Day #8 Wednesday, July 27th

     Today we got to take some time and sleep in. We went to eat breakfast at the Ranch House in Dupree. We ate dinner there the night before and because the restaurant was so busy we demanded we have the same booth as we had for dinner. There were probably less than 7 people including us three in the whole place. I ate french toast, eggs, and sausage it was delicious and probably my favorite meal of the trip thus far.
     After breakfast we went to work at the Sioux YMCA and prepared some stuff for future programming and created our flyers for our community days. We decided to make personal journals for all the kids we work with so we could have them illustrate and tell us about a couple things; family, where they are now, what they want to do when they get older, and how they will get there, and last but not least who inspires them. I worked on the flyer for each community. We decided for our community days we will have it available for everyone in the community. We are going to provide them with ice cream and some fun activities and the communities and kids will get to meet team 6. We then went over to the pole barn and switched out some supplies we did not need and more and pick up a cooler and chair for our weekend off.
     After we were done chatting... I mean working at the Sioux Y we went back to the Ranch House and sat in our same seats for lunch. I ate a BLT with fries and a root beer. It was delicious again!
     Part of our community day is ice cream so we stopped at DQ to see if they would be able to get us some donations to help make our day successful.
      After that we came back to the hotel to relax and get ready for Thursday. I was not feeling well so I decided to nap and take it easy the rest of the night and stay in for dinner and have cereal.
Feeling better before bed and ready for a fun day of programming :)

Day #7 Tuesday, July 26

     Today we went and worked in two communities Cherry Creek and Red Scaffold. We we arrived in CC around 9:30 and it took us a little time to round up some kids. I witnessed my first dog fight... in CC we  have a dog named Storm (pit bull)  walk with us around the community I went up to a house to try and get the two kids inside to come join us, so I walked up to the door and there were three dogs around the house and the one under the step was not moving when i walked up, and another was tied up. I went to the door and Storm followed me and right as we were walking away another dog came from the side of the house and slowly attacked Storm. Storm did not move for a little big and just laid there, i was a little scared but i couldn't walk up there and check on him...he got up and enjoyed the rest of the day with us.
   We had about 10 kids playing games with us, we played red light green light, a little kickball and some relay races. Around 11:30 we walked to kids to get their lunch, we decided to take the kids down to the river to eat lunch and a long the way I had some really good conversations. I walk informed about the fact that in the community a lot of people are family and sometimes the kids live with their grandparents and maybe their parents live down the street in the next trailer.  We reached the river and the water was brown and dirty and all the kids wanted to do was swim. They enjoyed throwing garbage in the river to watch it float... it becomes a never ending battle to get them to pick up their garbage.  We left CC after dinner and headed on our way to Red Scaffold.
     We stopped along the road to eat our lunch and debrief about our experience. We sat for just a little bit and then made it to Red Scaffold around 1:30.
    In Red Scaffold we drove up the hill and seemed like the kids were waiting for us. So we had about 7 kids ready to play, but we still did knock on some doors to see if some other kids wanted to join us. We ended up getting about 10-12kids come down to the gym to play with us. We played a wide variety of games again. We started with kickball, played line tag, played the game oboshinatitaten (do you know what that is?), and then again a very cool relay race that Derek had set up. After the gym activities we moved into another room and set up some arts and craft projects. The kids drew some pictures, made some jewelry and Lannie even attempted to make something out of the modeling clay we had. After a while of being inside we went outside and I ended up playing tag with 3 of the boys. While playing i noticed some writing on the playground. They were some swear words about the YMCA, we didn't really know how to approach it but the kids outside informed us that there is some bullying going on. They said that the girls are bullying them to not play with the YMCA but the boys don't listen or retaliate. I hope the next time i am out there to connect with the girls and get a better idea of what is going on.
We left RS and headed back into town. We stopped and ate at The Ranch House in Dupree and then headed back to the hotel for the night.
No pictures today, but i will have plenty more later.
We planned our itinerary for our weekend off coming up and we are going to go camping in Hill City SD at Horse Thief campground and tour around the black hills, we are really excited. It has been a long time since i have been to the black hills and Nancy has never been there.

