Lakota
AID
Registered
Charity
No: 1097444
Volume
2 Issue 4
|
Hi Everyone Firstly, apologies for the delay in getting this newsletter out. I have just returned from my 7th trip to Pine Ridge, and prior that, I had to move flat yet again, and my transfer of internet took longer than I had hoped, plus other things have been going on in my life, so I figured it would be better to wait until I got back from this latest trip and then get the newsletter out!!! Phew!! Now I have got my breath back, I can begin!!
Gavin had looked over my website and contacted me and the trip was arranged. Gavin has his own website, having done projects in Africa and Europe, relating to Indigenous peoples, plus is pretty well travelled in many places throughout the world. www.gavindavidwhite.com He was pretty shocked at the situation out on the Rez and I feel this trip had quite an impact on him!
I felt both honored and very proud to be speaking to these people, both men and women, and hopefully this will be the 1st of many more meetings to come.
It is pretty shocking to see how so many people have to live , both in wooden housing and trailer homes, but the problem remains the same. We were told that all the Tribe could advise was to wash the walls down with bleach, when really the houses need burning down to completely kill off all the mould spores, and the houses rebuilt from scratch! Yet another way to slowly kill these people off in the eyes of the U.S government I feel!! Truly appalling! On a lighter note, we also had the honour of being shown the grave of Chief Long Wolf. Chief Long Wolf had travelled to London with ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody’s Wild West show. He contracted pneumonia in 1892 and died aged 59, while performing with the show at Earl’s Court in London. Although Chief Long Wolf’s dying wish was to be buried in his native soil, this did not happen and he was buried on June 13th 1892 at Brompton Cemetary. (originally known as ‘The West of London and Westminster Cemetery’). Chief Long Wolf remained buried in the cemetery for over a century, until a British woman named Elizabeth Knight, from Worcestershire decided to trace his family, after reading about him in a second hand book she had found. So after 105 years of being buried in British soil,, on Sept 27th 1997, relatives of Chief Long Wolf, after a church ceremony that mixed traditional religious rites with those of the Sioux, started the journey back home with the remains of Long Wolf, and he was finally buried in his beloved native soil. He was buried in the Wolf Creek Cemetary at Pine Ridge, along with his ancestors. This trip was a truly awe-inspiring trip, for many different reasons. I never know what to expect when I return to the reservation, each trip is so very different from the one before. All I know is that I intend to return as many times as I can, help in any way I can, and spread the word of the plight of these people as far and wide as I possibly can, and that’s about all I can do! One person on their own cannot change much out there in South Dakota, but many voices have much more of an impact, so go spread the word people, and donations are ALWAYS needed for Propane remember! This years weather even out there has been cooler than usual, so Propane is always needed for cooking and heating! Cheques as usual can be made out to Lakota Aid and sent to Brenda Aplin, Finally, I have some new websites which are going onto the related links page on the website, that you might care to look over and pass around. Help is needed in these areas also and they are very good causes too. http://www.tsntc.org/ plus don’t forget Gavin’s site also http://www.gavindavidwhite.com Take care everyone. Talk to you all again soon!! Best Wishes Mitakuye Oyasin |
I
flew back out to South Dakota on June 22nd, and
was this time accompanied by a photo journalist
from London, called Gavin White, that wanted to
do some coverage on the life of the Lakota people
of the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Also
this trip, an historic meeting had been arranged
for us both to meet and talk with several Headsman
of the Tribe, and it was a very good meeting indeed.
I explained what my charity was trying to do, and
Francis ‘Chubb’ Thunder Hawk , Snr, a very well
respected man, Headsman of the ‘Thunder Hawk, Jealous
of Him Tiospaye’, did a wonderful job of translating
into Lakota for both myself and Gavin.(Yes, he did
not escape having to do a speech also!!).
We
were also taken to some of the housing areas near
Pine Ridge itself, to see how bad the Black Mould
was. At least 60% of the homes on the reservation
are infested with Black Mould, Strachybotrys, which
infests the lungs and causes fatalities in infants,
children, those with damaged immune systems, lung
and pulmonary conditions. Exposure to this mold
can also cause hemorrhaging of the lungs and brain,
as well as cancer.
[Home] [Why the Lakota need your Help] [Newsletter] [Ambulance Project]