an experience in the pursuit of life.

I met a beautiful soul- amazing woman the other day. She shared with me a bit of her life.. a bit of her experience in helping human kind.
She told me about the Dakota Access pipeline trauma that occurred a couple years ago in the Dakotas. :-(

The conversation began when I noticed the kambo healing scars on her arm, she quite as many as I did. I asked her how long she had been working with kambo. She smiled very sweetly, like a family member would when they see me in the first time after a long time.. 'around 16 years now'.. she began telling me how much she loved Iquitos and this area of the world.. that she'd been coming here for so many months a year.. this is home.

Somehow the conversation between us and the guys got into her being in Dakota.. working in a type of medicine tent that provided aid to those in the event. She was there for only a bit of time. But enough to see what she described.

There were plans circling the camp 24 hours a day, kind of low to the ground.. the noise was unbearable at times. People who had been there from the start, it affected them.. 'they are coming for us'.. a kind of psychological warfare.

When I arrived it was a serious thing. A native fro the area would greet us and tell us the rules- no alcohol, no drugs, and you need to attend the orientation.
They were absolutely no violence. Would not be tolerated.

It wasn't a true police force or military personnel, it was a militia type group hired by the oil companies.
There was one point when they were spraying rat poison from the planes onto the people protesting.

It got so bad, these companies hired a separate group to come in and finish the job. The had a kind of gun they were blasting, the bullets were metal cans. One guy came into the herbal tent his should shattered.

She said more things.

I cried.

How sad the world still is, how sad it is many don't know, how sad it is we chose to forget.