Rosebud Indian Reservation May 2013: Friday through Monday!

The past few days have been quite eventful and I've just been too busy to update everyone with what's going on. So...thank you for staying interested and patient!

Friday: My second day in my field placement (Friday) was much easier than my first day (Thursday). So far I've been able to get a feel for how the day works at North Elementary. On Friday they had a dance party with snacks for the whole school. It was a fundraiser for a student in 4th grade who is fighting with cancer right now. They rose over $500! It's been pretty cool to see how the school acts as a community. They rally behind each other and there is so much school spirit.

Saturday: On Saturday we had a jam packed day. In the morning we woke up to a sewage back up and the kitchen and part of the dining area was flooded... It was all sewage water (thankfully) and we had to shut the water off for most of the day. We ended up traveling to the local reservation college and use their student center showers. Going to the local college was my first time seeing prairie dogs! If you've ever been to Hope College, they're equivalent to all the squirrels.

Later that day we met up with Lynn la Pointe to talk about life on the res. He showed us a grave yard and some other places. We made a stop by the local hospital and talked about how it's very understaffed and looks much nicer then it is. He mentioned how a lot of places on the res look nice on the outside but are poorly ran on the inside. There seems to be a lot of potential but the poverty is a vicious cycle. In the evening we met up with Leland Little Dog and he shared Native stories with us. It was really interesting hearing his thoughts on creation and where his people came from. He had so much insight on Native religion/beliefs and Christianity. The way world religions interact with one another and have similarities has come to fascinate over the past couple of days—I will look forward to exploring this in the future.

Sunday: Sunday was another travel and exploration day spent with Leland and Lynn. We visited some more places on the Res and also Niobrara State Park in Nebraska. There we saw some Buffalo and hiked for a few hours. So much fun! We ended up having dinner at Pizza Hut where I picked Leland’s brain some more about Native beliefs and his insight on Native religion. It is such a cool culture and belief system.

Monday: Today (Monday) for dinner we were invited over to a teacher’s house for dinner. We met up with a bunch of Teach for America teachers and enjoyed being able to talk with them. The school district offers housing for those that work for the Todd County School District and it’s really interesting to see teachers and administrators living together. The housing and location are prime. It almost feels like a college atmospheres for educators.

It’s hard to believe that I have a week left on the reservation. Time continues to fly. This weekend we get to visit the Black Hills! If you have any questions please email me: collin.mcgran@hope.edu or leave a comment below!

Thanks for staying interested and blessings from the Res!

(Please forgive any errors…I haven’t really taken time to proof read because of time…if it’s too distracting let me know and I can be more careful next time)