Aside from working with Habitat for Humanity, we have been able to have the opportunity to deliver meals to impoverished elders who live on the reservation. We are volunteering through the Crow Creek Elderly Golden Age Center. Every day, three volunteers go out with June, a member of the tribe who recently moved back to the reservation and has given us an interesting perspective on life here. Delivering the meals has been an eye-opening experience for each of us and a good way to see the different neighborhoods in the community.
This opportunity has given us a first-hand look at the severe poverty that afflicts many members of this tribe. It is disconcerting to see so many people living in run-down homes on unkept land, especially considering their great reverence for nature. Many of the people here want their children to leave the reservation, get more of an education, and find jobs. But they also don't want to lose the richness of their culture, including their language, ceremonies, and traditions. It has helped us understand the complexities of this culture and the current situation of the reservation. Through delivering the meals we were able to greet the recipients, give them their food, and at times have brief conversations with them. Walking into strangers' homes was uncomfortable at times, but provided us more insight into their daily lives and routines.
Through talking to June, we were able to become more aware of some of the severe problems facing people our age and younger on the reservation. Problems like drug and alcohol abuse, high-school suicides and drop-outs, and unemployment are all escalating. This is causing many of the young members to die from drunk driving accidents and also spend time in jail. We read all of these statistics before arriving, but it is a completely different thing to see it with our own eyes. Being here has answered many of the 'why' questions we had in our minds. It is truly a dead-end society. Jobs are extremely hard to come by, forcing people to look in other towns if they are motivated enough to look. And if they find one elsewhere, they have to worry about paying for the gas to get there, if they even own a car in the first place. Regardless, people who live on the reservation are guaranteed some money provided by the government every month, but it is not nearly enough to live on by urban standards. For some perspective, the amount that each person gets is less than most people are paying for monthly rent in Columbia.
Even though we are seeing so much disparity, we are also surrounded by perhaps some of the most underrated and beautiful land in the country. Every day we are overcome by the simple beauty here and are happy that we are helping to restore even a fraction of what's been lost.
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