Boozhoo nindinawemaaginadog. Madweyaashkaagichigami’ikwe indigo.

Lena Welker indizhinikaaz. Makwa nindoodem.

Nindedeyaban Mikinaakwaajiwing onjibayiban.

Hello, my name is Lena Welker and this is a traditional Ojibwe greeting. I have given you my spirit name, the name I am called by, my clan and where I am from. I am a metis woman of Ojibwe descent. I am bear clan. My birth father was from Turtle Mountain reservation.

 

I have spent the last 6 decades of my life on a journey to find my way back to this place of belonging. A world of living in relationship with ourselves, our ancestors and the nonhuman beings that we are surrounded by.

 

I am grateful to my human and nonhuman teachers for the gifts that I now wish to share with you. The path of healing is a journey to find our place in this
world.