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CHO-GE XO-ŁA BE’ in our language means the medicine to heal ourselves is in our hands.
Native Health in Native Hands (NHNH) is a native led, native run 501c3 non-profit organization, created by Kinest'e people. NHNH promotes culturally responsive pathways for intergenerational wellness - reconnecting our youth and community to our roles and responsibilities to Mother Earth, all our relations and one another.
The goal of NHNH is the re-establishment of the traditional cultural values and practices of the Kinest'e people - Revitalization of Our Ancestral Language (Xo-kenesh), cultural arts, native plants, food sovereignty, N-shong konk' good fire /cultural fire), ku-nus (canoe) culture, land and water access, stewardship, leadership, lifeways and practices - ŁEE-NA-KUL-DUŁAI (coming back together).
The Kinest'e, now called Wailaki, are a Tribe whose ancestral homelands are in Northern Mendocino, Southern Humboldt, and Southwestern Trinity counties. NHNH has been building collaborations with state and federal organizations along with local landowners to strengthen working relations and stewardship programs on Kinest'e ancestral homelands.
Join us around the fire - together we can make a difference. Even a small action is a great start. N-shon naa nu-la (thank you) for joining us in this healing movement.
ŁEE-NA-KUL-DUŁAI ~ Coming Back Together Again.
CULTURAL FIRE INTERN
N-shong konk’ (“good fire’) promotes traditional knowledge, lifeways and spiritual values as well as biocultural diversity and resilience to wildfire, drought, flooding & erosion. Indigenous Peoples of California have practiced cultural fire management since time immemorial. Millennia of Indigenous traditional fire regimes are thanksgiving for the forest, her foods, medicines and materials; this long history of Indigenous fire management produced and sustained many fire-dependent species, such as giant sequoias. Good fire is food for the forest - nourishment - feeds the hand that feeds us.
PEOPLE’S CANOE INTERN
Hai kinest'e ku-nus (The People’s Canoe Project) connects people with the river and the life in and around it - weaving and integrating language, cultural activities, mentorship and sharing of traditional knowledge and practices. The Wailaki ka-nus project is reviving a cultural tradition that nourished the people and gave them important life skills and relationship with Mother Earth.
Carving redwood canoes and paddling them on the Eel River (Xa-Cho) are Wailalki traditions undergoing an intergenerational revival after over 150 years of interruption. The Wailaki relationship with Xa-cho (Eel River) has been damaged since at least the 1850s: there are no Federally owned reservation lands along Xa-cho within traditional Wailaki homelands. With help from other Tribes we are re-establishing our traditions and language hand-in-hand. This intertribal mentorship partnership and project is bringing healing to all involved.
PLANTS THAT NOURISH US INTERN
In addition to being a source of nutrition, our Indigenous food is a source of belonging and connection to place, a means of expressing and experiencing reciprocity with the landscape and continuity of identity. The diversity of traditional Native foods, flavorful recipes and medicines, reflect our knowledge and connection over millennia with ancestral homelands, traditional territories and waters as well as our respect for all beings (human and nonhuman) within that place. Ecological stewardship, food sovereignty and community health live hand in hand. Plants that Nourish US gatherings and initiatives promote Indigenous access to traditional lands and land management, traditional food stewardship, mentorship and research to strengthen our sustainable relationship with our home lands and waters and traditional foods.
LANGUAGE & LIFE WAYS INTERN
Indigenous ways of knowing and being respect the interconnectedness of all things. Reconnecting with our traditional knowledge and spiritual roles and responsibilities. Whether it be through ecological management, Indigenous foods, nutrition & medicine, ancestral languages and traditional activities and arts, etc., Connection to traditional lifeways strengthen the circle of prevention, healing, recovery and balance.
Xo-kenesh (Wailaki language) is a blueprint of the way we see the world, the interconnection of all things and our roles and responsibilities to Mother Earth, all our relations and one another. Xo-kenesh reconnects our people to the land, one another and traditional ways of knowing and being.