Several Native American health organizations banded together throughout the weekend to host Play For A Cure to bring awareness to breast cancer along with other health issues and promote cultural traditions within the native communities.
The event, held at O’Neill Park near Fresno State on Saturday, featured a day of food and drinks and games. Some of the tribes in attendance included the Chukchansi, Mono and Choinumni tribes, said Rena Picaso, the event organizer.
“Everything we do as an organization has a cultural component to it,” said Raelene Osborne, a representative for the Owens Valley Career Development Center. “So we’re trying to incorporate language, culture, our traditions into every event we’re involved in or collaborating in.”
Hand-Game, a traditional Native American game where two teams match up against one another to guess which hand the “bone” is in, was among the favorites. Each team has a collection of sticks used as wagering tools. If your team guesses correctly, you win the round and get a stick from the losing side. Songs are used as distracting agents during the guessing part of the game. The game progresses until all the sticks are held by one team.
A Hand-Game tournament was hosted by the Owens Valley Career Development Center, in association with the Fresno American Indian Health Project, Central Valley Indian Health Inc., and First Nations, a Fresno State Native American student club.
Osborne said Hand-game is played slightly differently depending on the community and can also be a gambling game.
“Tribes all have their own way of playing it, and they all have their own songs,” Osborne said.
“In the game, there is a lot of Native American song, laughing and teamwork. It’s a very social kind of game,” Picaso said.
In observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Fresno American Indian Health Project hosted a game of “bra pong” and held an information booth.
“We’re an organization that tries to link the community to other medical services,” said Rachel Ramirez, peer support specialist for the Fresno American Indian Health Project. “We also focus on a lot of mental health and behavioral health for Native Americans.”
The Central Valley Indian Health Inc. offered community members information on diet and nutrition and facts about diabetes. During the event organizers offered blood sugar level testing for anyone who wanted to be tested.
Osborne said she believes gatherings like these are important because they give communities the ability to come together in a safe environment and be exposed to tradition and culture that they are not always privy to in their everyday lives.
“Maybe they weren’t taught their traditions, or culture or language, so I feel that sometimes our people are lost in different ways, because they don’t know where they came from,” Osborne said.