The bees are buzzing around the Ayni garden

May was a busy month at Ayni! All of the team members (and many volunteers!) have been working together to make sure we are building reciprocity through our events, projects, and campaigns. We are seeing more and more how Spring has been promoting growth and how our projects are coming together for the upcoming season. Keep reading to see what the May buzz has been about!

Our Voices

This month we hosted our first of many upcoming monthly events with indigenous elders. On May 18th we were joined virtually by Alejandrina Calancha Monge, Rocío Cjuiro Messco, and Gabriel Quispe Huayhua, who shared their voices and stories from Cusco, Peru.

Our three guests gave a beautiful presentation filled with songs and music. You can listen to their farewell song below:

We also published the fourth edition of Our Voices of Wisdom newsletter this month. In this issue we go back to the basics, highlighting foundational materials written by indigenous authors from North America. Sign up to the newsletter to receive monthly highlights in your inbox!

Coming up: Dialogue and Book Reading with Native Author Deborah Spears Moorehead

On June 18th we will be joined for a book reading and dialogue with Seaconke Pokanoket Wampanoag artist and author Deborah Spears Moorehead. She will be visiting from Rhode Island to speak about her book Finding Balance: The Oral and Written History and Genealogy of the Massasoit People.

Memory Keeping

May was an important month in our fundraising work for the 4th film of the “Mysteries of the Andes” documentary series. We started the month with an online Livestream-a-thon, where we did an 8 hour Facebook livestream to get online donations for the film. Alejandrina Calancha Monge, producer of the films, joined us for an hour and challenged all of us to do our part in the reciprocal relationship that is emerging with the indigenous elders and communities that are sharing their wisdom with the world.

Towards the end of the month, we collaborated with our sister organization NUBE to throw a big fundraiser party for the film. Many, many thanks to everyone who came out to the Spring Pachanga, where we were able to raise over $600 for the 4th film!

Back in the Andes, the film director José Huamán Turpo has been busy working on all the footage he got from Bolivia at the beginning of the month. He is planning to return in June to document the ceremonies that take place during the Winter Solstice, which also marks the beginning of the new year in the Andes.

If you would like to support José’s trip in June, you can donate at www.gofundme.com/4thfilm.

Movements

Ayni’s Movement team has been working hard to prepare for the Movement Ecology Training in June. We are building this training from the ground-up, and we are devoting many hours to make sure that we have a strong launch of this new training. Our hope is that we will be able to offer many more Movement Ecology Trainings in the coming months.

Similarly, we are preparing an online Advanced Movement Ecology Course for the Fall. The semester-long course will meet once a week to discuss topics such as stages and seasons of movements, political realignments and populism, personal transformation, organizing traditions, and new visions of how alternatives can play a bigger role in the progressive movements of the future. Please let us know if you are interested here.

Coming up: Political Power and Organizing

The #MovementSeries continues on June 12th! Carlos Saavedra will lead this event where we will discuss how to move issues forward using the power of the community to build tension, hold protests, and put pressure on legislators.

Sacred Seasons

May has been a wonderful month to prepare for the arrival of Summer. We have been planning two events to get us ready for the transition to the new season. In order to go from Spring to Summer, we are creating opportunities for all of us to be grateful for the growth of Spring. What better way to do that than spending some time with Mother Earth?

Ayni will be celebrating it’s sixth anniversary in June with the arrival of the summer season! We will be providing lunch at 12pm and will have ceremonies and activities for a fun day at the beach. We are grateful for everyone’s support and want to celebrate with everyone who has been a part of the Ayni community since 2013. Will you join us?

There has been a lot of buzz around the office this month with all the different projects we are working on. We are excited to be working on so many different programs and campaigns with your support!