For the folks at home who are worried about their loved ones at the gathering.
Once people get to the gathering, the safest course of action is to
stay at the gathering. We feed everyone, provide basic medical care,
and make sure people have a warm, dry place to sleep.
No centralized organization provides these services, but it seems
that gatherers without warm clothes, get them; gatherers who are
hungry, get fed; gatherers who are sick, get treated.
We generally have quite a few registered nurses and medical doctors
floating
about the gathering sharing their expertise as well as alternative
healers of every nature.
There is no central check in station at the gathering. No one knows
who is there. Some people know who some of the other people are,
but
it's not like we can confirm or deny anyone's attendance.
There is usually a bulletin board at the Info booth where folks
can leave messages. However, there can be thousands of messages
and unless a gatherer read every message every day, there is no
guarantee that they will see any one message.
There are no phones or computers at the gathering. This means
that
for a gatherer to call their family, they have to leave the gathering,
travel into town and use a pay phone. In my experience a town
run
generally amounts to a full day's journey. First you have to
hike
from the gathering to the parking lot. Then you have to get a
ride
into town. The roads going into town are dirt roads and traffic moves
slowly. The roads are also filled with law enforcement of every nature.
Then once you get into town, you have to find a pay phone. The towns
near the gathering are generally no more than a gas station, general
store and maybe a motel or two. So there may be a line at the
phones.
Then once you call, you have to head back through the random law enforcement
check points on a dirt road where traffic agains move slowly.
The entire journey is done on Rainbow time which means you stop to
help
someone fix a flat tire or get into a conversation about bread making
or get a massage from someone along the way.
Everyone is welcome to attend the gathering. However, it's always
better if those under the age of 18 attend with a parent of family
member. If your child has come to the gathering, please come
as well.
We have people at the gathering who would love to help you and your
child establish a more positive relationship.
If your child wants to come to the gathering, please consider making
the necessary arrangements in your life to accompany your child. It
will be a positive experience for both of you.
We look out for each other and have an excellent track record of
keeping gatherers safe. However, given the large number of people,
there are isolated incidents of trouble. Should anyone feel uncomfortable
with any situation, all a gatherer has to do is shout "Shanti Sena"
and
people will come to their aid.
If folks are heading to the gathering, when you get to Lowman or Stanly,
Idaho, pick up the phone, call your contact back home and tell them
that you
are heading into the site. Tell them they will not hear from you
again until you leave the gathering. Tell them you will call
them
again just before you depart Stanley or Lowman on your journey home.
Please be respectfully of those who love you and those you love.
If you
are under the age of 18 and are afraid to call hom, ask another person
to
call your family for you to let them know you are safe. All you
need
to do is right down a phone number and ask someone who is going into
town
if they can make the phone call for you. Of course you might want to
make
the same request of more than one person just to be on the safe side.
If anyone has any specific concerns not addressed by this post, please
let me know and I will try my best to answer them.
Love,
Karin