SHP 1 Sisseton - Women's Advocacy (2)

This is it!

Our time here in SISSETON has come to an end. As we head home, I'll share our second half of the week with everyone.

Wednesday started out at the shelter with more education. Our director, Julie, used the film "Tough Guise" to show us how media has affected young boys and violence rates. After the movie, Julie explained how violence is expressed by the perpetrators and what it looks like for the victim. She then shared her own experience with domestic violence. Her courage and determination continues to inspire us all.

As we broke for lunch, Julie told us that we would go to the sweat that night! We were filled with excitement and nervousness as we tried to mentally prepare ourselves. Us girls had to wear long skirts and long sleeve shirts, because as we have learned this week women are sacred and modesty is important within the anep to guarantee focus.The sweat is a powerful ceremony in which we all gather around the stones and pray. There's four doors and within each door a different prayer is said. The first door you pray for yourself to cleanse yourself. The second door you pray for your family. The third door is the women's prayer. And the final door is the thank you, because our prayers would be answered one day. The sweat was dark with only a small glow from the rocks giving light. The singer cried out the prayer songs as he beat the drum. Everyone around us sang out for their people to the Creator. We were brought to tears as the ceremony continued because of the selflessness and sincerity of the prayers and songs. We will be forever grateful for sharing their special and sacred tradition with us.

Thursday morning we woke up exhausted from the sweat and headed over to the radio station to speak on the tribal radio. They interviewed us about our experience in the town and we spoke about what service means to us and the principle of serving vs helping. The DJ on the show told us he was actually a ghost hunter and he agreed to take us on a ghost tour later that night!
Afterwards, we headed to the tribal school to speak to eighth graders about bullying. We shared our experiences and told the the reality of its effects. We also talked about cyber bullying and how that could hurt with future jobs and colleges. We also talked about the importance of school and having a good G.P.A. We also talked about how we are One Mizzou and how everyone is connected and important because we are all the same. We also discussed how it's important to stay away from drugs and alcohol and its ok to say no to people! We ended with the MIZ-ZOU CHANT!
We then headed back to the Wac'ang'a organization where we watched "Dakota 38", "Rape on the Reservation", and "Listen to the Grandmothers". These helped us understand their history and  current problems. "Dakota 38" told the story of the 38 + 2 Dakota men that were mass executed by the American government. This was the biggest mass execution carried out by the American government and the fact that none of us had learned about it angered us. We also learned that Julie's nephew Billy who was in the film committed suicide shortly after it was made. Suicide is a prevelant problem on the reservation, and we didn't meet a single person who didn't know someone who committed suicide. This broke our hearts that so many people were affected.

That night we cooked dinner for everyone who had helped us with our stay! Most of the Wac'ang'a staff and their families came. Father Jerry, the priest of the church we stayed at also came to dinner. After dinner we worked on our talking sticks. Talking sticks are used by the shelter to help people tell their story. We decorated them with different colored string that represented different parts of our life.

Later on in the night our friend, Tom, from the radio station took us ghost hunting. We went to what is now a park, but what was once a boarding school/orphanage. As we listened to the horrible things that happened there we all were overwhelmed with sadness. Although, we didn't see any ghosts it was an interesting experience and we made a new friend in Tom.

The next day we went to the Wac'ang'a org to share our spirit sticks with each other. It was very emotional as we all told our stories. We grew very close as a group throughout the week and this was the perfect end to solidify our bond and friendship.

Julie then ordered us pizza and gave us presents. She also gave us a beautiful surprise present for the MAB program as a whole. We talked and laughed and finally said goodbye to our new South Dakota friends.

In the afternoon we toured the tribal office and the college. The tribal building was probably one of the coolest buildings I've seen!

We had our last meal together at the casino, and a few lucky participants made it out with more than what they came in with.

This week was a powerful, emotional, fun, tiring, educational, and impactful trip that allowed us to grow as people and make connections with a culture and people that we had never met or experienced. We are so grateful to the Dakota people for their kindness, openess, selflessness, culture, and resilience. They will always have a special place in our hearts and thoughts. We can no longer be silent about the oppressions they have faced and do face everyday.