Day # 6 Monday July, 26

     We knew today would be a hot one but we were not prepared mentally for how hot it would actually be when you included the running around with the kids. Today was our first day of programming on our own. We started at LaPlant and began rounding up some kids..we knocked on more houses than the first time and got some more kids to come to the park to play with us. We gave Doretta, the volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club, some fabric that was donated to the Sioux Y. She was appreciative and said she plans on making some quilts and dresses with it. For the first few minutes we played obstacle course games with the kids…but with the heat we lost a few people so after lunch we decided to have an area inside where kids could make jewelry. Outside, Derek and Nancy did relay races and jump rope. The kids loved it! LaPlant was a great turnout and we worked hard to make sure the kids were having fun. At the end of our time there we were ready for lunch and a break.


     Swiftbird, we met some of the kids that we met last week with Team 4. There were a few new faces that we didn’t see the first time around. The heat was pretty intense so we decided to stay in the shade and play a game of drip, drip, drop. All of us were grateful for the water. After drip, drip, drop, we lost some of the kids because many of them had plans to go swimming in the river with their parents. After some last minute changes we played a very quick game of kickball then decided to return back to the shade and played with sidewalk chalk and the two puppies that decided to join us. There was a moment during sidewalk chalk where one of the young girls mentioned that one of her friends had been sent away because her parents were drinking. There were some questions from the kids about where she went but her friend didn’t know where the girl went. It wasn’t surprising to hear the kids talk about it because it must be something that parents discuss and the kids just pick up on. It’s hard to hear kids talking about drinking at a young age…the fact that they are aware of what goes on here on the reservation is sobering and hopefully good for them so that they do not repeat the same habits.

~ Above is from Nancy and an entry in our Team Journal that we turn in to the YMCA.

     My outlook on Monday was a success, I felt really good after talking with some of the kids during jewlery making time in La Plant. Who knew simple beads and wire could turn into a great opportunity to learn about the culture and lives of some of the young ladies. I sat there with 2 girls, they both made some neat braclets, rings and necklaces but along the way i learned some cool things. I was told i need to try 3 different authentic food items fry bread, tribal soup and magnoodle (spelling?) I am excited to find an opportuinty to try the food. I also learned that even though in LaPlant they have a beautiful new school a lot of the kids in this community go to a different school or some even go to boarding school outside of South Dakota.  I find that interesting but i have heard from more than one person that the educational system here on the reservation is not the best. Yet, there is a girl by the name of Kayo who i have connected with and she wants to be a Kindergarten teacher...i spent some time talking to her about what she would need to do in order to become a teacher and the idea of 4 more years of schooling was eye opening for her. She asked about the types of classes and what else she would need to do. We had a good conversation.

Overall, it amazes me that to these kids graduation from high school is a success and if they make it that far that is amazing. I hope to connect more with these kids in the next couple days to talk about their hopes for the future and talk with them how they might get there.

Nancy playing a game of ring around the rosey with Emiya

Cute puppies all over but none of them are as cute as LILY :)

Sunday, July 25

     Today we just spent some time planning and discussing what we will do for the week. We meet up with Denise (Community Programs Director) to go out to Camp Marrow Bone to help paint and clean up a little. We arrived out there around 1:00 and walked around to see what the camp had to offer. When you picture Camp... what do you see?
     Well here are some pictures from Camp Marrow Bone. They are not running program this summer but they hope to have the camp up and running next summer.

Camp Marrow Bone

where they will eat!

Nancy and Derek after a lond day of painting!

Saturday, July 24

     Today we got to sleep in, maybe a little to late, but the sleep was much needed after a long night of playing Phase 10.  We went to the Sioux YMCA in Dupree to get our supplies for programming for the next week. We walked into the barn and saw that there was a lot of stuff in there. After the tornado that happened about a month ago alot of donatoins were sent to the YMCA and they are all sitting in the barn where all the programming stuff is. We found what we needed and went to find Denise (program director). We really did not know where exactly the house was so we asked people in the community. They knew exactly where she lived so we drove up the hill to find the house with the green shutters. We made plans to go out to camp tomorrow and take a look around and see what Camp Marrowbone had to offer.

