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From BriarPatch to Shasta: a Minga in motion

Alana behind a table of Minga posters, artwork, and books outside BriarPatch Co-op.
Alana at the Shasta Minga Fundraiser, BriarPatch Co-op, Thursday, September 10, 2026, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

A table outside BriarPatch Co-op became a place to meet, share what each person carries, and help a journey take shape. At the Shasta Minga Fundraiser on Thursday, September 10, three supporters helped make travel in one car possible for Alana and Jiah.

As of September 13, Alana and Jiah are in Shasta for the Shasta Water unConference. Thank you to the three supporters who helped them get there. We look forward to acknowledging each of you by name.

The journey is a beginning

The team's action vision asks what can continue after the gathering: stronger relationships, useful documentation, shared tools, creative expression, practical experiments, and continued stewardship.

Six people contributed to that vision: Truman, Alana, Margarita, Athena, Jiah, and Elmer. Their strengths span technology, Indigenous practice and knowledge stewardship, community and song, healing, sustainable infrastructure, and participatory art. Alana and Jiah are the two people whose travel is confirmed in this update.

Alana talking with a visitor beside the Minga's posters and artwork at BriarPatch Co-op.

Conversation at the fundraiser: Alana sharing the work of the Minga.

Meet the Minga

CARO Panel 3 brings together twelve people carrying distinct Rikchariy into shared work. On the panel, Rikchariy names the skill, knowledge, or calling each person is awakening and carrying into the Minga. Kunan names what each person is offering or contributing now.

Alana Gamage

Rikchariy: Indigenous research methodology and community-based action research.

Kunan: Vision Keeper and Ecosystem Tender for O3S.

Antonio

Rikchariy: Handmade alchemical jewelry.

Kunan: For sponsors: wands, hat clips, and necklaces.

Athena

Rikchariy: Healing activation, ceremony, and abundance work.

Kunan: For sponsors: 20-minute healing activation meditations and private abundance circle ceremonies.

Elijah

Rikchariy: Creative metal welding and sculpting.

Kunan: For sponsors: a handmade decorative metal chair.

Elmer

Rikchariy: Twisted Visuals painter and art teacher.

Kunan: For sponsors: atmospheric artwork for psychedelic or abstract spaces and live art for community events.

Howie

Rikchariy: Digital music production and sound engineering.

Kunan: For sponsors: Ableton lessons, vocal recording, and custom soundscapes.

Jiah

Rikchariy: Regenerative power systems engineering.

Kunan: For O3S: an internship developing professional practice in regenerative power systems engineering.

Josh

Rikchariy: Soulful music for healing the heart.

Kunan: For sponsors: guitar and vocal performances for special occasions and song circles for private gatherings.

Margarita

Rikchariy: Community organizing, ceremony, and visioning.

Kunan: For sponsors: land-tending design consultations and hands-on support.

Owen

Rikchariy: Bus builds, tiny homes, and land tending.

Kunan: For O3S: an internship developing weeklong educational camps for off-grid living.

Remi

Rikchariy: Chess strategy and reggae music performance.

Kunan: For sponsors: chess lessons and private musical performances for special occasions.

Truman Chan

Rikchariy: AI, website development, IT, and cryptocurrency.

Kunan: Technology stewardship for O3S and Treasurer for the Minga.

These offerings open a conversation. Availability, arrangements, and any sponsorship matching are worked out with the person and the Office.

CARO Panel 3, Meet the Minga: twelve people's Rikchariy and Kunan, transcribed in the text above.

From the community's printed “Meet the Minga” panel.

The Office holds the relationship

CARO Panel 5 describes the Office of the Three Sisters as a living relational ecosystem for restoring right relationship among people, land, knowledge, community, and Earth.

Its three interwoven bodies of work give that purpose a home:

  • Center for Decolonial Reparatory Research: studying colonial ruptures of relationship and developing pathways for repair.
  • Cooperative Authentic Learning Association: supporting learning, livelihood development, and community-based education rooted in responsibility.
  • Hampina Wasi Sacha Yachay: an Indigenous research sanctuary protecting and renewing identity, language, ceremony, sovereignty, and belonging.

Alana serves as Vision Keeper and Ecosystem Tender. Research, learning, and Indigenous sanctuary grow here in relationship.

CARO Panel 5, Office of the Three Sisters: right relationship, research and repair, learning and livelihood, and Indigenous sanctuary, described in the text above.

The Office's purpose, as expressed in CARO Panel 5.

Help carry the learning forward

The travel-support need for Alana and Jiah has been met. Four new invitations are taking shape in the Registry:

  • Document and share learning from Shasta: help gather contextual notes and approved resources.
  • Connect people, projects, and resources: offer tools or coordination that help people act together.
  • Gather the community after Shasta: help bring conversation, song, art, and reflection into a shared space.
  • Develop practical stewardship experiments: identify collaborators and feasible projects around water, land, energy, and community resilience.

These are emerging opportunities. Each needs people to help shape it; no person is assigned responsibility simply because their skills appear on a poster.

Visit the Ayni Altar and Registry of Living Needs, or contact the Office to talk about what you would like to carry.

Prepared from the Shasta Water Team Action Vision, CARO Panels 3 and 5, and Truman's September 13 report. AI-assisted text curated from those sources and Truman's corrections. Names and panel content cleared for public use by Truman. “Jiah” corrects “Jaime” in the action-vision document; “Margarita” is used consistently across both sources.