Anishinaabe Wellness - Land, Body, & Mind

Boozhoo, (Hello), White Earth Land Recovery Project has served the Anishnabeg of the White Earth Indian Reservation for 32 years.  We serve according to the seven values of the Anishinaabeg. The values are: Respect, Love, Truth, Honesty, Humility, Courage, and Wisdom. The video will depict who we are, what we do, and what our current need is. Donate today. Daga (please)

White Earth Land Recovery Project has worked for 33 years to bring back the land base of the White Earth Indian Reservation. With only 9 percent of the land with in the exterior boundaries of White Earth belong to the tribe. This year we were able to place back 78 acres to go into tribal trust status. This is the first time in the 33 years that land has gone back, under strong leadership, we will continue to honor our mission.

Funds will be used to support a variety of projects, first being the Great Lakes Indigenous Farming Conference. The Great Lakes Indigenous Farming Conference will provide useful new information that will aid in ongoing research. It will grow connections amongst farmers, ranchers, researchers, and likeminded community members. This conference will encourage youth to connect to Aking (the land to which the people belong) in a positive healthy way. It will bring together like minded individuals to work toward policy development for the benefit of Indigenous farmers.  Attendees will gain new techniques, skills, and novel ideas to further their farming careers. The GLIFC is an avenue for educators to present findings, and to the wider community, it will be a venue to brainstorming, networking, and making connections that can lead to new initiatives.

The second project is The Mind Body Medicine project. This project will provide more certified MBM practitioners to serve the Anishinaabe of White Earth.  It will help more people to understand the connection the mind has to the body. More people will practice relaxation, improve coping skills, reduce tension and pain, and lessen the need for medications. These are indigenous practices used across turtle island over the history of the original people.

The third project supported is our meal kit projects, working to bring healthy traditional foods into Anishinaabe homes across the White Earth Reservation.  Each meal kit consists of at least one traditional food, venison, fish, and buffalo are just an example.  Each kit comes with the recipes for the meal and feeds a family of four.  These foods are just one step in working towards a decolonized diet. 

Other projects are Wild Rice Day, our annual open house which brings together families across our reservation to share in entertainment, food, and fun. 

KKWE Niijii Radio is our noncommercial community radio station. Our airways are filled with tradition. Traditional music, Ojibwe Language, the Native American sense of humor, News and Information. All which can be found throughout the day, starting with Talking with Terry, a variety show highlighting Indigenous News, current events, traditional music, and known well for the "bad jokes."  

Niijii Radio also works to enrich the lives of the Anishinaabeg of White Earth through offering traditional arts and culture classes. In the community we have done drum making, quilling on birch bark, traditional medicines, and more. Currently we will host a medicine bag class and ribbon skirt making. 

 “The projects of White Earth Land Recovery Project encompass wellness, wellness of the land, wellness of the people, and wellness of the mind. Through our projects we work to bolster community wellness overall by creating spaces for innovation, connection, and balance,” said Maggie Rousu, Executive Director