Time is flying by (I already have two weeks of camp under my belt!) and the hardest part is that I haven't even had time to sit down and think. So the other night I sat down with my journal and wrote for an hour and a half straight. This really helped me process what's been going on since I moved to Dupree. I wrote some sketches of the Y and the people I've met here so far. I hope that this will give you a little introspection into my life, but like pictures, my words don't give this place or the people here justice.
Rez Life and the Sioux YMCA
It's so dry here my tongue feels like it's curling up in my mouth. I'm relaxing and listening to music when I realize how alarmingly fast I have fallen in love with the Y. The kids may have not showered for days, they may be wearing dirty clothes, many are shoeless, and many have lice. They have uncles and fathers who beat them. Most live with two other (extended) families in a trailer and sleep on the floor. And yet they are the sweetest, most funniest and clever kids. They are heartstring (and patience) pullers. They make it worth it. We are a children's programming nonprofit that saves its grocery garbage bags so that kids can volunteer to go out and pick up trash in a community that's riddled with it. They use the grocery bags that carried the umpteen amount of food (from a grant) it takes to serve a community of kids a meal every day--maybe the only meal they get that day. I can leave this place in a year, but they cannot. I realize I haven't painted a very pretty picture, and that's just as unfair as the circumstances that the people from here have to endure and have endured for centuries. But it's not all bad. The children here are happy, and with much less that an outsider would be. The Lakota people are resilient, hilarious, and kind. To them, trust and word runs deeper than blood and together they have persevered. Let me introduce you to a few of them...
Character Sketches
Kenton: A 19 year old Lakota boy who has a work share at the Y through the tribe, who freaks out if you steal his cap, who jokes around and pokes and tickles me so much that I laugh myself breathless and the children ask us when we're getting married (even just a boy and a girl sitting next to each is enough cause for gossip among the kiddos)
JR: A Lakota man and full time staff member at the Y who is a riot and a saint, who made me feel welcome from the moment I met him on my first day in town, who's excited to teach me how to set up a tipi and to help me with the community garden, who takes care of everyone around him
Cortez: a skateboarding, scooter stealing two year old who wanders down to the Y in his diaper
Medina: our book keeper who left the reservation and returned to raise her kids here, a woman of all trades (just call her "Jack") who can fix anything as good as a man
JR: A Lakota man and full time staff member at the Y who is a riot and a saint, who made me feel welcome from the moment I met him on my first day in town, who's excited to teach me how to set up a tipi and to help me with the community garden, who takes care of everyone around him
Cortez: a skateboarding, scooter stealing two year old who wanders down to the Y in his diaper
Medina: our book keeper who left the reservation and returned to raise her kids here, a woman of all trades (just call her "Jack") who can fix anything as good as a man