I made a teepee in the traditional Lakota manner! You can see me on the left with my back to the camera.
A teepee? It was just for fun, not for living in. I spent the first week of August crafting some BIG things on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwest South Dakota. Near the Black Hills, the reservation is very isolated from cities as large as the one where I live.
Serving as an adult chaperone for our church’s annual youth group mission trip gave me new skills. In addition to building the teepee that you see in these photos, I also helped demolish a deck, replaced it and added a wheelchair ramp; painted over graffiti; tore off shingles, laid down sticky tar paper, and nailed new shingles. We changed locations every day.
Working with Re-Member, my week’s work crew also built outhouses, dug holes, and installed the outhouses; skirted mobile homes; moved mobile homes; re-wired houses; and delivered mattresses to area families. And of course, playing with local children.
Re-Member includes mandatory cultural programming every night. One night was craft night, where vendors come to sell their wares. We also viewed an annual art show that combined native culture with visual arts. I’ll get photos up as I get to them. Our share site (you can make your own at shutterfly) has over 850 photos to choose from at the moment.
Richele