Day 4

The elders are held to the upmost respect and authority within this culture. Today, during our tour of Kanvwodiyi, a staff member spoke about how elders are what they look towards for wisdom. He spoke about once they pass, you no longer get to hear stories and obtain experience from them. It is also important to note this is a matriarchal society. Therefore, women are also held in high regard and are the decision-makers.

During my experiences, I have observed many extended families. As Kayla spoke about, typically grand-parents are taking care and raising children due to the inabilities of the parents. They have started to raise the children immersed in the culture as opposed to pushing their culture away. Decades ago, children were not allowed to be raised with their culture so a lot of that has died. The generations after that experienced historical grief due to their parents not knowing how to be parents. Now, the children are happier than they have reportedly been in a long time.

It is important in any society to have support from those around you. In this culture, family is a major support system, which can be both good and bad. The whole community in general is a support system for everyone. As the speaker from Kanvwodiyi said, they look at the good for the community before the good for themselves. Another support system for those needing it is the healthcare system.

Most children and families who are resilient have some sort of past trauma. There has to be a reason to develop a resilience, which is typically a traumatizing event. Many times, it is multiple events. Over time, people develop the resilience to trauma. This community has a lot of resilience given all the events that have occurred in their past and even today. They are still needing to have a thick skin to get through each day.

Today, we visited Kanvwodiyi residential treatment center. We ate lunch at Lynn’s in Robinsville, NC.