Orion in the Sky

Maybe somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere
There’ll be room for all this love
Where they’ve saved a place for innocence
And what is still mysterious
And their dreaming time…

It’s winter and Orion is back. Orion the hunter I follow every clear night walking home, night-skiing, or just star-gazing. He is a favorite constellation and midnight mentor.

In the southern hemisphere, Orion orients differently in the sky and in Spanish America it’s called the Three Marys, referring to the three prominent stars we know as Orion’s belt.

In Bolivia a micro-industry is thriving. In the 1990's Quechua and Aymara village women were organized into Save the Children – Bolivia and adopted the name Artesanias Minkha. Their goal? To feed their extended families as well as their children. Their means? Hand-knitting beautiful alpaca sweaters in the recognizably Bolivian style. There are now 45 families sustained by the income they make through the cooperative. The women have not only greatly improved their lives and those of their families, but they take pride in their craft and positive feedback for their work. It is entirely owned and run by the indigenous women – there is no western interference other than orders placed from North American buyers.

Evo Morales is the first modern indigenous president of Bolivia. As with most minorities who see the folly the international majority misses in itself, he has challenged greater world powers and the mouse still roars. Because he protests the authority of other governments over the autonomy he intends to develop for his people stiff sanctions have been levied against his country by the US.

Are we still hateful toward the Indian, any Indian?

Now is it too much to ask in a lifetime
For just one shot at happiness?

Because our government is displeased with the choices of another government, importing any of what should be considered Fair Trade goods is impossible. Import taxes and duties are prohibitive. And who suffers? Not the governments. Always the soul of any culture; its people.

So the women of Cochabamba I’m sure pray faithfully to the Three Marys that as sole wage earners they’ll continue the ability to feed their families. I have given up and rail at Orion that from his post as watchful hunter he’s incapable of standing up to the global folly.

Thanks to Shawn Colvin for letting me use her title and lyrics.