Board of Advisors

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Manitonquat (Medicine Story)

Manitonquat, also known as Medicine Story (born July 17, 1929), is a storyteller and keeper of native lore of the Wampanoag Nation of Massachusetts and ceremonial medicine man of the Assonet Band.

A former writer and poet for the international journal "Akwesasne Notes" and author of eleven books, he has been a part of the North American Indian Spiritual Unity Movement and co-founder of the Tribal-Healing Council. Medicine Story has been a member of the Association of Humanistic Psychology and a teacher of re-evaluation counseling. He has participated in many Rainbow Gatherings. Medicine Story gave the keynote address at the United Nations ceremonies on 50th anniversary of death of Mahatma Gandhi. Story tours yearly in Europe and in the United States, speaking on the value of the Native American point of view. Three ideas that appear often in his talks and writing are those of mutual love and respect, meeting in circles and respect for all creation. His philosophy is explored through Circle Way Camps and publications. Story works actively within the ecovillage movement, closely with ZEGG, Tamera, and Christiania (Denmark) where he and his wife Ellika are based half the year.

Story has most recently published ”Have You Lost Your Tribe”, a book about eco-villages and communities, particularly those he has been part of, with ideas about creating them or assisting in the aspects that are the province of his work; interpersonal relationships and children - areas in which communities are not always as clear as they are on ecology.

Medicine Story’s website: www.circleway.org

Upper photo by kind permission Annie Holt

Michael Merten

From 1979-1990 Michael developed a number of aid projects in Kenya. The first was an economic development initiative, the opening of Robinson Baobab, Germany’s first retail outlet for merchandise from Turkana on Lake Victoria. Upon meeting his wife in East Africa, he moved to Kenya where he spent the next ten years. Here his two children were born. During that time, he helped start a manufacturing facility that is still producing sisal bags today. This was the first women’s aid project in Turkana. Michael also actively su pported the Daphne Sheldrick Foundation and George Adamson’s famous “Born Free” project. As an entrepreneur, Michael established both Eric`s Butchery and McIntyre Associates, a financial consultancy in Nairobi. A special highlight during this period was catering for the film “Out of Africa”.

After leaving Africa in 1990, Michael worked for Wintershall, a German gas pipeline company with extensive business in Houston, Hong Kong and Singapore. He was responsible for purchasing equipment to refurbish the East German pipelines. Beginning in 1993, Michael spent the next three years as a Managing Director of a Chapter 11 company to stabilize and reorganize it. The reorganized company had real estate trust funds with a value of 670 million Euros. In 1996, Michael opened a building company specializing in the renovation of 17th and 18th century houses.

In 2001, Michael founded the ongoing Little League Baseball Germany NCO, and continues serving as the Chairman of the Board. From 2000 to 2004, Michael served on the International Board of Directors of Little League Baseball, Williamsport, PA. Michael was responsible for Little League Baseball in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The South African Government adopted Little League Baseball as part of the sports curriculum in their schools during this period.

Since 2002, Michael is a Managing Partner of IPC SA, Luxemburg, which supplies business exit strategies to large companies like Volkswagen, Adidas and SAP.