Moustache season is now OPEN! Every November, men across Canada and around the world grow moustaches to support and promote men’s health awareness, specifically for prostate cancer. The month of November is now called Movember!
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At Sioux Hudson Literacy Council and the Good Learning Anywhere program, our goal is to use Movember as an opportunity to promote men’s health awareness among our Native Stream adult literacy learners. To do that, I will personally be growing a Mo (short for moustache).
But I also wanted to write and share some blogs that link health literacy to our learners’ Native culture. This is not easy for me as I have not grown up in a Native culture but I will do my best to learn and share what I can. So, for this Movember season, I decided to write short blogs about health literacy and the 7 Grandfather Teachings. In each blog, I will choose one and share information.
Nibwaakaawin—Wisdom: To cherish knowledge is to know Wisdom. Wisdom is given by the Creator to be used for the good of the people. In the Anishinaabe language, this word expresses not only “wisdom,” but also means “prudence,” or “intelligence.” In some communities, Gikendaasowin is used; in addition to “wisdom,” this word can also mean “intelligence” or “knowledge.” Source: Wikipedia
I believe that in order for us to cherish our knowledge about health, we need to know where to access information about living healthy lifestyles. Here are a few links:
- National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO)
- Men’s Health Stats via Movember Canada
- Health Canada – First Nations, Inuit & Aboriginal Health
- Canada’s Food Guide – First Nations, Inuit & Metis
- National Collaborating Centre For Aboriginal Health (NCCAH)