Dances With... Buffalo?

It has been a couple of weeks since we were able to update the blog, so this will be probably be another long one with a bunch of pictures... So last week, we were able to finish replacing the windows, siding and skirting on the Jones' family home. In the short time that we have been here, it has become more and more clear to us how important Jerry's "Renovating the Rez" program is for so many of the residents here... and while the work done on a home may not completely bring it up to standards, it may mean the difference between making it through the winter or not... or being able to buy food instead of fuel.

We have been working the last few weeks with volunteer groups from all around the country, but we have worked mostly with Habitat's two summer interns, Francesca and Amanda. Francesca is 18 years old and from Chicago and has been on the Reservation since the beginning of May and Amanda is 20 years old and from Wyoming and came to the Reservation about the same time that Amy and I did. Both of them had their last day this past week since they had to go back to school and we were sorry to see them go... We had a lot of fun working with them and hanging out with them after hours and were really encouraged by their willingness to give their time and love to the Lakota people. We will definitely be missing them alot as Amy and I will be the only volunteers with Habitat for the next three weeks.

This past week, the four of us worked at the home of Mary who is a 68 year old widow living in Eagle Butte. Her husband passed away in 2005 after being sick for many years, and she has been living by herself with her dog, Ginger since that time. Mary's home has the same problems that many of the homes on the Reservation have... leaky roofs, gaps in the siding that let water in, rotting floors and doors or windows that in some cases won't even close. While we weren't able to replace the siding and windows like we did on the Jones' home, we were able to seal her roof to stop the leaks that had been coming in for years, cut out and replace the floors that had rotted out in the living room, bedrooms and kitchen, replace her carpet and vinyl tile in her kitchen and hallways, cut in a new door in the back of her home and replace a bunch of weatherstripping that had fallen off. This past Friday as we were cleaning up at the end of the day, Mary was walking around looking at what had been done over the course of the week and said to her dog, "Look Ginger... we got a new home"! What a difference such a little bit of work can make to someone who can't do it for themselves... That's probably one of the biggest lessons that we will take away from our experiences on the road... that you can make a huge difference by doing something small for someone... by investing a little bit of your time into someone else's life. Amy and I call it "being Jesus with skin on"... taking the time out of your own schedule to help someone and love on them, to listen to their story and tell them why you are doing what you are doing.

This past week, Amy was also able to write and submit a grant working in conjunction with another local non-profit for a community playground that would be placed in the middle of a 50 home neighborhood here in Eagle Butte. If the grant is awarded, it would make a huge difference to the community, as there are over 350 children in this one neighborhood alone that has no playground and no place for the children to go. She is also pursuing other grants to help get tools for Jerry and the Habitat chapter here on the Reservation as they are severely lacking in tools that would help them continue their work.

While we have been on the Reservation, we have been trying to immerse ourselves into the culture as much as possible and we have been fortunate enough to participate in Sweat Lodge cermonies and have been to a Pow Wow and Rodeo along with visiting many of the sites that are sacred to the Lakota. We also had the chance last week to literally go out into the middle of a herd of Buffalo on Jerry's 30,000 acre ranch...(no - that's not a typo...) which was really amazing. I am posting a video below of a portion of the herd, but really wanted to show you some of the beauty that is out here as well.

As we mentioned earlier, Amy and I are going to be the only volunteers for the rest of our time here. This leads me to ask for two things from all of you. First, if you have any time in the next three weeks or anytime after that, please consider coming out to the Reservation to help out. They are in desparate need of volunteers to work on the hundreds of homes that are in need of repair. We received one comment after the last blog update wondering where donations could be sent to be most effective and get directly to the Lakota people. Amy and I are looking into that and will let you know in a future update. The second is that we would ask that you keep us in your prayers for strength and protection. This past week was a tough one for us, but we know that God is bigger than anything that can get thrown at us. We are very grateful for the prayers that have been poured out on our behalf over the past week and we have felt covered particularly over the past few days, so thank you and please continue to pray for us if we happen to cross your mind. Love to you all!

Dave and Amy

Welcome to Eagle Butte, SD

(Just a note before I get into this week's entry... Since there is no internet connection at the Reservation, we are only able to update the blog if we leave the Reservation on the weekend, so our updates may not be as frequent as they have been in the past, but we will do our best to update it as often as possible. Since a lot has happened since our last post, this will probably be a fairly long entry and I will be putting up a number of pictures as well...)

After an eventful week of travel which included yet another blowout with the same set of tires, Amy and I arrived in Eagle Butte, SD safe and sound and ready to start volunteering with the Okiciyapi Tipi branch of Habitat for Humanity on the Cheyenne River Reservation. God really showed his awesomeness yet again allowing us to travel over 60 miles on a single back tire (verrry slowly) from a very deserted area in Minnesota to our destination for the night! So we are now parked and living at the entrance to the Habitat for Humanity neighborhood that was built by Jimmy Carter back in the 1980's and are in front of the house where the other volunteers are housed. The head of the Habitat chapter here on the Reservation is Jerry Farlee who is full blooded Lakota and has lived on the Reservation along with his family for his entire life. Jerry is an amazing guy who has spent much of his life doing everything that he can to improve the life of the Lakota people. He is also a spiritual leader in the Tribe and performs sweat lodge cermonies on his ranch for members of the community and for the volunteers as well.

Before we left in July, Amy and I had done some research on the demographics of the Reservation, and we knew that statistically, this was one of the poorest areas in our country, but we were actually not prepared for the reality of what those statistics would look like in real life.

Our first few minutes in town and before we ever made it to where we are now parked, we met Jerry at the site that he was working on. The home that was being refurbished for a family (which was replacing their old trailer) was a FEMA trailer from New Orleans that was shipped up to the Reservation after a family down there was done with it and had moved back into their home. We were blessed to be able to meet and talk with the new owners, CJ and Robin and their two children, Kailahni and Austin who were going to be moving into their new home this past weekend. We also got to meet Robin's mother and sister and some other members of the family as they excitedly followed the progress of the work.

An offshoot of the work that Jerry is doing on the Reservation is called "Renovating the Rez", which was started to try and make some of the homes more energy efficient and comfortable in the winter and summer by replacing roofs, windows, doors and siding. In talking with Jerry, some of the Lakota people are living on $350.00 per month, and in the winter particularly, can spend $300 of that money per month just heating their home. So the second home we have been working on is in the neighborhood shown in the pictures here, which is a pretty typical neighborhood from what we have been able to see so far. We are replacing the windows, doors, and siding, and are installing metal skirting around the bottom of the trailer to stop the wind and snow from cooling the underside of the trailer in the winter and to help with cooling in the summer. The home owners have already told us that they can feel a difference in the home with the work that has been done!

The need here is tremendous. It is hard to imagine that this level of poverty exists in our own country. Along with the renovations, Amy has been working on some grants to try to bring in some funding to help with these projects. We will probably also be putting a plea into one of our future entries because it is remarkably inexpensive to make an enormous difference to one of the families out here. We are very honored that we have felt so welcomed into this community and look forward to building relationships with the people we meet. I ask that this week, you would keep the Lakota people in your prayers because the need is so great out here. We also wouldn't mind if you would keep the two of us in your prayers as well and will do our best to update the blog as regularly as possible. By the way, Okiciyapi Tipi means "People helping people build houses" in the Lakota language! Love you all...

Dave and Amy