IndigenEYEZ is working in the Cariboo and throughout B.C. to provide workshops, camps and activities for both children and adult First Nations people.
Program teachers were among those providing arts and craft activities for children and adults attending the Williams Lake Band Multicultural Gathering held recently at the Chief Will-Yum powwow arbor.
Activities included face painting, silkscreening patterns on prayer flags and painting dream catchers.
Hazel Bell-Koski, who was instructing the silkscreening workshop said she has been exploring her own ancestry of late which she says is a combination of Annisnaabe/Ojibway, Finnish, Irish and English heritage.
“I’ve been doing a lot of exploring all of my ancestors,” Bell-Koski says.
Jessica Doerner, the Williams Lake hub co-ordinator for IndigenEYEZ says the beautiful flags made at the multicultural gathering have been gifted to the event’s master of ceremonies Rick Gilbert.
Doerner explains that IndigenEYEZ is a B.C based non-profit organization that offers programs that build the confidence of Indigenous youth through creative and land-based activities which rest on traditional philosophy and values.
Activities and workshops are provided at cultural gatherings, weekend camps, conferences, and school assemblies.
She says the activities held at the multicultural gathering are only a small snippet of what youth and adults participate in during the longer camps and workshops.
The IndigenEYEZ Summer Youth Camp for teens ages 14 to 18 takes place at the Ashnola Campground in Keremeos from Sunday, July 17 to Saturday, July 23.
“The camp is open to all B.C. indigenous and Metis youth,” Doerner says.
An IndigenEYEZ and Leadership Essentials workshop also take place June 29 to July 3 at the Hollyhock Lifelong Learning Centre on Cortes Island and other camps and programs are being developed for this area and further north.
Doerner can be contacted at jessica.doerner.jd@gmail.com.
For more information on the workshops go to www.IndigenEYEZ.com or contact program director Kelly Terbasket at 250-502-7900 or at kelly@indigenEYEZ.com.