the work begins and the learning continues

tuesday

we drove through the badlands to get to red shirt table and meet with Reverend Two Bulls. any time we got to flat land Ben would ask if we could go back because the rock formations are so amazing! it looks and feels like an oatmeal raisin cookie.

Rev and some of his relatives spoke to us for about an hour. they explained their 10 year plan to open a coffee shop and have a walk from the coffee shop down to where Thin Milk was killed during the Wounded Knee Massacre.

then we had lunch with a big group of people who came from california and minnesota in order to work on the old episcopal church and the 10 year plan.

we bought crafts from women in Rev Two Bulls family. they have workshops on making dream catchers! they’re really funny.

we met an artist in residence at the Oglala Lakota College and listened to an audio presentation as we learned about the history of the Lakota people through art work and photographs on the wall of the gallery. and then we bought the most comfortable noodies on the planet from the bookstore.

at kids time the kids decided to start throwing water on us and danielle passed out “ants” for ants on a log. henrik and gerry found out how many kids could stand on this one giant rock and many of the kids took pictures of it!

after dinner will peters, a “NAMMY” award winning artist and his daughter came to speak to us. Ben thought he was the most motivating person he’s ever heard speak. he encouraged us to respect our elders and look out the for youth among us. several of us bought his cd and he autographed them for us! he was extremely honest about life on the reservation and we all really appreciated that.

wednesday

today was our first work day. we did a lot of painting: of satellite dishes, picnic tables, walls, and dogs. the girls used this as an opportunity make their hair all pretty by adding highlights...with paint.

we made lunch for a group of people working with a local organization called Earth Tipi. we shared lunch with them and jumped on the trampoline. they also had a pet wolf that Sol walked each day. they were building a house of all used materials from within 5 miles of the project site: pallettes, clay and sand, even used nails they pulled out of discarded wood! they were REALLY grateful for us bringing them sandwiches. and it was about 105 degrees with no shade to be found.

delaney keeps having dreams where we’re all in the girls room and talking to her - now we’re all in the room talking to her!

at kids time henrik gave several of the 12 year old boys girl advice - they were very attentive! over 25 kids came and like most days several didn’t want us to leave.

after dinner we went to wounded knee. a woman named Karen spoke with us about the massacre of 1890 and the occupation of 1973. she told us about Lost Bird, a baby who was found under her dead mother after the massacre. she also told us about how she got involved in the occupation in 1973. she was chosen to be the secretary of the Oglala Lakota Nation and is one of the few people still with us who were involved in leading the occupation. she expressed that the occupation needed to happen and although it was hard for the community to lose property and a few lives it brought much needed change. now the community is working toward bringing the Lakota language and culture back.

thursday

today we did work projects all day. more painting. and we organized a room full of donations for Pinky. Pinky wanted us to drive to Pine Ridge to deliver t-shirts to the prison because if someone is picked up without a shirt then when they are released they can at least have a shirt with them. jodi called the prison and they didn't want the shirts. but they would take books. a group of us would have gone to a bookstore to buy some and bring them to the prison, but there's not one around here. at home for us it is to leave our homes and within a few minutes be able to get just about anything we need - but sadly that just not the reality that people on the res deal with.

at kids time we all gave out the friendship bracelets we made on the drive here and then Pinky donated supplies to make snow cones for the community kids!

tonight Pinky will come to dinner and bring fry bread that someone in the community is making for us.

it’s been an amazing and long week and we’re exhausted! it’s hard to believe that tomorrow we start driving back home!

more thoughtful reflections of our time on the res to come when we’ve had more rest!