Most of this blog thus far has been about my experience in NYC, a city that is full of concrete and skyscrapers, and even when you are sitting in the middle of Central Park you can look up and see buildings. However, 2 weeks after returning home from living in this environment for 2 months, I traveled almost 2,000 miles to volunteer with an organization called Re-Member on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
The best way to describe Re-Member is to directly quote their Pre-Trip Info Packet:
“Guided by the aspirations of the Oglala Lakota Indian communities we serve, Re-Member seeks to improve the quality of reservation life through relationships, shared resources and volunteer services. Through site visits and cultural immersion, we continue to develop a growing circle of advocates standing in solidarity with the Indian people of Pine Ridge, South Dakota.”
Pine Ridge is the poorest area of the United States however it is one filled with culture. The residents of Pine Ridge are more focused on building relationships and enjoying the company of others than being bound by a clock and always being “on the go”. Talk about a complete culture shock compared to the rest of my life this summer.
I first visited Pine Ridge with my school for a S.E.N.D. trip (Alternate Spring Break) back in March, and fell in love with area and Re-Member. Not once during that week was I conscious of the fact that I was without my computer or cell phone and I thoroughly enjoyed building bunk bed components and helping to clean up the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center; despite the cold weather. The week went by entirely too fast and, within two days of returning to Assumption College, I started to look into when I could return to the Rez. Less than a week after returning I booked a trip back to Re-Member at the beginning of August.
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| My S.E.N.D. Group: C13 |
Within minutes of returning to the Rez it felt like I had never left. I had missed the open land, being able to see for miles, and just the serenity of being in the middle of nowhere. I have always loved the outdoors, and being in South Dakota allows me to just take it all in. It was the first time I had traveled alone and I was nervous about having people to talk to, but that quickly subsided when I began meeting the other people on the trip. Everyone was extremely friendly and I ended up making friends quickly. We spent our down time talking or playing a wide variety of card games (most notably Crazy 8s and Phase 10), and I don’t think the week would have been nearly as great if I hadn’t meet the people I did.
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| The Badlands National Park |
In order to keep things organized, the volunteers are divided into work groups and then assigned to job sites based on those. The first work day I got to put skirting on a trailer, which insulates the bottom and helps cut down on the amount of energy needed to warm the house in the winter. Using power drills to drill the wooden frames into the house was so much more fun than I was expecting and I’m glad that I got to go there on one of the work days.
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| The Skirting Project |
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| *photo courtesy of Joe Wechman |
The remaining two work days involved bunk beds (which I had done last time I was there). Overcrowding in homes is a common thing on the Reservation and many children have never had their own (or any) beds. Re-Member constantly has 200+ families on the waiting list for bunk beds, so any work we do helps a little. The first day my crew worked on the beds we stayed at the workshop and built, sanded, and stained the different components of the bunk beds. On our final work day, we had the privilege to deliver 5 bunk beds to 2 families (providing 10 beds). I had never gotten to see the bunk beds completely assembled before, so it was wonderful getting to see the finished product, as well as the smiles on the faces of the kids that were receiving the beds. At the same time it was a hard reality of where we were bringing the beds. I knew the poverty that existed on the Reservation, but this was the first time I had seen it firsthand. We built the first 2 bunk beds in the basement of the house and in the second house we went to the beds were going to be the only piece of furniture in the rooms (with the exception of one room that was already equipped with a single bed). At the second home we went to, one of the young boys wanted to help us put the beds together, but since we didn’t want him to get hurt we let him help us put the ladder on (once the bigger components were assembled). He thoroughly enjoyed getting to use the power drill on all 14 screws to attach the ladder to his new bed, and I’m glad we were able to give him that.
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| Building Bunk Beds in the basement of a house |
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| *photo courtesy of Joe Wechman |
In addition to volunteering, when doing a service trip to Re-Member you also get to learn about the Lakota culture. Each night there are speakers who share their stories and wisdom and each morning (before the work day starts) there is Wisdom of the Elders, where the Re-Member staff shares some of the Lakota history. Before we began our work week, we did some traveling/sightseeing that included the Oglala Lakota Nation Wacipi (Pow Wow), Wounded Knee, and the Badlands National Park (where we also had a meditation which was really nice). And then later on in the week, on Tour Day (which was Wednesday for my work crew), we visited places such as the Red Cloud Indian School, Kili Radio Station, Bette’s Kitchen, Oglala Lakota College, and a trading post.
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| Top of the hill next to Bette's Kitchen *photo courtesy of Joe Wechman |
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| Oglala Lakota Nation Wacipi |
Going to Re-Member not only lets me give back to a community that most Americans don’t even know is struggling, but allows me to grow as a person each time I go back. It feels like I’m doing so little (only helping to build bunk beds, etc.), but at the same time know that I’m at least making a small difference to the people on the Rez. It’s hard to truly describe a week at Re-Member. The week goes by extremely fast; yet while you’re living it, it feels like you are there for much longer. During my first trip, I vowed that I was going to return to Pine Ridge; however during this past week, I have made the decision to try to make it out to the Reservation every year. While I know that this might not be possible, I’m going to try my hardest to stick to this goal.
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| Sunrise at Re-Member |
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| *photo courtesy of Joe Wechman |
