HIR Wellness Institute Joins the Unity Fire MKE/DNC

On Monday, August 17, 2020 Indigenous women of HIR WI open latest Unity Fire MKE Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) with earth celebration. Lea Denny, HIR WI CEO & Founder, will offer a message of hope and healing. Unity Fire MKE will take place on the Forest County Potawatomi land Wgema Campus (3136 W. Kilbourn Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53208)

“Unity Fire MKE will be filled with Indigenous women from across Wisconsin, bringing to the forefront the long overdue and ever pressing issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit (MMIWG2S).” Jamie Kellicut, HIR WI Community Engagement & Indigenous Affairs Director.

HIR Wellness Institute CEO & Founder Lea Denny will open the event with a heartfelt speech at 1pm discussing MMIWG2S and Community Activated Medicine ™ (CAM) and introduce other Indigenous women leaders who will speak on the work they do in Wisconsin for MMIWG2S.

“We cannot begin talking about healing our communities until we begin to bring social justice action and healing to our women -- the MMIWG2S movement is the right step in this direction of justice, change, and healing our communities. Together we will make a difference for our generation and for seven generations into the future. We need all our relatives to stand together in solidarity and rise up,” said Denny. “It is a sisterhood, a brotherhood, a relative-hood and it is intergenerational. In Hawaiian we have a word, ho'oponopono. This word, like many of our Indigenous languages, is complex and dynamic and simply stated it means "righteousness" or to "make things right when a wrong has been made. It is a practice of reconciliation and forgiveness. MMIWG2S work is ho'oponopono”

The speakers will be followed by a social justice vigil honoring MMIWG2S with a mini CAM ™/Red Sands event on the campus. Attendees of the Unity Fire will be gifted a small bag of red sand for a ‘Healing with Red Sands Ceremony’ where the red sand will be poured onto the campus concrete to represent the individuals who have been impacted by MMIWG2S. A special ceremonial Hawaiian chant will be sung by HIR Wellness Institute Community Healer, Malia Chow as we close the vigil to honor MMIWG2S.

Healing Intergenerational Roots (HIR) Wellness Institute is a social justice-informed and culturally rooted Intergenerational Healing Approach™ that improves mental health and wellness outcomes for Indigenous and underserved communities. For further information and updates, please contact HIR Wellness Institute Community Engagement & Indigenous Affairs Director Jamie Kellicut at (414) 763-5815 or JKellicut@HIRWellness.org .