Dorothy was a cancer victim of Uranium mining . A mine was dug under her home and the dust and trailings from the mine had devestated her health, the health of her family as well as her entire community.
She recounted how even the little school children were being contaminated by the radioactive dust which flew into the yellow school buses bringing the children to their classes.
After a while, I asked Dorothy what I could do to help her. She looked at me and said that I had to help myself first and then help others. We went outside into the cool New Mexico night. The stars shone brightly above.
Dorothy took me aside and said a short, beautiful prayer for me and we continued on our way towards California.
I called Dorothy a few times after that but more or less lost contact until I learned of her passing .
Then while I was doing another peace walk from Tokyo to Hiroshima, I was contacted by Yumi a friend from Osaka who asked me to do a favor for her.
"Will you please carry a medicine bag given to me by a Native woman who died last year. Her wish was to bury it in Japan and I think it would be good to bury it in Hiroshima". She said.
I thought for a moment." Was her name Dorothy Pearly?" I asked .
"Yes"
Dorothy had given her medicine bag to Yumi before she had passed on to the spirit world. I was in Japan going on a peace walk to Hiroshima carrying the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Flame .
So I of course said yes and we carried Dorothy's medicine bag to Hiroshima and got permission to bury it on a mountain top at a Buddhist Temple belonging to the Nipponzan MyoHoJi order .
We all gatherered on early morning in December to bury Dorothy's bag. It began to lightly snow and then the sun came out. Dorothy's spirit was with us for sure.
We dug a hole and put in her pag with other sacred object and place a rock over it.
Later some people went to Nagasaki and brought back a branch from a tree that had survived the Atomic bomb blast there and they planted it over Dorothy's medicine bag.
The site is now a shrine to all Indigenous Peoples who are or have been victims of uranium and or Atomic weapons.
Dorothy's spirit is strong and alive and very much active in the quest for humanity to find an answer to war, hate and destruction.
This walk is dedicated to Dorothy Purley, her spirit, her love and her being -- a Native woman, mother and peace worker.
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