     Now we are on our way to Timber Lake, SD for the Rodeo. We drove from Dupree to Timber Lake and it took about 45 minutes. When we arrived we definietly knew where the Rodeo was and we arrived early to get a spot in the stands. We saw cowgirls and cowboys doing there best from bucking horses, to cattle wresting, and to bull riding. The Rodeo was going on all weekend and we definitely saw some great rides. I think it would be fun one day to ride a bull. (maybe mechanical to begin with)

     We arrived back to Eagle Butte and we were super excited to switch it up and have pizza tonight. We went to the Cenex (gas station) and found out that we were not going to have pizza tonight as they were baking crust in the ovens. So we went to DQ and Taco Johns again for dinner.  We brought our food back to the hotel and put the movie Freedom Writers in the dvd player and relaxed while watching the movie.

     We did end up spending sometime today prgramming for our days in the commuity. We came up with a lot of fun things to do in each of the communities. We are really looking forward to our time out here.

Sunday- we are headed out to Camp!

Friday, July 23rd

     The morning started again with breakfast in the room and then a quick stop at the LTM, Derek needed some man deodorant and then we were on our way to Cherry Creek, The view driving to the community was absolutely gorgeous. The roads were a little rough, and the gravel was fresh and the rocks were flying around. We arrived in Cherry Creek and it seemed pretty quiet, we first stopped by Justin Lynn’s house and she walked with us to round up other kids. Justin Lynn informed us of some dogs to not talk to and she definitely displayed some fear when certain dogs came around. We were able to round up a good number of kids as we walked through the community.


     We walked back to the vans with Justin Lynn, Zathan, Cheyenne, and Anthony. As we were getting the supplies out of the van and more kids showed up, Winter, Pacer, Chad, Colby, and others. We played the same games as yesterdays Water Fun Days in the other two communities. We meet Chad (14) who really likes baseball and we said we would go get the baseball equipment and be back next week. Around Cherry Creek we saw lots of dogs and horses. As we finished programming Justin Lynn wanted to have someone walk her home so Nancy and Krissy walked her back to her house, along our way we saw Chad and Pacer throwing a pair of shoes up to the phone wires. Krissy asked Chad what the shoes were for and he said, “For his homies” meaning that it was a way to show respect for one who has passed. We left Cherry Creek and drove to Red Scaffold.

     We arrived at Red Scaffold and as Team 4 went to the Community Center to fill up water balloons, Derek drove us through the community and it just seemed very empty. We then went and joined Team 4 in the CC and looked around to see the space we would be able to use. We found out that a lot of the families were in Eagle Butte getting their groceries. So we waited about a half hour and then noticed about 3 cars pulling in and later saw kids ready to join us. We meet Lindsay and her kids and walked with the kids back down to the CC and started playing games with Gabe, Mary and Lannie. We played our games and all got very wet with smiles and dog slobber on our faces! As we were closing our time there the clouds were getting black and the storm was coming in, so we packed up and got the kids home safely and headed back to Eagle Butte.

**The Powwow was a no go**

     We went to dinner at the DQ across the street and then decided to look around town for the teen center where lots of events were going to be held while we were in town. We found the teen center as well as a BINGO hall; we look forward to going and playing some BINGO with the people of Eagle Butte. We drove around town for a good while and talked to some people as well as find some places we are going to check out during the time we are here. We made it back to the hotel for a good game of phase 10 and then a late night snack run back to DQ at 10:00.

    Off to bed as we plan to spend some time tomorrow going to the Sioux YMCA to work on programming as well as going to Timber Lake for the Rodeo. ~Night~

July 22nd—Drip, drip, drop!

     This morning we got up at around 7am…made some breakfast and headed to our first res visit…LaPlant. The drive was pretty short and scenic and we had a chance to drive around the houses before we started going house to house to recruit kids to play some games with us. There were a few random dogs roaming around but all were harmless. We met a young boy named Julian on his bike who helped us find which houses had children in them and whether they were home. After knocking on several homes we had about 5 kids who were ready to come play with us at the Boys and Girls Club. We played a game called drip, drip, drop which was fun and very wet! The game had the kids laughing and running around. We played two other games that involved water balloons which they also enjoyed.

