Capsule of Content for Feb 27th, 2016
Darrell Hillaire, Lummi, Director of Lummi Youth Academy

When Darrelll Hillaire, Lummi Nation, stepped up to speak on February 21st, he pushed the wave of support for the Kickstarter campaign, “In the Hands of Our Elders” to a new level. He told the people gathered to launch this campaign about his family, especially his memories of elders in his own childhood, how the elders would visit and leave him and his thirteen siblings with small gifts, a deep understanding of his culture and the respect to honor and celebrate the elders. “The winter season is the time to gather together. These things come out: the language, the songs, but most importantly what we can give and how we can give.” Sharon Grainger and Pamela Pakker-Kozicki are very proud to have earned Darrell Hillaire’s support for our book project. This book of elders’ portraits by Sharon and interviews recorded by Pamela will add to the efforts of indigenous people to bolster their culture and their language so that their great-great-grandchildren in the future will be able to hear the elders tell their stories in Kwak’wala and English.
The future is truly “In the Hands of Our Elders.”
Thank you for your support.
Please pledge to make this book a reality.

Capsule of Content for Feb 23rd, 2016
Mrs. Lily Speck of Alert Bay, British Columbia

Mrs. Lily Speck, photographed by Sharon Grainger, is the symbol of the Kickstarter campaign, “In the Hands of Our Elders.” Mrs. Speck, an indigenous matriarch, was 10 years old when Edward S. Curtis photographed First Nations people. She learned protocol and the family stories from her grandmother and aunties, becoming a keeper of family histories for the Kwakwaka’wakw people. Critical questions of who is eligible to dance in the Winter Ceremonies with which masks and who could sing which songs were answered by Mrs. Speck. Maxine Matilpi, her grand-daughter, explains in the Kickstarter video “We can’t be without the elders. In our culture, women are the chief-makers, the backbone, they make things flow. They are our background. They are our teachers of protocol for namings and who dances which mask. This was especially true of my grandmother, Mrs. Speck.  She was a real lady.”

Capsule of Content for Feb 19th, 2016
International Mother Language Day (@IMLD)

​February 21st is both the launch day for Dos Polacas’ Kickstarter campaign “In the Hands of Our Elders” and International Mother Language Day (IMLD). Sharon Grainger and Pamela Pakker-Kozicki AKA Dos Polacas chose this kick-off day to telegraph their recognition of the universal and critical importance of native languages. IMLD, a world-wide celebration established in 2008 by the United Nations, "promotes the preservation and protection of all languages used by people of the world." Indigenous elders in particular act as their communities’ cultural linchpin, helping to maintain their native language, passing it on to the next generation. Dos Polacas’ book project, “In the Hands of Our Elders” celebrates, through photography and interviews, the elders’ resilience and their critical role in cultural sustainability.