WHAT ARE WE TAKING WITH US? – NLitC 2021

Tuesday’s live is a panel about Indigenous language preservation. Already at risk prior to COVID-19, many languages may be lost as we struggle against a disease most deadly to elders, our knowledge keepers and carriers.
Alice Oligario (Nanaimo & Squamish First Nations + Philippines, Cynthia Savini (Makah, Jamestown S’klallam + Quileute), and Hi’io Delaronde (Mohawk) on the weight of carrying Native languages as COVID-19 puts their survival at risk.
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Alice has been a member of the Ina Maka Family Program with the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation over two years. She has two children and five grandchildren. Alice started the Sewing Circle with the Indigenous Sisters Resistance, guiding and teaching her native sisters how to create and make their own prayer/ribbon skirts for ceremonies, pow wows, and sweats. Alice was pivotal in helping the women of the Indipino Community of Bainbridge Island create and sew their own ribbon skirts for the Indipino Celebration at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. It is a celebration to honor both her cultures – Native and Filipino. She is a member of the Indigenous Sisters Resistance Drum and Sing group which has performed at events such as the Folk Life Festival at Seattle Center, lead the Women’s March in Seattle two years in a row and at the Indipino Celebration.
Cynthia A. Savini, M.Ed., of the Makah, Jamestown S’klallam and Quileute tribes, has been an educator for almost 30 years. She has taught all ages from infants to adults and is currently serving as the new Family Services Division Director for United Indians.
Shé:kon, Karonhí:io Delaronde iónkiats, Kanien’kehá:ka niwakonhwentsò:ten, Kanièn:ke nitewaké:non, tánon Wakeniáhton niwaki’tarò:ten. Hello, my name is Karonhí:io Delaronde, I am Mohawk, I come from Ganienkeh, and I am of the turtle clan. Foremost, I am honored to be a fluent Kanien’kéha (Mohawk) speaker through the gentleness and kindheartedness of many of my elders. I had the opportunity to spend quality time and teach with them through my years as a teacher in my community. That is something I hold close.
I came to Seattle in early 2018 leaving my home community of 30 years. I came out here to experience things that I did not know that I didn’t know. That feeling brought, and still brings, much excitement to my life over here.