Center for Civic Engagement

Its 1AM and were making Authentic Corn Bread at the Mohawk Community

So, as you can see, we are having a very long, but fun, last day!
Our day started out with a presentation by Tam Ha about Vietnam, where she is from. After the very interesting presentation, we broke off and continued work from the day before. Some of us were also taught how to prune the apple trees in the yard. Work ended a little early due to a thunderstorm. But we got together with the students from Miami and bonded as two big groups.
Then, the incredible Tom Porter arrived to speak with us about Mohawk culture! He is an elder in the community and speaks to many groups about traditional Mohawk culture and keeping it alive. He was able to sit down with us and talk about their culture and history. We were all incredibly moved by everything he said to us. It was amazing to hear all of his stories!
We then broke away, ate a good dinner, then most of us came together to watch a documentary. It was about Mohawk men that worked on Manhattan's skyscrapers. Another great experience! After the movie ended, Tom was able to speak a little more to us. He then brought up how he wanted to teach us how to make authentic Indian corn bread. One of us then brought up doing it right now. And that's how we made it here. All of us in the kitchen having Tom Porter teach us how to make corn bread! A lot harder then you would expect!
Now, were off to go enjoy our corn bread and our last night here at the Mohawk Community! It has been an incredible experience!

Melanie

TMI Thursday- The Final Day!

Hey Everybody!

 

    It's Thursday night and instead of scavenging our snack totes for food we find ourselves here, reflecting on the past 24 hours as well as the entirety of our week here  (By the way, PASTA FOR DINNER!!).  Last night, we stood at the highest point of West Virginia at Spruce Knob under the navigation and direction of mountain-mama Casey.  As the sun fell beneath the horizon and the last few rays glittered onto us, we felt successful.  After all, it only took us 1 hour and 30 minutes & two gallons of sweat to summit the peak.  Thankfully, we lazy kids received a ride back to Ulan Bator (the main yurt) and spent the last few hours of the night reflecting on our day by way of zen meditation (thanks to Nic) and fun games (thanks to Dan).  However, we soon succumbed to exhaustion and headed to bed.

    This morning, we mountaineers slept in and sluggishly scavenged the breakfast totes for the remaining food.  We finally met the mysterious Charlie (who is a woman) and learned to nature journal.  Though we worked hard, the day flew because we knew it was the last night at TMI.  We are excited to return to Naz, but it is bittersweet knowing that we have to leave this beautiful place. 

Quinton:  Well, the week is almost over and I know I'm going to miss this place.  The mounatains are so gorgeous and the weather has been fantastic (to think, I was nervous about being too cold).  This trip has been an AMAZING experience and I feel as though all of us here have become a family.

Farzona:  It was so exciting to come here because I really miss nature because back home we have a lot of mountains and I was missing it.  I made really new, AWESOME friends, had fun, shared my culture, and learned about service work in America.  This week has been wonderful, but I miss Naz a little bit.  Ho-ho :)

Katie:  For me, the week began with a little bit of uncertainty; I was unaware on what to expect, learn, and who I was going to be sharing the experience with.  However, TMI is the type of place that enlightens you on such concerns almost instantly.  The work was fulfilling, West Virginia is beautiful, and the people here are wonderful.  It is also important to note that Hawthorn trees are KILLER.  Anyways...The experience itself was an ephemeral one, but I know that its lessons will be everlasting inside of me.  Peace out.

