Mona Polacca   -  North America

“Indigenous people have come through a time of great struggle, a time of darkness. The way I look at it is like the nature of a butterfly. In the cocoon, a place of darkness, the creature breaks down into a fluid and then a change, a transformation, takes place. When it is ready and in its own time, it begins to move and develop a form that stretches and breaks away from this cocoon and emerges into this world, into life, as a beautiful creature.

We grandmothers, we have emerged from that darkness, see this beauty, see each other and reach out to the world with open arms, with love, hope, compassion, faith and charity.”

Hopi/Havasupai /Tewa elder is working on her Ph.D at the Interdisciplinary Justice Studies department of Arizona State University. Mona has worked on issues of Native American alcoholism. domestic violence and mental health for the elderly native peoples.