LONDON: Ireland’s Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has visited the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma to thank them for a gift sent 171 years ago.
The Choctaws in 1847 collected $170 and sent the money to Dublin.
The money, worth an estimated $4,400 today, was used to help feed the Irish during the potato famine.
This was despite the Choctaws having undergone their own hardship 16 years earlier when they were forced to move west of the Mississippi by the government of Andrew Jackson in a journey that became known as the “Trail of Tears.”
Leo Varadkar said that the gift is a sacred memory and bond.
The Taoiseach, “chieftain” or “leader” in the Irish language, was treated to a display of native American music and dancing, complete with war whoops.
Chief Gary Batton of the Choctaw and the Taoiseach then exchanged traditional gifts – a hurley was presented by the Taoiseach, while Chief Batton gave a Choctaw stickball in return.
While the event marked the connections of the past, it was also about looking to the future. The Taoiseach announced details of a new scholarship specifically for third-level Choctaw students to study in Ireland.
The Choctaws in 1847 collected $170 and sent the money to Dublin.
The money, worth an estimated $4,400 today, was used to help feed the Irish during the potato famine.
This was despite the Choctaws having undergone their own hardship 16 years earlier when they were forced to move west of the Mississippi by the government of Andrew Jackson in a journey that became known as the “Trail of Tears.”
Leo Varadkar said that the gift is a sacred memory and bond.
The Taoiseach, “chieftain” or “leader” in the Irish language, was treated to a display of native American music and dancing, complete with war whoops.
Chief Gary Batton of the Choctaw and the Taoiseach then exchanged traditional gifts – a hurley was presented by the Taoiseach, while Chief Batton gave a Choctaw stickball in return.
While the event marked the connections of the past, it was also about looking to the future. The Taoiseach announced details of a new scholarship specifically for third-level Choctaw students to study in Ireland.
