South Dakota Photo Journal Digest : simplebooklet.com

Global Volunteers’ service programs adhere to our over-arching Philosophy ofService in every community. Specifically, local people are always in charge ofwork projects, and volunteers contribute to community-driven initiativesalongside local people. At all times, we observe our policy stating “Safety TrumpsEverything.” Orientation sessions are conducted on the first day in-country, andmorning and evening meetings give volunteers time to organize and reviewactivities. The team journal, shared at morning meetings, is a mainstay of every GlobalVolunteers program. A daily collaborative report by one or two team members,it reflects on the day’s work and experiences. In many partner communities,volunteers contribute to several projects in different locations during the day.Through the team journal, volunteers hear about the projects and experiencesof their teammates. While such journaling requires effort, most volunteers report they love thevariety of recollections and stories. The journal becomes an enjoyable way tocommunicate shared and individual memories, and becomes a uniquekeepsake for each volunteer team. Volunteers tell us that many years later, theteam journal allows them to reminisce and cherish their time spent with localpeople and teammates. website for available service program dates.This journal digest, complete with photos, is a collection of journal excerptsfrom volunteers serving on Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.2

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Welcome to the little town of Mission on the Rosebud Reservation in SouthDakota! We began our first day in the communal dining/meeting area of ourquarters. We prepared and ate our breakfast as we got acquainted with ourteammates. Our Team Leader, Kathy, invited everyone to “check in” with theirname and a little about themselves. Conclusion—another amazing GlobalVolunteers team. We started the day in the time-honored tradition of Global Volunteers –reviewing the mission, stating goals, and listing team characteristics. Kathyprovided a short history of Global Volunteers and their vision “to wage peaceand promote justice worldwide through genuine development partnerships” aswell as sharing some very interesting facts about our current assignment hereon the Rosebud Reservation. KATHY4S U N D A YWe then shared our goals. One of the most common goals we all shared was toimmerse ourselves in the Lakota culture and learn as much as we can about it.This goal was very much highlighted with the day’s activities. Everyone wants tolearn about the local culture; every team needs to be flexible and collaborative.Our host is Mother Lauren Stanley, an Episcopal priest who serves the localLakota population. Since it was Sunday, there was a church service and pot-lucklunch with the congregation if we wished to attend. We all opted in and werewell rewarded.

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After our meeting together, some of us went to Mother Lauren’s church. We hadthe opportunity to participate in prayers and listen to the many experiences oflove that the Lakota people shared the past weekend. It was heartwarming tohear the stories and listen to how happy it makes the community and MotherLauren when they are able to participate in these events. We sang hymns inLakota. The sermon was on the crosses we bear. After this, we ate lunch withsome of the members of the church.It was our first meeting and experience with Mother Lauren. Words cannot beginto describe this amazing woman. Her beautiful sermon was part of a month-longEaster celebration and focused on love. Lots of music and singing. MotherLauren incorporates the Lakota language in parts of her service. After theservice, we all greeted each other with a handshake and “peace be with you.”More on that later. SUNDAY5Service – to be in service and make a differenceCultural – to experience and learn about the Lakota culturePersonal – to enjoy personal goals such as seeing new part of country, havingfun, being with old friends, and meeting new ones.Lunch with the congregation was special—the team joined various tables andenjoyed great conversations. My table included John and his son, Brandon, whocame from a small village on the Reservation called “Wood.” We had a great timechatting with them. John said he was 53, lived near a buffalo ranch, and hadnever seen the ocean. Brandon shared that he was in fourth grade and likedscience. Lovely people. Back at our quarters, Kathy conducted our orientation where we developed theCharacteristics of An Effective Team and each submitted three Individual Goals.We had 19 Characteristics, the first one—Flexibility—turned out to be a veryappreciated strength. Kathy grouped the individual goals by category and cameup with three composite Team Goal headings:

