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Cheyenne River Sioux ▬ Exploratory Trip Report

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JIM'S EXPLORATORY TRIP ▬ AUG / SEPT 2009

The Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation, Eagle Butte, South Dakota

is made up of 19 communities that are divided into 6 districts. Each district has an elected council member that serves for four years to represent the needs of the district and help where possible. Tribal enrollment for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe is 16,403 people. The reservation covers 5,400 square miles with 2.8 million acres. Eagle Butte is the hub of the reservation. The farthest community is 74 miles from Eagle Butte.

31 Aug 2009 – I met with the Chairman of the Tribal Council along with three other council members. They were very pleased that we would be interested in helping their community. While there are some government programs that help to provide housing, like HUD, the list for those homes has 300 people on it. By the time 4 or 5 homes can be built, instead of the list getting smaller, more people have been added. Habitat For Humanity has a list of 180 people on the list for homes. For the people on the list waiting for homes, it could be years before they may get one.

The other problem with even having homes built, is that the current water supply is inadequate to support more homes. They need a larger pump and a larger pipe to be installed. Therefore, until the water system is upgraded, new homes can only be put where there is an existing water meter.

The health coordinator said they need a youth shelter for teens who are at risk of suicide. They had not had any suicides for a while, but have had two in the past two weeks. Depression runs high on the reservation because of the poor conditions. Even with adults, when there is little to do and few jobs available, the poverty takes its toll. The good news is there has recently started a Boys and Girls Club in four communities (Eagle Butte, La Plant, Red Scaffold, and Cherry Creek). They are spread out to help the other communities have a closer option of attending.

As I was leaving the meeting, I was asking the chairman’s secretary, whom I first talked with before making the trip, whether there was a non-denominational Christian church in town. I had seen several churches but could not find anything specific in my earlier research. She mentioned that she happened to attend a non-denominational Christian church. What are the odds? She arranged for a meeting with the pastor on Wednesday night. She and her assistant attend the same church.

After the meeting, one of the council members showed me many homes in his district. He estimated at least 30 needed some type of work on windows, doors or roofs just to get them winterized. He said the tribe has a housing improvement program (HIP) that people can place their name on for these repairs, but money and skilled help is very limited. The current list has 300 people on it needing something. They try to help the elderly first.

All of this boils down to many people surviving in old deteriorating shelters, many of which date to the 1950s and are about 16’ x 20’ in size. Some live in homes built in the 1970s, and others live in trailers. Some areas have five or six trailers next to each other because only one has a water meter. For those who have homes, they are unable to afford the upkeep. As roofs begin to leak, it causes damage and mold to the inside. In addition, this area is open prairie. Winds, storms, rain, hail, and snow can blow through with a fury to cause even more damage. One trailer home I saw had the roof torn off and the skirting blown away in one hail storm. The resulting water damaged the floor such that it warped and sags. The owner still lives there and is slowly making repairs. The wind blows storm doors off the houses and can blow objects into the glass windows, causing them to break. As winter nears, they must find ways to keep out the cold and patch the holes.

There is one store for construction materials and it’s 19 miles from Eagle Butte. The prices are about double what you could get at Lowes or Home Depot. The closest Lowes and Home Depot is in Rapid City, 2 ½ hrs away. With barely enough money to survive on, much of the damage to homes goes unrepaired. I was shown several homes and conditions, but one that stood out was about 40 miles from Eagle Butte, in the community of Thunder Butte. There had been a fire in the center of the front wall. It left an 8’ x 10’ hole in the side. The man living there has put a tarp over the opening and has lived that way for some time. He is unable to afford to pay for electric and water, so he gets water from a nearby creek and burns wood in an old rusted wood stove. The only door just stands in place over the opening because it was a donated door, too big for the size of the original jamb.

During the colder months (Oct – Mar) there are also power outages. With most homes not using wood for heat, the people just turn on gas stoves for heat, a dangerous condition. Each community has a type of community center they would like to be able to equip with backup generators so the people in the community have a safe place and a warm place during the outages and storms. They would also like to start a wood stove conversion program to provide a more affordable and safe heat option. Wood would be more available and also generate income to those who could cut wood to sell. Remember that the people can’t afford to keep propane tanks filled consistently nor pay their water and electric consistently.

Most families survive on $200-$500 per month. Many people in the outlying communities don’t have vehicles, so they have to get rides to the grocery store in Eagle Butte. Only the community of Dupree has a small convenience store. The other 17 communities have no food stores or any other stores. In order to get a ride to town, they may have to pay a fee to someone with a car to drive them in. The fee cuts into their available money for food. They are in the process of starting a community shuttle which will help people get to Eagle Butte for food and medical appointments.

