About Our NGO Activities

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• In 1981, Ven. Dhyani Ywahoo attended the International NGO Conference on Indigenous Populations and the Land in Geneva, Switzerland as one of the delegates from the American Indian Treaty Council. Prior to that year, she had collected documentation from various reservations regarding the sterilization of Native American women without their consent, sometimes happening during simple visits to the dentist.

• Sunray supports community dialogues and actions that benefit Indigenous women and girls in their communities. For example, in Ottawa, Canada, members of Sunray actively participate in community talking circles and speaker events in response to Truth and Reconciliation dialogues (resulting from the deprivation of basic human rights imposed upon Indigenous people through the Indian residential school system and the resulting harmful legacy to Indigenous people).

• Jordi Palou-Loverdos, a lawyer based in Barcelona, Spain, works with communities in different parts of the world, inspired by the principles on community that he has learned from Ven. Dhyani Ywahoo and Sunray Peace Village. He understands that, “When identities, resources, power, economic growth, quantitative criteria and other positions appear to be more important than the beings themselves, natural conflict can degenerate in violence episodes, instead to be an opportunity for harmonization.” He has applied this understanding in work to support refugee families entering Catalonia from various countries in conflict, and to provide support to children “at risk” who’ve come to Barcelona from other countries.
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• In Barcelona, Spain, Irma Rognono Viader, a lawyer, mediator in conflict resolution, former city councilor in the government of Barcelona, and friend of Sunray dedicates her efforts to children and families. She believes that, “Considering the family unit as a whole, promotes cross-cutting policies to offer a more multidimensional way of thinking.”
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• Sunray invited a Lakota grandmother to speak at the 35^th Annual Elders Gathering (2017) on the Standing Rock initiative and its effect on children and families. A blanket-dance raised over $1,000 to support her efforts to provide food, shelter, and warm clothing for several of children of Lakota families at Standing Rock.

• Like most Indigenous peoples, Sunray views the cycle of the female, called the moon-cycle time of girls and women, as a sacred process during which the inner insight that arises can be offered to benefit the community. At annual Elders Gatherings, Sunray offers moon-cycle teachings to girls and women so that they may honor their bodies and this sacred cycle.

• Sunray students engage in work and activities in their professional lives, applying the teachings of Sunray, to promote the empowering of girls and women and advocate for access to quality education leading to future economic sustainability. (See, for example, Still Harbor Anchor Magazine Article on Female Leadership: Girl Scouts and girlhood dreams).

Tools

• Systems-analysis and engaging in systems-change are key to effectively understanding and addressing issues that girls and women’s face around the world. Also, far too often, women and girls are caught in situations of conflict or war in the world, increasing the complexity of challenges they encounter in living full, healthy and productive lives. Two works authored by the late Dr. Louise Diamond, a very early student of Ven. Dhyani Ywahoo, provide valuable insights on systems thinking, and complex systems-analysis and peacemaking in war zones: Louise Diamond, Twelve Simple rules of Systems Thinking for Complex Global Issues, Global Systems Initiatives (2009, and adapted 2018); Louise Diamond, Peacemakers in a Warzone, The Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy Occasional Paper 1 (November, 1993).

Indigenous people around the world equate water with life and for many generations have viewed water as sacred. “In Tsalagi, water is ama, consciousness, like mama, and when we awaken to the cleansing properties of water, then we may wash away the obstacles to good relationship with self, others, the Earth.” (Dhyani Ywahoo, Voices of Our Ancestors)

Just as our organ systems are supported by Mother Earth’s compassion, she is supported by our caretaking. To return to Earth appreciation and caretaking of her waters, mountains, and atmosphere is the responsibility of her children [human beings]. That is our song in this time. (Dhyani Ywahoo, Voices of Our Ancestors)

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• Since the founding of the Sunray Peace Village, Sunray has been caretaking a pristine water source flowing from the sacred Mt. Abraham in Lincoln, Vermont. In addition, Sunray communities around the world also offer prayers of appreciation at rivers, lakes and streams within their geographical areas in the tradition of the Ywahoo Family Lineage. We believe that water is consciousness and all water is connected. Thus, prayers made reverberate through all water on Earth.

• Prayers circles of appreciation for water and for sending prayers of peace through the water are some of our ongoing practices in Sunray local communities. For example:
  • Sunray’s local minister and community in Canada have offered words of gratitude and sacred cornmeal at the head waters of rivers, that they may be carried far and wide by the waters. Gratitude and offerings also have been offered:
    • at the head waters of the Columbia River, East Kootenay, British Columbia then flowing southwest into the U.SA. to the Pacific Ocean;
    • the Old Man River in the foothills of the Rockies, southern Alberta, part of the Saskatchewan river system flowing through Lake Winnipeg and northwards into Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean; and
    • at the western edge of the Ottawa River watershed, Ontario, flowing into the St. Lawrence River and eastwards into the Atlantic Ocean.
  • Sunray’s local ministers and community in Germany have been leading prayer circles for peace and healing of the waters at springs (e.g., near Blautopf in southwest Germany), waterfalls (e.g., Seljaland Waterfall in Iceland), and other sacred bodies of water. After a series of 7 fire and water ceremonies on healing wounds of war, sacred crystals were placed in 3 different rivers in Germany and at the Polish border (River Rheine and Elbe) and to the North Sea/Atlantic Ocean, and River Oder leading to the Baltic Sea.

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• In 2017, our Sunray Community contributed over $2,000 to purchase food, clothing and other items to support Standing Rock, led by the Lakota community in South Dakota who were seeking removal of the Dakota oil pipeline that crossed through a part of their sacred lands and endangered their key water source, the Missouri River. Members of the Sunray community drove across country carrying our donation and joined in prayers of support reflecting Sunray’s unity with this calling to right relationship by our Indigenous brothers and sisters, who were supported by many people around the world.

Tools

• Sunray is calling all to remember our collective responsibility to caretake the Earth’s waters. Here is the sound of the pristine stream at the Sunray Peace Village calling all people to remember this water caretaking responsibility wherever we are in the world:

• In 2003, seeing the growing water challenges around the world, Sunray’s Spiritual Director, Ven. Dhyani Ywahoo, delivered Prayers of Appreciation for Water to the Sunray community, urging all to deepen prayers of appreciation for water and for each other, and to acknowledge water’s sacred nature. This prayer practice (updated) is available here: Words of Appreciation for Water

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