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Later on Sunday, we met with Mother Lauren at her home. She filled us in on abit of her background (missions in Sudan, Haiti, etc.) and her work here on theRosebud Rez. She told us the Rosebud Reservation is quite large (882,416 sq.miles) with about 30,000 enrolled Lakota. Mission has about 1,100 enrolled. She gave us some of the history of the reservation and native populations ingeneral. Life has not been easy. She described some of the local programs wewould be involved with and acknowledged that weather would affect whatprojects would be viable. SUNDAY6She described one, GLORY (God Loves Our Rosebud Youth), and also the workbeing done with domestic violence issues and a women’s shelter. She also toldus about the Lakota guests that would be helping us understand the culture withdiscussions and demonstrations of beading and dancing. As part of our culturaleducation, we will be going to Wounded Knee and she suggested we educateourselves before we go. Oh, back to the handshake at the church service. Mother Lauren explained to usthat the Lakota do not use eye contact or a firm handshake, believing it to behostile. Unfortunately, we did not have that information that morning after theservice when we looked everyone in the eye and gave each our best, firm, andfriendly handshake. Sigh.We must remind ourselves, when we stress and worry, that we’ve alreadyaccomplished something rare and worthwhile: We cared enough to show up.Today was filled with various opportunities to learn about the history and culturehere on the reservation and I hope we can continue this learning throughout theweek.

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Kathy discussed the upcoming day’s activities with the reminder that we need tobe flexible because of the inclement weather. We next discussed visiting thememorial at “Wounded Knee”. Most of us lacked knowledge about this massacrethat took place nearby. Judy googled it and read to us about the incident arisingas a result of the appearance of the Ghost Dancer. This frightened the white manand caused savage attacks on the Sioux men, women, and children at WoundedKnee in 1890.Our service project changed from securing the fence around the perimeter of the“Her House” White Buffalo Calf (in Lakota language it is Ta Tiwaheki) to workinginside the building and painting at the women’s shelter. The director, Lindsey, gave us information about this facility, which wasestablished in 1977 by Native Americans for Native American women and wasthe first of its kind in the United States. Lindsey said that the needs today are thesame as when the shelter started. It is called “wrap around” care and includes allaspects of a woman’s personal needs from abuse to alcohol addiction. They have7JOANM O N D A YAfter breakfast, we had our Morning Meeting. Judy read the journal from theprevious day and Pam read the Message of the Day, which was “What MoneyCannot Buy.” Pam thought this was appropriate wisdom because of what theLakota’s had faced in their history; turning down money offered to them fromthe United States government for land that was already rightfully theirs. TheLakota do not believe land is for sale, it is a part of Mother Earth.

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Judy and Linda cleaned and organized a room where crafts, sewingmachines, materials, and anti-violence educational materials are stored.Pam and Carolyn worked in the “Thrift Store” sorting and organizing donatedclothing. Matt and Denny painted walls inside the shelter office, which includedmoving a lot of office furniture before they could paint.recently added a program called MVD: Male Violence Prevention and will changetheir name from “Her” House to “Our” House to more accurately define whatthey do. This program is not a part of the Tribal Program but is an independentnon-profit organization. They get their funding from grants from the State andFederal Government and from private money donations. They currently havenine grants. Our specific work jobs for the day were as follows: After work, we had some time before dinner to do local shopping. We went tothe Rosebud Exchange and to Soldier Woman, both stores with Lakota-madeitems. Rachel, our cook, and her father, Billy, prepared a delicious dinner for usof pork chops, two types of squash, and salad. We were very grateful to have herprepare this wonderful meal for us.After dinner, we went over to Mother Lauren’s house so she could tell us theLakota perspective on Mt. Rushmore. The United States government took theland from the Native Americans by Eminent Domain and the four presidentsrepresented were not friends of the Native Americans. She then told us the very,very colorful story of The Creation, which is the core of the Lakota peoples’beliefs. We were all mesmerized by her exuberant storytelling skills.It was a very fulfilling, educational, and fun day.MONDAY8

