Pilgrims work, teach, learn with Lakota First Nation
Group from L.A. finds
hospitality and hard work on trip to
South Dakota reservation
By Janet Kawamoto
The village of Red Shirt, population 150, is the most isolated enclave on
the Pine Ridge Reservation, home of the Lakota First Nation people. Located
near the Black Hills in southwest South Dakota near the Nebraska border, the
reservation is one of the poorest areas of the United States, with over 75%
unemployment, high rates of alcoholism and drug abuse, and only limited
electricity and other services. Red Shirt is some 30 miles from the next
village.
Parishioners from three congregations in the Diocese of Los Angeles—St.
Benedict’s/Holy Trinity, Alhambra; St. Thomas’, Hacienda Heights; and St.
George’s, La Cañada—made a pilgrimage to Pine Ridge in late June. Their task
was to make a difference in the lives of people in Red Shirt, but they are
unanimous in saying that the town and its people have made profound changes
in them.
“If pilgrimage is seeking after the holy,” said Michael Cunningham, member
of St. Thomas’, and diocesan missioner for administration, “Pine Ridge is a
holy place.”
On the surface, it was a story of privileged people going to help an
underprivileged group. And help they did: the group ran a three-day Vacation
Bible School program for children ages 3-18; dug a 12-foot wide, 6-foot deep
fire pit and lined it with river rock and sand; built an outdoor basketball
court; helped to create a mural on the outside of the gym to welcome people
to the village; cleaned and did restoration work on the century-old Christ
Episcopal Church, a center of village life and church home to two-thirds of
Red Shirt’s people. And they did it in skin-frying over-100 degree heat in a
place where such amenities as iced drinks and air conditioning were hard to
come by.
But when they returned to Southern California, the first things the visitors
spoke of were not hard work and hot temperatures, but the beauty of the
desert landscape, the kindness and hospitality of the Lakota people, and the
joy of being welcomed into the community as members of the family.
“I went to Pine Ridge a little afraid of the ill effects of poverty I might
find there,” said the Rev. Amy Schwend, a recently-ordained deacon on the
staff of St. Wilfrid’s, Huntington Beach, who accompanied the group. “I came
away having learned great lessons about a different way, a gracious way,
that people can be and live together.”
“What really struck me,” said Loryann Fradejas, 20, of St. Thomas’, “was the
beauty of the environment. It was so peaceful. Being in the middle of
nature, you realize how little you are.”
St. George’s Church began the
relationship with Red Shirt last year under the leadership of its assistant
rector, the Rev. Robert Two Bulls. Last summer, Two Bulls led a group from
St. George’s there to help build a community picnic ground and work on other
projects. St. George’s continued its relationship to the village last
Christmas with a gift drive, during which parishioners collected some 200
items—enough to give a present to every person under the age of 18 in the
community, the church and the town’s Head Start preschool. St. George’s
preschool has also started a partnership with the Red Shirt preschool, and
has raised funds for new books and playground equipment.
Two Bulls, a fourth-generation Episcopalian and second-generation priest,
grew up on the reservation, and is related in some degree to almost everyone
in Red Shirt. The village is what the Lakota call a band—in their language,
tiospaye, or extended family. (The Lakota tribe is made up of many bands.)
This year’s pilgrims—as the visiting group like to be called—say that the
greatest privilege of their trip was being included as members of the band
during ceremonies at the newly-constructed fire pit on which they had worked
during their ten-day visit. Even more affecting than the ceremonial
acknowlegement of their work was the kindness and generosity of the people.
“It’s the poorest place in America,” said Cunningham, “but they gave what
they had freely.”
Although the hospitality of the area was in evidence immediately upon their
arrival, the pilgrims said it took time to develop relationships with the
people of the town. Long silences, oh-so-gentle handshakes and “Indian
time”—things happening when they are ready, not according to the clock—are
concepts that the pilgrims gradually got used to and came to appreciate,
Schwend said.
Fradejas, who with the other youth group members conducted the Vacation
Bible School, said that the young people were a delight to work with. “The
kids were so excited to have young people to play with,” she said. “Hanging
out” with Laura, an 18-year-old girl from Red Shirt who taught her about the
life and culture of the Lakota people, gave her new perspectives, Fradejas
said.
In material things, the people of Red Shirt are very poor, compared to
others in the United States, but Fradejas said she did not feel that the
people there suffered—rather that they accepted what they had, lived with
it, and shared it.
Being Episcopalians together with the Lakota people was especially
inspiring, said Ranjit Mathews, 23, seminarian from the Diocese of
Massachusetts who accompanied the group. “It was pretty great to be able to
celebrate the Eucharist with them, in an open field, next to the river,” he
said. “It was a mixture of many different people, from all different walks
of life, gathering together to celebrate Christ. It was truly an
experience.”
The pilgrimage group included several families from St. George’s: Frank and
Frances Cassidy, Dean and Nora Winarnt, Robbie and Lorrie Alves, Anne Brown,
Gail Day, Joanne Simpson, and Richard and Karen Lawrence and their family.
In addition to Loryann Fradejas and her sister Larissa, age 17, were Simon
Cunningham, 17, and Roger and Janis Magnuson of St. Thomas’. Joseph Maling,
16, Kurt Bacayan, 17, Luke Perido, 19, and Kristy Tindungan, 16, are all
members of St. Benedict’s/Holy Trinity. Also accompanying the group was Joel
Vanderveen of St. Stephen’s, Hollywood.
The Pine Ridge trip was funded by grants from St. Thomas’ Church and the
national church’s Office of Native American Ministry. Episcopal Asiamerica
Ministries (EAM) also provided funding because all of the youth group
members on the trip are Asian Americans.
According to Two Bulls and Cunningham, the group intends to continue
working with the people of Red Shirt. “I’m going back to Pine Ridge,” said
Schwend, “because an important part of my soul was birthed there this
summer, and its fledgling growth needs reinforcement, and longer hours of
learning.” |
Robert Two Bulls
Boy from Lakota tribe prepares for exhibition
dance at powwow celebrating end of school year at reservation's college.
Brandon, a resident of Red Shirt, smiles over a
New York Yankees baseball cap, a gift from one of the pilgrims from
Los Angeles
Loryann, left, and Lerissa Fradejas have their
hair "styled" by two of their young charges during Vacation Bible School
they conducted in the village of
Red Shirt.
Youth group members from St. Benedict's/Holy
Trinity, Alhambra and St. Thomas' Hacienda Heights, with leaders Amy Schwend,
Joel Vanderveen, Michael Cunningham and Robert Two Bulls, gather in front of
wall-sized mural they painted at Red Shirt in Lakota Pine Ridge Reservation
in
South Dakota.
|