Hiking Through the Woods at the Mohawk Community

We started our day at 9:30 with a presentation from Alex and Zhenya about the Ukraine, where they are from.  We learned a lot about a different country that most of us had no idea about!  After the presentation, we went right back to work!  Some of us did some more staining, sorted scrap metal, cleaned out the horse corral, chopped some more wood, and assembled carts.  We were then able to figure out how to copy VCR tapes to DVD, in order to save important speeches from elders who has since passed away. This was inside work, but I (Melanie), learned a lot from listening to the lectures as they copied.  So many incredible stories!
After a very delicious lunch, we finished up some work.  We then teamed up with students from the University of Miami, and was lead on a hike by Nick, who lives in the community. He led us around to see more of the 400 acre property, which included a river and even a corn and hay field!  He then led some of us brave souls to take a hike into the woods to see the spring the community uses for water.  This involved a lot of mud and having to figure out how to cross a river!  Some of us pulled our shoes off and waded right through, while some of us did some gymnastic-like moves to climb over logs. The water was absolutely FREEZING!!  The one thing we learned on this hike to the springs was make sure to take electronics out of your pocket before climbing over water! (Cough, Nicole, Cough)  Another reassurance of how cold the water was, when she had to jump in to save all the amazing pictures from her camera!
We rushed right back to warm up with showers, and then a yummy bonding dinner with the Miami students!  We then had some nice yummy cookies for dessert!
We now are on our way to our SECOND fire, with some more yummy smores.  And for some of us, yummy banana boats!  We have our fingers crossed that Tom Porter, an elder in the community, comes back soon!  We'll have tons of stories for you then!

Melanie and Tam

TMI Wednesday - Some chums out on the land!

What a gorgeous day in the mountains! First we will catch you guys up on what happened last night. We had some awesome dance lessons from Farzona (Tajik!) and Lincoln (Haitain!). It was quite the sight to see. The girls had an epic sleepover in the "bubble".

This morning after breakfast, we had a great discussion about stereotypes in West Virginia and in general. We then got to work on filling potholes, burying the water line, and eradicating invasive species from the high plains. The highlight of the day was our hike up to Spruce Knob (the highest point in West Virginia) for the sunset. The best of all (to some silly kids) was the cell phone service at the summit. It was such a beautiful view, incapable of being captured by a picture. Although it was a difficult hike, it was certainly worth it in the end. Our team mates are preparing dinner for us as I type. Hope you guys are having as awesome of a week as we are!

K love you bye!

 

Grete & Deb!

The Day of the 20 Year Old Frosting at the Mohawk Community

We feel so at home here at Kanatsiohareke that we can scarcely believe that it has only been two days! :) 

We began the day by exploring some of the most amazing sites relating to Native American history that this area has to offer. Caughnawaga is one of the best preserved Iroquois site in the world! Here, around 350 Turtle Clan members were forced to leave their land in 1693 because of the Clinton Sullivan Campaign that aimed to rid New York State of all Native mericans. Next we ventured on to the Shrine of Kateri. What's that you ask? Well, Kateri was a Mohawk woman who allegedly converted to Catholicism and helped many sick people. This upcoming Fall, she will be canonized as the first Native American Catholic Saint! Next, we quite literally got our feet wet when we visited the river that Kanatsiohareke got it's name from. 

We returned back to the work site and spent the afternoon fixing fences, staining wood for the arbor, splitting wood for firewood and sorting "paint" (or at least what we thought was paint, but turned out to be frosting!!!). Apparently someone thought it was a good idea to leave a bucket full of PINK frosting next to pink paint cans in the basement... We mean, where else do you store pink frosting, but in a 200 year old basement? :) We'd describe what it was like, but our words would be futile. You should watch the video and really think about the next time you eat a Twinkie. :) 

 

 

 

Well, a warm bonfire and toasty S'mores await us outside! Stay tuned for our amazing future adventures tomorrow! 

 

Teri and Elisa

TMI 3-11-12

Today finds our eleven brave adventurers in high spirits. After a cold and very wet morning, the day decided to lighten up and live a little. Right now, the sun beams down across a freshly swept deck and beatles music and laughter floats across the local fields and ponds. Today was a great day! After finishing the bathroom counters and cleaning what was left, we cleaned the deck in preparation for sealing. Also on the list was re-grouting the entrance to the kitchen and a morning of learning about and teaching about the local forest led to a lunch of grilled cheese and soup. Yum! As of recently, we have had fun playing games like big booty, a rhythm game that Quinton brought to us, eating delicious jumbaliah for yesterday's lunch and dinner, and lounging in the bubble. Overall, it's been a fun two days and we can only look forward to more fun, danger, and adventures in the coming days. Thanks for reading, Dan (aka poptart)

ps- This just in, we found out what was inside the burrs that stick onto your clothes in the woods. I just opened one up that was stincking on me and it had a hard core with a maggot in it... fun. On a deeper note, the past days have been some of the best of mine to date. Hard, fullfilling work combined with beautiful scenery and a relaxing atmosphere make for a great time. So far its been around 70 and slightly breezy everyday, just about perfect. Thanks again for reading!