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We woke up to another beautiful morning on the Rosebud Indian Reservation inMission, South Dakota and to the smell of fresh coffee being brewed. We wentoutside with a few others in the chilly, but perfect morning weather. After ourmorning walk/jogs, showers, breakfasts, and coffees, we met for our MorningMeeting downstairs in the dining area of our lodging at 8 a.m. Dick went overhis journal entry and Jane shared her Message of the Day. At 8:30, Mama Lauren led us in a team building exercise in which we learnedhow to properly split wood with a wedge and a sledgehammer. For the rest ofthe work day, we divided into several groups to take on the tasks of splitting andcutting wood, chopping downed trees from the storm, and delivering wood tothe wood shed, where it was then split and stacked. Others drove fence postsinto the ground in preparation for the kids’ festival and mowed a little. Thisseemed to go on until Katie and I left to pick up 900 cookies from the grocerystore, eat Indian tacos at the deli, and then we all went on break until 2:00.Several of us played heads-up outside, making animal noises, laughing, andlearning what an earwig is. We headed out for group photos next, then wentback to a whirlwind of setting up and last-minute prep. After our laborious workday, we relaxed for a couple of hours. We took sometime to cleanup and relax, while Peter made us dinner of grilled chicken, greensalad, and vegetables, with Darlene’s and Lisa’s help.At dinner, Sage came to visit to share with us traditional ceremonial attire suchas beaded pieces and a head dress. Then he showed us a few traditional Lakotadance moves like the three step and the hip dab. As my favorite rapper, IceCube, would say “Today was a good day!”9NICKT U E S D A Y

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After the daily exercise warm-up, the kids split into groups for either a craft orkickball game. It was noted that the kickball game was less intense thanyesterday, but still lively, ending in a tie. For morning craft, Claire had the kidscreate alien spaceships. In place of story time, Maddie and Lara made namestoryboards to decorate where each camper could color and add drawings orpictures that told a story about themselves and family.11JULIEW E D N E S D A YWe had some rain overnight, which worried us a bit about the prospect for ourcampers’ Olympics plans. Our cook, Rachel, arrived early at 8:00 a.m. to put ourpot roast dinner (her grandmother’s recipe) in the Crock Pot before heading offto work at the auto parts store. We started Morning Meeting with the journalread by Sara and the Message of the Day shared by Laura. Kathy informed usthat part of her role today as our Team Leader is to take pictures of all of theteam members interacting with the campers. Neal provided instructions for the campers’ Olympics activity and assignedevents to team members. Then it was time to get rolling on the day; the van leftfor kids’ pickup, lunch prep began in the kitchen, and Jill and Finn were recruitedfor log splitting duty and set up for the morning craft got underway. The first of20 campers arrived at 9:55 a.m. and we were off and running on a non-stop dayof activities.

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After lunch, the highly anticipated campers’ Olympics were delayed by a suddencloud burst. Unbeknownst to us at the time, a Special Weather Alert was issuedthat conditions had become favorable for brief tornadoes near Mission, SouthDakota! When the rain subsided and the sun began to smile down on our group,the Olympic events got underway. There were seven events that the groups ofkids rotated through when Coach Neal blew his whistle. Events included a sprint,soccer skills, softball toss, Frisbee skills toss, soaker disk toss, ladder golf, and abalance beam walk. The kids (and the volunteers) had a blast competing andrunning from event to event. The day ended with a special treat of some bakedbrownies for each camper, lovingly made by Laura (who graciously took on lunchduty today with Heather) and Sara. There were smiles all around. WEDNESDAY12After the kids departed for the day, we had the rare opportunity to attend a SunDance. We were invited by Sharon Clairmont, a resident Indian Elder who hasbeen with us and providing guidance all week. We all piled into the van andfollowed Sharon out to the arbor, where we witnessed a ceremony rich incultural ritual, deeply spiritual and quite moving. As we were leaving, we donatedtwo watermelons in appreciation for allowing us to witness an amazing culturaltradition. We were thanked and told they would be shared at a weddingceremony to be celebrated during the four-day Sun Dance. After an active day with kids and witnessing the Sun Dance, we were more thanready for dinner. As we ate our delicious pot roast, we were anticipating cappingoff the day with an oral history discussion by Hattie Dunham, a local Lakotawoman referred to us by our host Mother Lauren.

