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This week has been very powerful for everyone. We were welcomed into someone's home, replaced 11 windows, and met with numerous local residents whom are attempting to address issues on the reservation.

On Wednesday, we met with Four Bands Community Fund Inc., an organization providing financial investments to local residents for economically sustainable business opportunities. It was a fresh perspective on how to revitalize a community struggling with many conflicting issues.

On Thursday, we ate lunch at the Cheyenne River Reservation Youth Center in Eagle Butte. There is a restaurant within the youth center called the Keya Cafe, and is one of the businesses funded by Four Bands Community Fund Inc. Keya Cafe focuses  on providing fresh vegetables grown on the reservation by youth, and supports fair trade products. We also ran into a Alternative Spring Break trip from Northwestern focusing on children issues.

Later that night, we had very special dinner cooked  by the homeowner's of the house we have been working on all week.  The dish was Indian Tacos. It is a Native American spin on traditional tacos, and uses frybread as the taco shell. Frybread is a sweet dough that is like nothing we have ever had before. It was a truly delicious and unique meal. It was an honor to have dinner prepared for us and made us feel at home on the reservation.

After a long day on Friday, we had to say a hard goodbye to the community of Eagle Butte. A beautiful sunset was a perfect goodbye to a meaningful and challenging week, both physically and mentally, of service. Many participants have made promises to return to Eagle Butte and continue supporting Okicipiyapi Tipi from Mizzou's campus.

Tomorrow, we head out at 6am for Columbia, Missouri. We would like to thank all of our donors, the people of Eagle Butte, and Okicipiyapi Tipi for making this a life-changing week of discovery and service.

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This week we are replacing all the windows on a family's home down the street from Okiciyapi Tipi's volunteer house. Things started out a little rough due to our lack of experience, but within a day everyone had become an apprentice carpenter. We were taking measurements, removing windows, cutting sheet rock, and more. 

We also replaced a large piece of the ceiling within the kitchen.

Check back to see the finished project!

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Day Two - Free Day:

We visited the Badlands. After a two hour drive, we reached Badlands National Park. Some of the group were sworn into the junior park rangers program, and they are now even more committed to exploring and preserving other national parks! During our visit, we hiked for a few hours, and the winds were really buffalowing. We saw bison, prairie dogs, bighorn, and deer.

After spending the day in the Badlands, we went to Wall Drug! After two days of adventure and bonding, we are all ready to work for the next five days. Stay tuned for our blog post tomorrow about the first three days of work on our housing project!​

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Day One:

After staying the night in St. Mary's of Bellevue Nebraska, we headed out for Eagle Butte. Along the way, we visited the one and only Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota! The Corn Palace is made entirely of corn! During our visit, we saw a great performance by the TestosterTones, a high school show choir from Totitno-Grace ​High School from Fridley, MN. We were a little cornfused about the entire event and some people couldn't even corntain themselves. We cornsidered staying for the entire show, but we had to get back on the road (even though the it was amaizeing).

​After a long day of driving, we safely arrived at our housing location in Eagle Butte, South Dakota located on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. We ​will be working for the week with a local non-profit, Okiciyapi Tipi, dedicated to improving housing conditions on the reservation.