Peace & Dignity Journey

Peace & Dignity Journeys Update


Dear Friends and Family,
Based on prophecy and the wisdom of our ancestors, the Peace and Dignity Journeys is a ceremonial movement designed to re-unite the Eagle and Condor Nations of Iztaxilatlan (North, Central, and South America). The Journeys does this through spiritual running. On May 1, 2008, two groups of runners will simultaneously set out from Alaska and Argentina and will run to hundreds of communities for over seven months en route to Panama.
The Peace and Dignity Journeys is a grassroots Inter-Tribal movement that utilizes indigenous lineages of Wisdom, Design, and Will that aims to bring forth a world that reflects the heart of creation.
Peace And Dignity Journeys has been conducting ceremonial runs since 1992. The Journeys is a grassroots movement that is directed by volunteers.

The Journeys takes place every four years and is dedicated to a specific theme:

• 1992 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance/Dedicated to the
Children
• 1996 Dedicated to the Elders
• 2000 Dedicated to the Families
• 2004 Dedicated to honor Women, feminine, especially Tonantzin

Tlalli (Sacred Mother Earth)

The 2008 Journeys is Dedicated to honor and preservation and protection of Sacred Sites.

This email includes information on upcoming meetings, information on routes, and our current needs. In addition, we will provide you with ways that you can get more involved.

We are now in the last stretch of the organizing and we need various types of support before embarking on the Journeys (May 1-November 17, 2008).

Upcoming Organizing Meetings:

* Organizing Trip to Chiapas, and Guatemala Jan. 26-Feb 5.
* Organizing Meeting in Vancouver, BC on Feb. 23. This meeting is to organize folks in BC, Yukon, and Alberta, Canada
* Organizing Meeting for New York Tributary route, Feb. 16, New York , NY
* Arizona Statewide Meeting, Feb. 9, Tucson, AZ
* California Statewide meeting on March 15, Oakland, CA
* Organizing trip through Sonora, Mexico, March 29-April 3. This trip is to organize with indigenous communities in northern Mexico.
* Plains Route Meeting in Oglala South Dakota TBA
* Plains route/Trail of Tears route Meeting in Chicago, IL TBA
* Organizing Meeting in Washington State TBA


2008 Peace and Dignity Routes

This year there will be approximately eight routes that runners will traverse throughout the North (Alaska-Panama). There will be two Main routes beginning from the North. Main routes are routs that are over 3,000 miles in length. Other routes are called tributary routes; tributary routes feed into main routes.


Main Routes

The West Coast Route will begin out of Alaska. Runners will run throughout the West Coast until reaching Panama. The Plains Route will also begin from Alaska. However, these runners will head south-east through Canada and enter the U.S. somewhere in the Plains (North Dakota or Minnesota). Then the runners will make their way to Colorado and New Mexico. The Plains Route will connect with the West Coast Route in Mexico, where they will merge and run together to Panama.

Tributary Routes:

New York Route

This route will probably from northern New York State and the runners will make their way west until connecting with the Plains route in a location TBA.

Trail of Tear Routes-----
This route will begin is still in the process of being organized. However, at this point it may begin in Tennessee and make its way to southern Illinois.

California Inland Route-----

This route will split form the West Coast Route and will head towards central California. From there it will head east into Arizona and will re-connect with the West Coast Route in Sonora, Mexico.

Tri-State Route-----

This route will also split form the West Coast Route in either Washington State or Oregon. These runners will run south east through Nevada and will run through northern Arizona and head south through eastern Arizona. This route will also re-connect with the West Coast route in Sonora, Mexico.

San Francisco Peaks Route------

There will be a group of runners that run from the San Francisco Peaks, Arizona and connect to the Tri-State Route.
There will be other tributary routes in the San Diego, California area and throughout Arizona.


Website

Organizers/ Coordinators you can now upload your information about your meetings, events and runs on the Peace and Dignity website (www.peaceanddignityjourenuys.com). This way your can advertise your events, gains support from other coordinators and let folks who are doing work for the Journeys throughout the hemisphere, know what is going on.


Peace and Dignity E-Newsletter

Rene Reyes, our webmaster has created a Peace and Dignity E-Newsletter. This medium will allow folks to track the progress o f runners throughout the span o f this years Journey. In addition, this newsletter will provide coordinators with a way to gain support from the broader public. Keep in mind that the E-Newsletter will provide folks with the option to accept or decline receiving this information from the Journeys.


Your Email Contacts are Needed

Although the Journeys touch thousands and thousands of people it is sometimes difficult to maintain communications with all of the stakeholders. Therefore, we are asking all of the coordinators from Alaska through Panama to send us your email contacts of people who are involved or may want to get involved in the Journeys. This way they can have access to the newsletter and other communiqués from throughout the North. Please send your emails contacts to Rene Reyes
( rene_reyes@yahoo.com ).


Needs

Vehicles

We need at least six vans (12-16 passenger) and three lead vehicles such as a Toyota 4runner, Nissan Pathfinder or something similar. We don't want new vehicles, as long as they can make it to Alaska and then all the way to Panama. Vans carry runners and their equipment. Lead vehicles are used by coordinators support the runners by taking care of various logistical matters. Some of these logistics are making sure that the runners have food and coordinating events with hundreds of hosting communities.

Funds

Our target is to raise at least $100,000. If anyone is interested in learning more our fundraising efforts, please let me know.


Tlazo,
Jose Malvido
Peace and Dignity Journeys Northern Coordinator


Alaska-Panama

www.peaceanddignityjourneys.com