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The Indigenous Women's Network invites the public to a reception and fundraiser at Alma de Mujer Retreat and Learning Center on Friday, May 18 from 7:00 PM to 9:00PM. This evening with the Indigenous Women's Network will feature Winona LaDuke from the White Earth Land Recovery Project in Ponsford, Minnesota and Dona Enriqueta Contreras from the Casa de Curacion (House of Healing) in Oaxaca, Mexico. They will be speaking on Indigenous environmental and health issues.

Ms. LaDuke, Mississippi-Band Anishinaabe, is a well-known political and anti-nuclear activist, two time Green Party Vice Presidential candidate, and the author of several books, including Last Woman Standing and All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life. For the past 15 years Ms. LaDuke has served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Indigenous Women's Network. A 1982 Harvard graduate, she is Program Director of the Honor the Earth Fund and Founding Director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project. In 1994 she was named by Time Magazine as one of America's 50 most promising leaders under 40 years of age.

Dona Enriqueta Contreras is a Zapotecan Curandera (healer) and midwife from Sierra Norte, Oaxaca, Mexico, who has been teaching "Traditional Healing Practices with Medicinal Plants" Institutes with the IWN for the last five years. She will be teaching two Institutes on Saturday and Sunday, May 19 and 20 at Alma de Mujer in Austin.

The event is open to the public with a sliding scale donation of $10 to $50. There will be a silent auction and door prizes as well as complimentary drinks and hors d'ouvres.

The Indigenous Women's Network was created in 1985 to support the self-determination of Indigenous women and families in the Americas and the Pacific Basin. In the process of promoting self-determination, IWN supports public education and advocacy, the revitalization of our languages and culture, the elimination of all forms of oppression, the attainment of self-sufficiency and the protection of Mother Earth for future generations. The IWN owns and operates the Alma de Mujer Retreat and Learning Center near Lake Travis.

For more information Monique Mayo can be contacted by phone: 512-258-3880.