Monthly Archives: August 2013

Yesterday morning we left the reservation.  We stopped to say goodbye to Rosie and gave her our leftover food (which was much more than expected!).  One of the photos is of Katherine with student, Derek.  During one of the beading sessions, Katherine kept coming over to admire Derek’s beadwork and swatting him with the fly swatter.  It was cute, and I think Derek has a bit of an admirer!

We drove out through the Badlands, and saw a cow on the road.  Always exciting and always my goal to get my photo with some random cow on the road.  I tried, but I scared the cow into running away.  Oh well!  There is always next trip.  Part of our drive took us by acres and acres of blooming sunflowers–just beautiful.  We also stopped at the Red Shirt Table Overlook, which is one of my favorite places on the reservation.  After group photos, we headed on.

We drove through Keystone which was FULL of bikers.  I have never seen so many motorcycles in my whole life!  I was sure that I was going to take a few out with the 15-passenger van, but no lives were lost (a good thing).  After a brief stop at Mt Rushmore, we went hammer down to Sioux Falls.  We were on the every two hour between stops rule this trip which worked well.  We got back into the Hampton Inn, and then went to dinner at Granite City as a large group.  It was nice to have this time for relaxation and reflection with the students.

This morning we left Sioux Falls at 0630 and traveled (again, hammer down) to Peoria without incident.  I am SO happy to be home.  Missed my peeps big time.  I am taking the kid to get his driver’s license tomorrow.

I have much on my mind after the trip, as I always do!  So appreciative of the students work and willingness to be flexible and go with the “current plan”.

Our last day on the rez…always a hard one for me as described in last year’s blog…for some reason, it is always the worst day.  We were able to arrange horseback riding for all of the students except for one.  The time came when it was either going to be someone volunteering to sit out of horseback riding or me draw straws for the person to sit out.  Well, one of the students, Chelsea, volunteered to sit out–how selfless of her and really what this trip is about.  I am very proud of her and her actions!  We had more adventures trying to get the horseback riders to their destination.  Some rode at Rosie’s and others rode at a Native American family’s house that is on a dirt road.  It has rained a lot during this trip so the dirt road is now full of mud puddles and mud.  We had difficulties with getting the other van through the mud so the 15-passenger van successfully went mudding.  It was actually fun–was afraid of getting stuck, but I just gunned it and kept going. 

We roamed around the rez a bit today, dropping off some medication at Porcupine Clinic, visiting my favorite prairie dog colony, and the Badlands Visitors Center.  Although our favorite ranger, Marcil, was not there, we met a very nice Lakota Ranger named Enos Poor Bear, who spent some time talking to the students about the Sundance.  He had the longest braids I have ever seen!

In the evening, we went to visit Wounded Knee for Emerson Elk’s narrative.  I have always enjoyed this in the past, and although it was a bit different this year, I still enjoyed the visit and seeing him and his family.  He had open heart surgery in March, and has since lost 40 lbs and looks great.  We visited the burial site which is always powerful.  For some reason, the clouds over Wounded Knee are always beautiful.  We had saved many donations for the Elk’s, and after giving these we returned to our cabins to spend the last night on the rez.

Thinking a lot about the visit, feeling some frustrations, and celebrating some successes, but most of all I am again feeling privileged that I am allowed to visit and bring students to this place to meet these people.  

Our plan for the day was to go back to the pow wow in Pine Ridge.  We and set up in the parking lot for a full day of health promotion.  I was unsure what to expect or even if we were going to be allowed to set up, but lo and behold, we were able to and we did.  Boy, did we!  The Pow Wow announcer gave a public service announcement for us that we had health information, screening, and giveaways, and after a tepid start, we finally got a steady stream of people to visit.  We were able to interact with kids, adults, pregnant women, elderly–just about every age range.  Again, the students just shined.  Whether it was keeping donations organized and available; doing blood sugars and blood pressures; doing one on one teaching to a Type 2 Diabetic on how to use his new blood sugar machine;  teaching kids to brush their teeth; blowing bubbles, jumping rope, and playing football with the kids, every student had a role, and they all stepped up to the plate.  Students even walked around the pow wow grounds inviting people to come and see us!  We gave away most everything that we had, which is absolutely the goal.  I was able to assess a little boy of about two with a skin condition on his arms.  I spoke to his mother, who told me that he has been to the doctor numerous times for this skin condition and tested for bed bugs, scabies, etc. which were all negative.  I am not sure what was wrong, but I cleaned the areas and gave her some antibiotic ointment and teaching about how to care for the areas and symptoms to report to the doctor.  This little boy was a doll–just sitting in his new stroller and letting me clean off the areas and put the ointment on.  These kids are just absolutely beautiful. Sometimes I have to remind myself to step back and let the students have these interactions because truly, I am dying to assess, screen, interact, and teach.  This one was OK for me to take care of–my student wasn’t sure what to tell the mother.  I very much live vicariously through their interactions though!  Everyone worked hard, and again, if I mention that I am proud of them, it is because they have done such a great job.  One of the students even did some teaching with the lady who works at Rosie’s who is trying to potty train her 3-year old grandson.  Nothing is off limits!

After the pow wow parking lot, we returned to Rosie’s for the remainder of the group to have their beading lesson.  The students seemed to enjoy this, and most were able to complete their friendship bracelets, including our male students!

We have one more day on the reservation-I can’t believe that it has gone by so quickly.  I wish that we could stay.  This place is under my skin like you would not believe.  One of the male students has caught the Pine Ridge bug, too–he is interested in coming back to work for IHS when he graduates.  I sure hope that he does–what a great thing!