Hey guys! Last Sunday my youth group and I departed for an experience of a lifetime. At 6 a.m. we left for Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Any idea where that is? I didn't until this mission trip. It is a solid nine hour drive through South Dakota, almost in Nebraska.
I thought I was going to sleep at least halfway there since we were leaving so early in the morning, but I was wrong. My first mistake was probably sitting next to one of my bestest friends in the whole world. We laugh a lot and have a lot of pointless fake arguments which usually lead to more of our annoying laughter. I'm sure the rest of the van just wanted to tell us to shut up. We also showed off some of our lovely singing and dance moves. Along the way we stopped at multiple gas stations to fill up on gas and caffeine, and also at a place called Al's Oasis. Here I happily indulged in four plates of salad bar. Yummmy!
Anyways, about 6 hours into the drive I started getting bored, so I opened the packet of information that was handed to us that morning before we left. I thought it was going to be some history of the Lakota but what I read made my jaw drop.
"Unemployment on the reservation hovers between 80% and 85%, and 49% of the population live below the federal poverty level. Many of the families have no electricity, telephone, running water, or sewage systems; and many use wood stoves to heat their homes, depleting limited wood resources."
That's when I realized that I was about to experience something I couldn't even picture in my head. For the rest of the trip while staring out the window at our beautiful scenery, I tried to prepare myself for what was about to come. It just didn't seem realistic to me that people could be suffering like this so close to home, in our country, the land of the free. Especially just one state over from us.
Driving into Pine Ridge was unexplainable. There was people walking on the side of the road. Houses looked extremely small and rundown. The yards were full of garbage. I was in shock.
We pulled up to where we were staying. It is pretty much a big house ran by a pastor. Nobody came out to greet us, and there was people we didn't know sitting on the tables outside staring, looking sad. We were told to stay in the van while our leaders went to see if anyone was inside. Looking around I saw graffiti everywhere, even on the church! The building we were staying in had windows, but they were covered with a fence like material.
First we were shown our rooms, the girls would be staying upstairs while the boys would be downstairs. Then we were all told to meet downstairs to discuss rules and meet our camp counselers. Their names were Zac and Jodi. The pastor told us that we were staying in downtown Pine Ridge, there was 28 local gangs who graffiti and break windows, alchol and drug use is very highly used there, we weren't allowed to give anyone a glass of water because they will spray hairspray into it to drink the alcohol, we weren't allowed to leave after dark, if we left during the day we must go in groups of more than two, and many people would come to the door to try to sell their artwork. When I heard some of these things I wanted to run. I was so scared!! She also told us about the kids, she told us that they would give us a piece of their heart and in return they would take a piece of ours. Little did I know how true this was...
Following the meeting we had supper (LASAGNA!) and then prepared to go a nursing home where we were going to have worship with some of the elderly. There was only a few who attended the service, but it was our first interaction with the Indians so I was very nervous. A lady walked in toward me and seemed very upset. She didn't make eye contact with me or say anything but stood right in front of me. (We were informed that it is not part of their culture to make eye contact or start conversations with us) For a while I just sat there in shock, I wasn't sure what this lady wanted from me or what she wanted me to do. I then realized I was sitting in her chair, she was a regular and some strange girl had come and taken her spot. I felt horrible and got up as fast as I could. After finding a new spot to sit the hymnals were passed out...they were moldy. We sang some Lakota hymns, the language was not as hard to read as I was expecting you use a sylable for each vowel.
After the service pie and watermelon was served and we were encouraged by our leaders to sit down and get to know the elderly there. My friend and I ended up at a table with the sweetest lady named Dorothy. She did not have a hard time talking to us at all. In just that half an hour or so spent with her I felt like she could be a second grandma. She told us about all the loved ones in her life she had lost to sickness (this is common in the reservation) She told us that even though she was old she still worked, drove her own car that her granddaughter had left for her when she passed away, and that she didn't even live in the nursing home, but just enjoyed coming there for worship. "I'm an independent woman" she said with the cutest smile! She had a great sence of humor, which one again sent me and my friend into hysterics. When our counselers told us it was time to go, we didn't want to part with her, but she reasured us that we would see her again on wednesday.
That night we all hung out in the basement enjoying eachothers company. We played a game of shopping cart which was hularious. Thanks to our chaperone Gary, I don't think I can ever look at friend chicken the same again:) Then it was off to the showers and into our rooms. I was reading the bible to the girls when our counseler Jodi came into to turn the lights off, when we protested because we were still reading she responded that we had a full day of work tomorrow and we needed to get our sleep. It was hard to sleep that night all I could think about was the gang members that could be right outside our window. I prayed to God for comfort and safety.
Psalm 4:8 I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
