Starting a New Week on the Reservation

Morning Message:  Kathy

Three things in human life are important – the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; the third is to be kind.    Henry James

Journal:  Kate 

Today my mom and I went to the Great Falls Airport to meet our teammates.  We walked into the airport that is loaded with animal heads, how pleasant.  We waited there until all of us were there.  We then headed out to Browning.  In the Head Start Center, we all got assigned our rooms and went back to go get our luggage in the van.  We discovered that the key to get the doors unlocked was inside the van and the key to start the van was outside the van.  Oops!  However, a man was kind enough to break into the car and get our luggage (apparently, he had done it a lot…hmmm…).  After settling in and meeting the roommates, we sat down and had a lovely dinner comprised of lasagna and spaghetti prepared by Candy. With our bellies full, everyone hit the hay!  Can’t wait to see what this week has in store for everyone!  Looking forward to it!

July 6th-Busy day

By Phoebe

I woke up on the fourth ring of my alarm clock. Fairly early and reluctantly departed from the cozy warmth of my bed. I took my routine shower and off to breakfast. I was kindly welcomed by smiling faces. I had a piece of fry bread and some cantaloupe. Today is going to be a busy day, judging by the result of the confusion during the team meeting.  Everybody seems to be going his or her separate ways. Ann will definitely be spending a majority of her time in the van speeding from one place to another. After the team meeting Ellie, Susan, Carter and I all played a game. After one or two fun games we retreated to go paint. By the time we finished painting I was covered head to toe in white paint. When I finally scrubbed most of it away we left for Eagle Shield. 

Working reception at Eagle Shield

I find myself here being showered by the constant ring of the telephone. Once my duty there was done. I gave James an orientation of the front desk and went to eat lunch. I then stained the fence we built at CDC. At around 4PM we headed back to go enjoy ourselves in the pool. Tyler and Ben did an assortment of flips and other things. When we all got back Chad had us collecting little rocks for our final ceremony, which consisted of an “honesty circle”, where we answered questions about the trip, an evaluation survey and food. We ate pizza and ice cream! After that we played sardines. Kelsey finally rounded up everybody for a group photo.  Today is the last day of a great week. I’m happy we made the most of it.

Honesty Circle

July 5th- Building and creating

Tyler

After a long night of constant explosions in the sky I awoke groggy and tired but still had time to take a shower and sit in the sauna. Everyone then ate breakfast and we had our meeting in the kitchen. We discussed who would help out at certain places and left to go to our designated assignments. Ben, Jeff, Chad, James and I headed out to the CDC; others went to the Care Center, continued on the flower project, or finished painting the signs in the Head Start. At the CDC we worked on finishing the fence and started painting one side with stain at which point I knocked over the can of stain and spilled it everywhere. James left to shop with Maria for the Indian Taco dinner while Chad went to gather food for the final celebration that will be held on our last night together. Lunch went by quick and everyone went back to our projects, back to the CDC I went. While we were working a boy and his puppy adventured by and he started talking to us and helping paint the fence but soon left after boredom kicked in.  In the middle of s working, a fire started across the street in someone’s backyard from people lighting fireworks. The fire department came and quickly put it out but it was still scary to see a fire so close to someone’s house. From there Emily, Ben and I walked to the pawn shop, leaving Susan, Carter and Ellie to wait for Ann at the CDC. The pawn ship was actually open for once and we perused knifes, saddles and other interesting stuff. We made it back to the Head Start and watched some TV and waited until dinner at Eagle Shield. Maria cooked a traditional dinner of Indian Tacos and berry soup, which was very delicious. Over dinner we talked about the days, events and James and I discussed our trip to Vegas. 

July 4th- Gratitude

By Jeff

A very pleasant and casual start for all of us this morning; a shower and sauna for me. I don’t need an alarm as long as Chad is around with his. Gratitude for life, for the breath we take. Gratitude for my journey. We stayed here in the Head Start building finishing up our work projects and with Ann’s good guidance and straight direction we are ready for Thursday. We also have a good plan for Friday.

Thoughts of life here on the Blackfeet home land slip in and out of my consciousness during the day. I carry all the positive energy given to me at the sweat lodge. Priceless. Cherished. Grateful.

