Lakota AID Registered Charity No: 1097444 Volume 1 Issue 6

Hi Everyone Hope the onset of the cold weather is not getting you all down too much!! I hate the long, dark winter days and nights, but the seasons have to come and go. You can't argue with Mother Nature you know! It is funny that us wimpy Brits dread the onset of winter so much, as the Lakota people really welcome the cooler weather and the snow after the searing heat of the summers out on the reservation. The Lakota, and many other Native American Tribes regard the winter as a time of cleansing and contemplation, a place where things lie dormant, ready to burst into life come the spring. Talking of the onset of winter, Rita Afraid of Bear is now fully installed in her new trailer, with hot and cold running water, shower and inside toilet!!! Has it been a nightmare to get it all sorted though, let me tell you it has been a real struggle to try and get workmen to go out to Slim Buttes on the reservation, to get things hooked up for Rita. Being seven hours ahead of South Dakota time is a real drag, working out the time differences to try and catch the electrician, the people that have put and connected up Rita's septic tank and water supply, the telephone company etc, etc. Again, Westco the propane company have been superb, Randy Thurman once again coming to my rescue to find and put in a hot water heater to replace the badly leaking one in the new trailer, and also finding and securing a bad propane leak. This was probably caused as a result of the taking out of the old furnace in the new trailer, and fitting the better one from the old trailer (hope you are still with me on this one!!!). Rita reckons she would have been in orbit by now if Randy hadn't come to her rescue, bless him!! Throughout all of this, Rita never lost her sense of humor once, where as I was tearing my hair out and panicking on more than one occasion I can tell you!! Unfortunately no pictures were taken of the arrival of the new trailer, but I will take plenty myself when I get back there next spring. While all of this activity was taking place, the weather in South Dakota remained beautiful, still in the 80's last week. It's almost as if Great Spirit was ensuring that all the work necessary was completed before the winter snow arrived, and sure enough, snow is forecast from this week. Talk about close timing eh?? I was talking to Rita on the phone a few days ago, the day after she finally was able to have her running water once the leaky old water heater had been replaced. She started laughing and told me that she had got up that morning as usual, put on a jacket and gone to the outside privy. She returned to the trailer and suddenly realized that she had an inside toilet!!! I guess 15 years of not having an inside loo is one humungous habit to break! It proves one thing to me though, going over for just 2-3 weeks to the reservation is just not long enough to try and get good contacts for getting work done on the reservation .It is so difficult trying to get projects done from all the way over here, you really need to be there to co-ordinate things and to make sure the work gets done when asked. If only all the companies were as efficient as Westco, I'd be laughing!! As we all know from experience though, nothing is easy in life and you have to work extremely hard to get things done. I am White and had a really hard time, imagine what it is like to be Native American and trying to get the same things done? As you have already probably guessed, nothing much ever gets done! I would dearly love to be able to get a grant or a sponsor, so that I could go out to the reservation for longer periods of time, and research things in more depth. If anyone has any ideas of how I could go about this, or could give me any help there, please feel free to contact me ok? Well my friends, once again many, many thanks to all that have fund raised or donated to the cause already. These projects could not go ahead without all your help. Take care everyone, thank you all for caring. Wopila. Mitakuye Oyasin. Brenda [Home] [Why the Lakota need your Help] [Newsletter] [Ambulance Project]