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Hattie shared deeply personal stories and family histories, while also connectingus to the larger story of the Indian life both pre-reservation and on thereservation. She shared a wealth of information, including the surprising factthat her great-grandfather and Barack Obama’s great-grandfather werebrothers. Her story was in some ways sad and tragic, but also uplifting andinspiring. Hattie is an amazing woman. She closed her presentation by sharingsome of her beadwork, which simply took our breath away. The beadwork alsohelped to support her family through a period of being unemployed. Spendingthis time with Hattie was the perfect ending to an incredible day that brought usall even closer together as a team. WEDNESDAY13

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We came together for lunch and each shared one thing we enjoyed about theperson sitting to our left. We all realize how much we appreciate each other andare all an asset to our team. In the afternoon we went and split wood, which they will give to the elders of thecommunity. We then went on a brief hike to see a beaver dam. We ended our day with dinner at Glory. Glory is an event in which children in thecommunity come to play games and enjoy a nice meal and dessert. We got torelax for a while and just enjoy the night with the community.Sunrise this morning was captivating. As Lisa left the house for a morning walk,the sun was hidden behind a puffy cloud, but was so bright, it illuminated andelectrified the edges of the cloud in a golden hue – an auspicious start to theday. In the morning, Mother Lauren gave us a quick lesson on using the woodsplitters, and we split wood that will be delivered to the elderly for use duringthe winter months.We broke up into two teams for the morning part of our workday. Jacquie,Hannah, Vito, Allison, and I went with Billy to continue taking down a tree. Wegot to experience using a chainsaw and loading wood into the truck to bringback to the woodshed. The other half of the group went to the house where wehave been working the days before and continued to sand and mud thebasement. 14KEITHT H U R S D A Y

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Coming to Rosebud Reservation has been an enlightening experience for me.Listening to Rev. Lauren and other community speakers open up and expresstheir personal life experiences has made me more sensitive to the IndianCommunity and culture. Participating in the neighborhood search for AutumnEmery helped me see that tragedy often brings people together.THURSDAY15Interacting with the children in summer camp was definitely unpredictable. Younever knew what was going to come out of their mouth as to what they wantedto do. Some of the kids had very active imaginations, some weren’t sure whatthey wanted to do, and some were very independent and wanted no help fromme. Whatever they said, I would try to accommodate them.Interacting with the Global Volunteers team has been great. I have enjoyedworking with everyone on the team and I wish everyone good luck in theirfuture.The one conclusion that I have come to during my stay, and most important,positive change will take place for the Rosebud Reservation. It is long overdue.Justice will prevail.

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After visiting Wounded Knee, we stopped on our way home in White Clay,Nebraska enjoying lunch at the Fireside Inn. After lunch, we stopped at a giftshop across the street. We headed back to Mission, and some of the groupmembers stopped at the pawn shop. After returning back to our house, webegan cleaning and preparing for departure. Rachel cooked a local favorite ofIndian tacos. It has been a week of growth, beginning with a group of strangers from differentparts of the country with similar values and goals. The week ends with a groupof friends that will have memories and knowledge of the native culture to sharethroughout their lifetimes. I enjoyed developing relationships with kids thisweek.16DANNYF R I D A YAfter breakfast, we had our Morning Meeting with the journal by Jill andMessage of the Day by Finn. Our team departed for Wounded Knee. After a two-hour scenic drive, we arrived at the battleground. We read the story of WoundedKnee. The group roamed an open prairie, which we guessed to be thebattlefield, a cemetery for victims of the massacre, as well as the more recentgrave sites. There were two venders selling dream catchers and bracelets. Someof the group viewed the abandoned museum. The museum has not been openfor a number of years.

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This experience was all and more than what I had hoped for and expected. Kathywas an excellent team leader and team members were fabulous. We workedwell together. I look forward to forever friends from our week together and hopeto continue to participate in future Global Volunteers opportunities. I love thatwe can be Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and even Atheists – we are all humanistswho seek to do good, help those in need, and come together to make adifference in this world that can be so cruel and heartless.FRIDAY17I thank Global Volunteers for providing this opportunity. It’s been a pleasureworking side-by-side with you all. It’s been an experience that Chloe and I willcherish forever.Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

South Dakota Photo Journal Digest

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