Native+people+in+the+English+speaking+world

Ah Poch- mayan god of death My name is Ah Poch and I am the apsaalokes witchdoctor. I am old and wise and my job is to treat the hurt and sick in the tribe. I also got other abilities, I can speak to the gods and I can do magic. The tribe really depends on me, and I don’t even want to think about what would happen if I weren’t there to help them. Every link in the tribe has to be there, because the tribe is only as strong as its weakest link. That’s why I always have to keep my guard open. People can show up at any moment to seek my advice or to get healing. But I haven’t always been a wise and important man, when I was young I was actually a common warrior. I have got a lot of stories to tell but there is one in particular. It’s about the happening that changed everything. I opened my eyes. As usual everything was a little blurry. I put on my clothes and went out. The sun was shining brightly and I could smell that the women were making breakfast. My stomach rumbled but before I could eat I had to wash myself by the river. As I saw my reflection in the sparkling water I felt like something was wrong. I always had that ability, every time something was wrong I could feel it. I went up to the fire and got some berry soup, and peppermint tea. Everything seemed fine, but I still had that weird feeling in my stomach. Then suddenly I heard a loud sound, it was a sound I had never heard before. Immediately we got our weapons and gathered the troops. Then we saw where the sound came from, it was a white man. Only one man and he was carrying some kind of metal object. “Calm down, I just want to tell you something.” The man shouted. We couldn’t really understand what he was saying but with a little body language we managed to make a conversation. “We have come to get your land, you can either give it to us or we can take it with power.” We were really confused, it was just a normal day and suddenly a man came and said that he and his people wanted to take our land. “ We will never give you our land, so bring your men.” Our chief told them. The man became furious and ran back to his men. Now it was war. The only thing we could do know was to surprise them with a good tactic. The weapons we used were tomahawks, bow and arrows and knifes. We knew nothing about the stranger’s weapons, except that metal object that the man carried. We knew that it made a terrible sound, but would it hurt us? We followed the women and children up to the hills, and then prepared ourselves. I had never been in a fight before so this was really scary but at the same time pretty thrilling and exciting. We painted ourselves, each warrior with they’re own individual pattern. We were as ready as we could be. Then we heard it “ Boom”, we knew immediately that it had started. It didn’t take long before we could see them, some of them walking and some riding. They were wearing blue uniforms with hats, and they had swords and other weapons. I can’t really remember that much from the actual fight, but I remember pain, suffering and exhaustion. Our weapons were no matches against what we today know as guns. It all went so quick, and before we knew it we had to back down. I lost a lot of my friends and family, and everything changed. From that day we were no longer free, the white skins ruled our land. They forced us to work for them and treated us like animals. For ages we had been a proud and free tribe and in just a few days everything had changed. I was set to dig for water out in the desert. It was a hard days work, and we didn’t get any pay just a little food. No one in the tribe was happy, we could only think of one thing to do. Run away. We secretly began to plan the escape. We needed to do it while the white skins were asleep, and we needed to get so far away that they would not find us. We planned for about two weeks or so before it was time. When the dark came upon us we gathered. We took out the guards with some poison arrows we made from things we found in the nature. Then we released all the horses so they couldn’t use them to catch us. We were on our way, but in the back of our minds were the memories. We had lived there our whole life, and our forefathers were buried on that ground. Memories left behind. The journey lasted for many days and even weeks. We walked over mountains, through forests, even swam over rivers before we finally found a perfect place. It was by the water, and was surrounded by trees and plants. It was beautiful and perfect for me in particular because now I could follow my dream of becoming a man who treated the injured and sick. I could use the plants to make medicine. Many years have passed since that terrible happening. Luckily the white skins never found us, and they probably stopped looking many years ago. After we got settled in the new camp I started studying plants and meditated a lot and therefore gained my reputation as a wise and helpful man in the tribe. We have now lived happily for many years but I can never fully forget my friends and family that were left behind. I try to move on and I hope nothing like this will ever happen again. //Fredrik Aartun//