Back in early December, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself that my ride had fallen through so I missed my chance to team up with the Saami delegation at Standing Rock.
But as I was following this story, I was becoming more and more aware of its global reach — the Idle No More of 2016 and most likely of 2017.
While the recent activities of law enforcement have ratcheted up the interest in Standing Rock to the point it was getting one million search hits on Facebook.
This gave me the idea that I would love to compile a database of how we can great each other in our mutual solidarity as water protectors.
I’m not here to speak for anyone or take anything away from the people down on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation or on the front lines of water rights across the globe, I just thought it would be a great greeting between peoples from different cultures if we could express our mutual belief in the preciousness of water.
If I need to make any corrections or additions, please let me know in the comments.
It’s your water too, after all.
So here is a listing of 84 different ways of saying “water is life”:
“Water is lewe” – Afrikaans
“Water esch laba” – Alsace regional Ianguage
https://youtu.be/CS-k61VN9xU – American Sign Language
“Niibi Bimaadiziwin” – Anishinaabe/Ojibwe
“Ko te WAI MAURI Ko te WAI ORA” (I am the water and the water is me) – Aotearoa
“Tu Ba Ch’naa” – Apache language
“Tú Hidąą hí’ átéé” – White Mountain Apache of Arizona
“مياه او ماء” – Arabic
“Hinono’eiteen” – Northern Arapahoe
“Djooruh Kyankeh” – Armenian
“Chuu gwan daii” – Athabascan
“Ura bizitza da” – Bask language
“Wossa is lem” – Bavarian
“Oka’at okch_á_a” (Water is alive) – Chickasaw
“Dowr eus bowans” – Cornish
“Nipi pimahtisuwin” – Cree/Woodland Cree
“Bimatseekoonanuu niibii” – Cree from Northern Quebec
“Voda je život” – Croatian
“Voda je zivot” – Czech
“Vand er liv” – Danish
“Tó é ííná até” – Díne
“To diyin doo to Iine” – Dine/Navajo
“Vesi on Elu” – Estonian
“Ab zendeghi ast” – Farsi
“Tubig ay buhay” – Filipino
“Vesi on elämä” – Finnish
“Water is Leven” – Flemish
“L’eau, c’est la vie” – French
“Wetter is libben” – Frysian
“Auga é vida” – Galician
“Wasser ist Leben” – German
“Το Νερό είναι Ζωή” – Greek
“Hanom i linálå! Chamorro” – Guahan
“Dlo se lavi” – Haitian Kreyol
“Wai he ola” – Hawaiian
“Mayim Chayyim” – Hebrew
“पानी जिवन है” – Hindi
“Paatuwaqatsi!” – Hopi
“A víz élet” – Hungarian
“Vatn er líf” – Icelandic
“Ti danum ket Biag” – Ilocano
“Air adalah Kehidupan” – Indonesian
“Tá uisce beatha” – Irish
“Uisge beatha” – Irish Gaelic
“水は人生です” – Japanese
“Amazi ni ubuzima” – Kinyarwanda
“Maji ni uhai” – Kiswahili
“Aw Jiyane” – Kurdish
“Mni Wiconi” – Lakota
“Kikewagan!” – Lenape
“Vanduo yra gyvenimas” – Lithuanian
“Air itu kehidupan” – Malay
“Wai he ora” – Maori
“Nepēw Pemāēteset” – Menominee
“Kanoron nene ohnekanonhs kata” – Mohawk
“T’oo in’a a’the” – Navajo
“Mirah umm briat” – regional Nepalese dialect
“Nippe sun keteaonk” – Nipmuc language
“Awa ta bida” – Papiamentu
“Vann er livet” – Norwegian
“Oba jwand dy” – Pashto
“Woda jest życie” – Polish
“Agua e a Vida” – Portuguese
“Mbish Bmadzewen” – Potawatomi
“Yaku Kawsay” – Quechua
“Apa este viata” – Romanian
“вода это жизнь” – Russian
“Čáhci lea eallin” – Northern/Davvis Saami dialec or sámegiella
“Chuush iwá wak̲’íshwit” – Sahaptin
“Le vai o le ola” – Samoan
“S e uisge beatha” – Scotish Gaelic
“Voda je zivljenje” – Slovenian
“Agua es la vida” – Spanish
“Metsi ke bophelo” – Sotho
“Vatten ær liv” – Swedish
“Tubig ay Buhay” – Tagalog
“Vai koe moui” – Tongan
“Su hayatdir” – Turkish
“Pani zindagi ha” – Urdu
“Mae dŵr yn fyw” – Welsh dialect
“Amanzi obomi” – Xhosa
“Meq Unguvauguq” – Southwestern Yupik
“Amanzi ungukuphila” – Zulu
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Image: Wikimedia Commons/John Clark
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