Hi all-

TMI rocks. It has been a great day. Woke up early to some strong coffee and the smell of the fresh mountain air. After a teach one learn one experience in the woods we all got to receive and give information to each other and participate together in an educational experience. We came upon a hibernating orange frog while digging ditches yesterday. and like a good Alfred Hitchcock movie all the frogs in the pond started serenading us and they haven't stopped yet, maybe they aren't serenading us at all. If we don't report tomorrow...send help.

Anyway, today involved painting the bathrooms while jamming to Bob Marley and scrubbing the bathroom floorboards to Beethoven we were ready to prep the deck for staining to the Beatles. Frisbee, juggling, hula hooping and general dance broke out just before this blog. We are bonding as a group and have become aware of what we can accomplish when we work together. Tonight holds dinner, Tajik dancing and who knows.... Take care, Chris (aka frogman)

 

Spring breakers arrive at Kanatsiohareke Mohawk Community

Spring breakers arrive at Kanatsiohareke Mohawk Community

What a wonderful day to begin a service trip. 

After leaving Rochester around 7:00am, and after picking up a napping Nicole on the side of the thruway in Syracuse, we arrived at Kanatsiohareke Mohawk Community around 10:00am. Exhausted already from the drive but enthusiastic to learn and perform service, we settled in to our room of eleven beds and joined an educational talk outside about the history of the Mohawk people (see picture).  It was nice sharing this experience with several students from the University of Miami (Florida) and Fordham U. students who are also volunteering in this area for the week. 

When we got down to business, some of us worked on splitting and sorting wood like true lumberjacks while others cleaned out a scary 100 year old basement!  We were all excited to have Kevin and Melanie join the group midday.  The week is off to a good start- and our exhaustion is leaving us speechless so off to bed we go.  Our adventures will continue tomorrow...

Nicole & Stacey

 

TMI Arrival (Sunday)

Greetings Naz fellows and families!

WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!  Casualties=0.  The weather is unbelievable at 68!  After 10 hours of travelling we were thrilled to see those blue mountains on the horizon!  (Plus our voices were getting tired from all that singing... Country Roaaaads, Take me Hoooome.... ya, you get the picture).  Lincoln is working on getting a DJ.  We're all getting settled in with stir fry steaming on the stove.  Tonight we will be relaxing in preparation for our service and hiking tomorrow!  We are very excited :D

We love you, bye.

Jenny and Jess (J-J-J-Jenny and the Jess, If you don't get it, think Elton John)

Spring 2012 Alternative Break Trips

Hello friends!  I work in the Community Service Department here at Nazareth College and I am so excited to be a part of this blog which will allow our alternative break team members to share their experiences with friends and family.  There are two alternative break trips going out the week of March 12th that are being sponsored by the Center for Civic Engagement. 

Nine students and two faculty members will be traveling to picturesque Circleville, West Virginia where they will aid The Mountain Institute (TMI) with painting and roofing tasks as well as learn about Appalachian culture, history and the environment.   This trip is being led by two students who participated in the TMI trip last spring, Jessica Saville and Jenny Scobie.

There will also be 13 students and one staff member traveling to the Kanatsiohareke Mohawk Community in Fonda, NY, to assist the community with renovation, painting, etc. and to learn about Mohawk culture and history.  Trip members are excited to meet and learn from Mohawk community members including world renowned elder, Tom Porter.  This is a first time trip for Nazareth College and will be led by students Elisa Napierala and Jeanine Youngers. 

A third trip will also be going out this spring break through the Center for Spirituality.  Fifteen students and one staff member will be traveling to Clairvaux Farm in Elkton, Maryland (for the 17th year in a row) to work at a rural homeless shelter (this trip will not be blogging as access is limited where they will be).

Please be sure to check out the student blogs from TMI and the Mohawk Community trips nightly the week of March 12 and feel free to add comments.  Happy reading!

-Julie Lloyd