillars
The goal of Healing Wounds Ministry is to help to heal what transpired in the boarding schools by contributing to organizations on which Baraga's Ministry was founded.
Language Revitalization
Life with Father Baraga: Father Baraga wrote with the help of the Ojibwe, the largest Ojibwe dictionary which is still used today. He reinforced with any missionaries that worked with him that they also needed to speak the Native language if they desired to work with the Native populations. He knew the importance of the Native languages to the Native Populations.
Life with the Boarding Schools: After Father Baraga's passing the government instituted laws that prohibited the use of the Native language leaving many who are Native the inability to have been passed on their language through their families and ancestry.
Healing Wounds: Donations are given to organizations that are helping the Native populations remember their languages such as the Ojibwe Language Institute.
Alcohol & Drug Rehabilitation
Life with Father Baraga: Before Father Baraga would even begin to work with the Ojibwe populations, they were required to make a pledge with temperance cards to ensure that they would not partake in alcohol. Father Baraga saw the effects that alcohol and drugs inflicted on the Native populations and wanted to ensure their well-being. This alcohol addiction was often promoted among the fur traders at that time who wished to exploit the Native populations of their valuable furs so that they could have the greater gain. Father Baraga saw these operations and did what he could to ensure that the Native populations wouldn't be subject to these techniques that were not in their best interest.
Life with the Boarding Schools: Boarding school abuse perpetuated alcohol and drug abuse among the Native populations. Given that they had challenges in knowing how to cope with the challenges that happened among the boarding schools, these drugs of choice often became their coping mechanism. Alcohol and drug addiction are still a large problem on the reservations to this day and limit the Native populations ability to actively contribute to the needs of their families and communities.
Healing Wounds: Donations are given to organizations that help with drug and alcohol addictions amongst the Native populations. This includes organizations such as the American Indian Family Center.
Basic Needs: Food, Shelter & Clothing
Life with Father Baraga: One of Father Baraga's primary cares was to ensure that the Ojibwe had food, shelter and clothing. When Father Baraga arrived he found that many of the Ojibwe would wear the same clothing over several days. He also found their food source to be limited due to the reduction of game from over-hunting for the fur trade. Father Baraga then worked with the Ojibwe to be able to help them create secure shelter, adding farming techniques to their already useful way of harvesting rice and collecting maple syrup. He encouraged them to follow up with their treaty payments given that this was the promised exchange the government made in agreement to using or selling portions of their land.
Life with the Boarding Schools: Enforcing treaty payments and allowing the Native populations access to resources needed for their survival was rare during the time of the boarding schools. The Native population today still lives in challenging housing situations and often struggles with food limitations due to their limited ability to have employment outside of the reservation systems which are often many miles from nearby cities.
Healing Wounds: Your donation to the Native-run organizations who assist with food, shelter and clothing will help enable Native populations to have adequate resources which will allow them to have their basic needs met. This in turn will help them be able to connect and heal from the abuse that has transpired and lead productive and meaningful lives.
Native Sovereignty
Life with Father Baraga: The Ojibwe were already under threat of removal from their homes by the time Father Baraga arrived in the United States due to the Indian Removal Act instituted in 1830. This threat of removal was based on the desire of the United States government to have this land for the European settlers and to relocate the Native populations to a different region of the country. In an effort to help the Ojibwe stay on their lands Father Baraga would purchase land and then gift it to the chief of the tribe when they could safely have it in their name.
Life with the Boarding Schools: Not long after Father Baraga's passing the government created the Dawes act which essentially broke up the reservations into individual plots of land. Even though the government had given this reserved land (reservations) to the Native populations the Dawes Act allowed the government to take over certain parts of these reservations for themselves. Thus the Native populations suffered from the inability to connect to the lands outside of the treaties and even to the lands on the reservations themselves.
Healing Wounds Ministry: Donations will be given periodically to organizations that help with tribal sovereignty. These organizations include Tribal Sovereignty Institute and the Native Governance Center. If one wishes to donate individually to these organizations, they can click on the links on their name.
Native Arts & Crafts
Life with Father Baraga: Baraga brought many examples of Native made gifts to Europe to show and teach others about the Native populations. I have no doubt, given Baraga's popularity, that the Native populations potentially made these gifts specifically for this purpose. To see some of Baraga's collection in Europe, click here.
Life with the Boarding Schools: The boarding schools eliminated the ability for the Native populations to learn their familial traditions of arts and crafts and were instead were sometimes taught industrial trades to prepare them the work of the European populations. Baraga would have ensured that the Native populations would have stayed with their families to remember these traditions.
Healing Wounds Ministry: Donations will be given periodically to organizations that help keep the arts and crafting of the Native populations alive. These organizations include The Keepers of the Sacred Tradition of Pipemakers and Pipestone National Monument.