Lakota
AID
Registered
Charity
No: 1097444
Volume
2 Issue 1
|
Hello Everyone Hope you have all recovered from all the Christmas and New Year festivities and are getting back into the swing of the more mundane things of life again. I am still in regular contact with the people on the reservation, and have to tell you that Rita Afraid of Bear had a fall and fractured her knee cap!! She is alright, and fortunately escaped having to endure surgery, the fracture being in such a place that it can be treated by strapping up her knee and should heal naturally. Having said this, she has to keep the leg straightened out as much as possible for at least 6 weeks, and it will be a good 6 months before it is fully healed. Can you imagine how she would have coped if she did not now have an indoor bathroom and toilet, and running water facilities!!! This time of year being winter, apart from the snow and bitter cold winds they experience in South Dakota, if they do get any rain or moisture, the ground, which consists of mainly a thick top layer of volcanic ash, turns to a tacky mud they call ‘Gumbo’. Believe me, it is wicked stuff and if you try and walk through it, you get a build up of this stuff around the outside of your shoes which gradually becomes so thick and heavy you cannot move!! I have got stuck in this stuff myself , and even four wheeled drive vehicles have difficulty driving through this stuff!! It builds up around the tyres then up around the wheel arches and eventually the wheels cannot turn properly. You have to get out and scrape off this Gumbo and then travel as far as you can before you have to repeat the whole process again!!! It is all down to you lovely people that Rita does not have to endure the struggle of a 20 yard dash to an outside toilet in freezing cold and impossible conditions, and I want to thank everyone for all they have done in the past and hopefully for the future also. I am appealing right now for urgent donations to buy Propane Fuel. I filled the propane tanks for 14 families at the end of last september, but they need re-filling right now and donations would be more than welcome for this project. I have more and more people requesting propane, but can only do so much with what funds I have, so the more the merrier folks!!! I will keep everyone updated as things are done, and as I have said, the main priority now is to provide propane, so spread the word around people and thanks once again for all your help. Send any cheques made out to LAKOTA AID, to Brenda Aplin |
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