“RAISING A DREAM”
TOTEM POLE CARVING PROJECT BEST OPPORTUNITY FOR THE
ABORIGINAL FOOTPRINT
Sharing The Vision…
Lu’ma Native Housing Society is excited to provide you with this opportunity to witness a historical event entitled ‘ Raising a Dream”. This momentous experience will bridge our two worlds, embracing the uniqueness of First Nations spiritual being, culture sharing our history and continued existence within the lower mainland.
“Raising a Dream” is a First Nations cultural experience that consists of the completion of four totem poles that will be carved over a period at the Hasting Elementary School grounds.
The selected poles, when completed and brought to life, consist of four poles: (2) twenty-five foot totems and (2) ten foot totems. The poles will be raised at our new family housing project located at East 12 & Nanaimo named, ‘The Aboriginal Children’s Village’ dedicated to met the needs of Aboriginal foster children.
The purpose of this Carving Project is to give the elementary school children in the area the opportunity to witness a large carving project, to teach sacred traditional values, to enjoy story-telling, to learn about the intrinsic connection between humans, the land, water and the air, and witness the traditional transfer and raising ceremony of these totems to our housing project site.
We hosted a province-wide RFP process to request submissions of totem designs from Master Carvers. We chose the best totem design to fit our theme of the Aboriginal Children’s Village
An agreement in principle drafted between Lu’ma and Hastings Elementary School to ensure that the project will be successful.
The carving process is taking place under a 20 foot by 80-foot tent with a secure fence around it adjacent to the school building. The tents were raised on June 21st 2009, the carving site was blessed in a blessing ceremony on June 25th and carving began.
Once the Poles are placed, it will aspire to continue to instill pride and respect towards our ancestors and the Community involved for decades to come. As we reflect on this momentous experience, we will continue to honor our traditional past with a present partnership, building a community
Both the local and international media will be looking for interesting and colourful opportunities to showcase what makes Vancouver special on the world scene.
The well publicized sacred procession and unveiling will be attended by dignitaries and will provide Lu’ma the opportunity to again publicly thank our contributors.
To leave a lasting legacy, a beautiful plaque will be installed at the totems’ final resting site…a reminder of all who generously helped bring this project to life for timeless generations to come.
We appreciate your consideration and look forward to hearing your response on this exciting opportunity with Lu’ma Native Housing Society and this valuable project of “Raising a Dream”.