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.
Nursing Students at Pine Ridge 