Baylor and Emily arrived today, so good to see them. Such fine energy to join our group and now all of us are off to Brother Ray’s for the BBQ. Good food and good times- plenty of both. Now it is late and the fireworks are going off. The earplugs are the way to sleep tonight. Sweet dreams.

Thought: When there is a fork in the road, stop and look both ways. Phoebe O’Neill

                 When you’re angry with someone squeeze a pillow and when you’re happy with someone                        squeeze them- Phoebe O’Neill

July 3rd- Fun times

Susan

It was rainy and cold (50 degrees) as we started our day with cereal, coffee, and Ben’s journal entry and James’ thought. A rainbow and glimpses of sunshine accompanied us to Chewing Blackbones Campground, as well as Phoebe’s excitement about Oreo cows.  The campground, almost empty when we arrived probably would have disappointed Chewing Blackbones himself (an elder who died in 1963 at the age of 104).

We hung out at the playground and in the van until others arrived. Then a spirited soccer game involved most of us and Browning kids and adults. James was even seen kicking the ball in from the sidelines and Carter and Ben did some good goalie work.

Ellie met up with 3 girls from the Boys and Girls Club and they picked wildflowers.

After our picnic lunch planned by Ann, Carter and Ellie, we met 8^th grade teacher and Reservation guide Jim. He passed on Blackfeet history and the practical skills learned through traditional games such as Spear and Hoop and Scare the Buffalo, some of our group from the shorter to the taller did well yelling and running across the field on only one breath. They also played Double Ball and Shinny, during this game Ann scored a goal. The games used natural materials and most were carved and then painted, red paint means “holy” and black means “war”. Feathers added decoration and meaning.

We waited while the wind picked up and sprinkles began again for the teepee building, featuring 21 carefully measured, cut, and prepared poles from the lodge-pole pine tree.  It took a lot of muscles- just ask Tyler and Chad – to get the poles up  correctly after the first 4 were tied together precisely. The canvas enclosed the teepee and so we were done. We headed back to Browning with an assortment of Blackfeet traditions.

The day, which began with a group of tired volunteers and cranky weather following us to an underused park, picked up and was a lot of fun. Can’t say I worked very hard but I really enjoyed talking with community people and being in the Montana beauty all day.

July 2nd-Accidents happen

By Ben           

Today was the first day of work on the Reservation. Most everybody got up early to take a shower and go swimming. After breakfast and clean up we went down to Blackfeet Community College to get our daily assignments from members of the community and staff of the college. The jobs that we could choose from where, working in the library, picking up trash, reading to little kids, and building fences. After our morning shift of work we moved on to eating lunch at the headquarters. Then we moved on to the afternoon shift of work. This included Susan and the kids to read at the Boys and Girls Club. Shawn and Phoebe worked in the library and Jeff, Tyler, James and I worked on building a fence for the Community Development Corp. An odd day at work included Ellie finding a kitchen knife somewhere and me ending up with 4 staples in my head- two different happenings, not one causing the other. What an interesting day. After the work day was over Phoebe, Jeff, James and Kelsey went to a sweat ceremony and everybody else stayed home and had an awesome dinner, an awesome soup made by one and only Tyler. During dinner we had some very interesting conversations about breaking bones and other stuff. Today was a very interesting, exciting and productive day while having fun at the same time. I personally thought we learned about the culture during one experience today and I thought it was very informative and productive. I’m very much looking forward to the end of the fireworks. 

July 1st- The first day

By Shawn

Today was a full day indeed. Breakfast was shared around 7:30 and bonding was achieved between the members of our group. Afterward, and in a more formal and structured forum, the group collaborated and came up with a common understanding of how a group can function well. We discussed which components are present in well functioning groups, what our objectives are as a group over the course of this project both shared and individual, and the parameters of our group as it relates to the community we will be serving. Although the orientation took many hours, there were hours set aside for a tour of the Reservation. Our guide, Joe, was informative and knowledgeable. For me, the highlight of the trip was stopping in one of the hotels in Glacier, the biggest in the park; the view was spectacular and the hotel itself, historic. Upon conclusion of the tour we returned to our base of operations to share in another delicious meal prepared by Candy. It was chicken with veggies and rolls. Some went to watch a movie after dinner, I read. I am really looking forward to getting to work tomorrow and meeting some of the locals and feel excited and well equipped to be working with the folks that have decided to participate.