     At lunch we had a few of the kids that didn’t want to clean up after their lunch. After asking one of the girls Laney to clean her area up, Ragin, another girl that came to play with us said I should do it myself “black girl”, to which I was stunned and also embarrassed about. I told her if she wanted to talk to me she can call me by my name, Nancy, and not black girl. I was unsure how to follow through with that situation but thankfully Adam from Team 4 talked to her and she came up to me later apologized and gave me a hug. I was thinking I would receive some comments while on the reservation, I just wasn’t thinking it wouldn’t be from one of the kids. After we finished our time with the kids we headed to lunch by the river…past Swiftbird.

Swiftbird..games!

Swift bird was our next stop. We had a great turnout with the kids and many of them were familiar faces that Derek recognized from last year. We played the same games that we did with the kids from LaPlant and they loved the drip, drip, drop game as well. We talked to a few of the adolescent girls and many of them said that they would be around tomorrow for the Pow Wow. Taylor said she would be participating in it. Overall, we had a great time with the kids today and met some new kids who I hope continue to come out for the YMCA.

This entry was from Nancy my roomate/ team member/ friend!

Mural in town... amazing work!

Day #1- climbing the hay bails :)

I arrived at Southdale YMCA around 7:45 and did not see any familiar faces except Brent when i walked inside to use the restroom. I was so happy to see him since he has been a huge advocate for me in regard of YMCA work. I did not get the opportunity to tell him how much it meant for me to see him there. Other important people in my life were there also including Mom, Mark- executive director from the River Valley YMCA, Boss man Dave Grote, Courtney and many others from the YMCA. The send off was great and Marvin (MP3) got everything for us from a list of requests. We even were able to hear the great music from Elton John and Michael Jackson! Needless to say the words of encouragement and well wishes were greatly appreciated. Thank you to everyone who attended the send off and to everyone who either called or sent great texts to me.

We started driving and right away our conversations were easy and informative. We told our life stories and shared some details and it became clear that we are going to have a great time. I forgot to tell you my team members names... I will be spending the next 2 weeks with Nancy and Derek. Nancy is from Y-USA in Chicago and Derek works for the St. Paul YMCA.

Our drive for the first 4 hours was pretty uneventful but full of fun and conversation. We arrived in Watertown, SD and went shopping at the Wal-Mart to buy our snacks and some food for the trip. We went to culvers for lunch and it was the first time i think that i have been there and i was pleasantly surprised that the chicken was really good. We left Watertown after filling the car up with gas.

Our drive continued to be smooth and enjoyable but at this point we were getting a little sleepy. We started to play a game of 2 truths and 1 lie. Some of my team members had some trouble and thought that the game was 2 lies and 1 truth, but we learned a lot about each other during the game. We had a little detour and ended up being off of the highway we were suppose to be on. We were able to get back on track and made a quick bathroom stop and to fill up with gas again and now it was my turn to drive.

For a long time I have wanted to climb up on top of a hay bail and get my picture taken, well we were driving a long and came across the perfect spot. So i pulled over and Nancy and I climbed the hay bails and Derek took our picture, it was very difficult to climb they are a lot bigger than i expected. The drive continued....

WE ARRIVE!!

We crossed the river and were on the reservation, that is when it all became surreal for me. I have been looking forward to this trip for years and now that i have arrived i was definitely astonished by the site of the reservation.

We made it to Eagle Butte where the hotel is and decided that we were not going to stop so we drove straight to Dupree. ** Side note: We are arriving into an interesting situation, the executive director Bill W. just passed away on July 11th. ** So we were on our way to Dupree for the memorial service for Bill, we arrived at the Sioux YMCA and were greeted by familiar faces and told that the memorial has moved to a new location. So we got back in the car and drove to Harry's Hall. Arriving at the memorial was very eye opening to witness the impact that Bill had on this community in the short 2 years that he was here.

After the memorial we headed back to Eagle Butte to unload and have dinner.

We meet the other team to discuss our next days programming and then we were off to bed!

I am writing after a nice night of sleep... off to La Plant and Swiftbird to work with the youth!

My Adventure Begins

I will be leaving Wednesday morning at 8:00am from the Southdale YMCA to head to the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. I will be participating in the Sioux YMCA Initiative for the next two weeks. July 21st to August 4th. Please stay posted so you can follow me along the journey.