Most of the people try to do arts or crafts to sell as a means of income. Since they really have no way to market anything beyond the local area, they sell their items for much less than they could get in the more touristy areas. They are also trying to sell to each other.

Throughout the afternoon and evening I had some lengthy conversation with the tribal council member showing me around. He said he has been walking with God for some time since overcoming his own addictions. He gladly took some Amazing Grace books to pass out to members in his district. I also left him with the truckload of clothes and toys I brought to Eagle Butte.

It is not surprising that God would lead me 900 miles from home to the exact people He wanted me to connect with in the community.

Needless to say, the needs are enormous and overwhelming. Top that with the distances between communities, the lack of affordable building materials, and only two small hotels in Eagle Butte, logistics to help will be challenging. When you add in a local event, the hotels are full. One of the council members said he would work to find a tribal building with electric and showers for a group to be able to use when coming to help.

1 Sep 2009: This was another interesting day. After meeting again with a council member and the chairman’s secretary, I found out the community center in Bear Creek needed some repairs on the roof section surrounding the wood stove chimney. After going to look at it, you could see the wind had blown the metal roofing off and water seeped into the ceiling below to the point the drywall was covered in mold. This is the gathering place for this community as well as the emergency shelter in storms and power outages.

Since I had some time, I went to pick up some metal and tar to repair the roof. I had two sheets of OSB to repair the ceiling inside. I spent the rest of the day repairing the roof and getting it weatherproofed. Then I removed the molded drywall to get it ready for the ceiling repair the next day.

The scenery is pretty amazing. For rolling grass plains, you wouldn’t think there is much to notice. Maybe its uncluttered simplicity seems to just slow the pace. In the evening you can see the sun setting on one side of the sky and the moon on the other. It is so clear it was like looking at HD TV. Last night when I was looking at the house that had burned, we were up on a hill that allowed you to see for miles. There was a field of prairie dogs nearby and in the distance you could see a small herd of Antelope, all with the sun setting in the background. Tonight when I returned to the motel, I could hear the sound of the drums from the tribal members practicing for the Pow Wow this weekend.

2 Sep 2009: Today I went back to Bear Creek and finished the ceiling at the Community Center.

This evening, I visited Victory Church for their Wednesday fellowship meal and bible study. I met with the Pastor and left him some Amazing Grace books. He said they started the church in Jan 09 and have attendance range from 20-60 members on a weekend with about 20 children. They are still getting established, and plan to do a healing ministry outreach in the communities in the future. They meet in a rented building in Eagle Butte and on this night had four homeless men join the meal and bible study. They are in an excellent location for walk-ins and have the ability to reach those homeless who want to join them. We look forward to partnering with them to serve the community.

3 Sep 2009: Before getting ready to leave, I visited with the tribal administration again. They are working hard to do what they can in the community. When you consider the poverty, the housing, the inability to pay water and electric along with the cold weather conditions in Winter, I would say you have a situation as desperate as many other areas of the world.

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We want to try and make a trip back in October to work on the house with hole in the side from the fire damage, and do whatever other winterization we can before the cold sets in.

On the drive home, I caught a piece of a billboard that seemed to fit well. It said "Poverty doesn’t have an off-season". Just like there are many attempts to help others around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, these needs exist year-round. People are struggling everyday. We can’t change the world by ourselves, but we can do something where we are, and in areas where we know about. Together we can make a difference to chip away at this mountain of hurt and need. Little by little, we can bring the hope, help, and love of Jesus Christ through us into their lives.

- Jim Moehsmer

CONCLUSION

At the end of the meeting with the Tribal Chairman and several council members of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, we all agreed to work together to help meet the needs of the community.

What This Means To Living His Word Ministries

In Matthew 25:40, Jesus said "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus said "go and make disciples of all nations, ... , and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Jesus is with us as we serve others. This service proceeds along two parallel paths at the same time. If those we are serving need food, shelter, and clothing, we need to provide that. At the same time, through our serving, they can see there is a God who loves them and will become interested in knowing more about Him. They will want to know the God who shows His love in practical ways.

We are all God's children. Working together, to serve those in need, breaks down barriers between people and religion. When the barriers are gone, we can show others that God wants a relationship with us all, not a religious barrier that keeps us separated from Him and each other.

We hope and pray that our work with the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation will help strengthen those bridges between people that are already in place and build new ones where there are none.. We pray for there to be a unity of the people within the tribe, the council, and all the church denominations to work together across traditional boundaries to simply share the love of Christ and meet the needs of the community.