South Dakota

I did my project at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota with the Re-member organization with Liz, Caroline and Nilses. Re-member is a non-profit organization that is basically outreach to the Lakota Oglala people. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect of this trip. I didn't even know what to expect from South Dakota, since I'd never been to that part of the country. The minute we got off the plane, even before we got off the plane, as we were landing, we could tell that this was a completely different place than Rhode Island. The land just went on forever, and there were no houses. As we approached the Reservation, and drove through the Reservation, we could see the run down houses, with broken down cars in the front lawn. We later learned that many of the Natives take broken down cars and sell the parts that work, to make a little extra money for essentials, like food. Most people on the reservation don't have jobs (unemployment is 80-90%), so its the little things like that that get them through day to day.
On Sunday we went to Wounded Knee, where we picked up trash. That afternoon, we went to The Badlands, which was amazing. On Monday, we stayed at the Re-member campus at the workshop to make bunk beds. Tuesday was by far the hardest day. We went to a woman named Yvette's house to clean out the huge piles of trash in her backyard. Many of the Lakota people are so poor, they have no other way of getting rid of their trash, except to throw it in their backyard. There were two huge piles, we don't even know how long they'd been there. There was everything back there, even an old oven. Food, clothes, toys. There were mice crawling through the trash, as we picked it up. Yes, it was physically trying, but it was mostly hard to see someone live like this, especially someone as nice as Yvette who has up to 17 people living in her house at once. She takes in people who don't have anywhere else to go. We learned this was common among the Lakota people, because they have such a strong sense of family. It was so crazy meeting these people who have absolutely nothing, but literally gave up the coats on their backs for us when we looked like we were cold. Thursday was great too; we distributed the beds we'd made earlier in the week. Although it was hard, the sadness was forgotten when we saw the happiness on these people's faces when they saw their new beds, with mattresses and sheets.
Overall, this experience was irreplaceable, and I would recommend it to anyone who has the time. The Lakota people are so giving, like I said before. They look at you with a smile, and make jokes. Re-member has a great reputation on the Reservation, and when we drove around in the bus, we would get waves and peace signs from the Lakota people. I think we were all a little nervous going, especially because I couldn't properly operate a drill for my life, but that doesn't matter. Just showing up with a smile is enough :)

Madeleine