Septic Tanks and a Play About a Prostitute

June 30

I had to be up a little earlier to get my breakfast ready.  My oatmeal was ready, but I needed to cook sausage, some regular hot oatmeal, and get the rest of the stuff out.  Although, some of our other team members helped me get out the food.  The guys were getting a little anxious, but we were able to finish by eight for devotions.  Our devotional has been on The Great Commission.

One of our biggest issues we faced on the trip was the septic tank.  Much of the day was spend by a few of the men trying to fix what was wrong with the tank.  At one point, when I was in the kitchen, some water bubbled up through a drain...from the septic tank.  They had dug it, cleaned out solid items that should not have been put down a toilet, thought it was fixed, but it continued to give problems.  Showers and doing laundry was banned for the afternoon.  They began to wonder if part of the problem was that the land was so rain soaked, that it would not accept more liquid, hence causing the tank to not drain appropriately.  I don't really understand how it works, but I can tell you that I admire the men working on that for having enough humility and for having such a great attitude about it.

The women spent the morning cleaning and again preparing for dinner.  I worked on scrubbing the upstairs shower and doors in the bathroom we used (throughout the year, this is the restroom for the students of the school as well).  Chris was working hard to finish up the flooring in the new school room.

I had also volunteered to help teach the children's part of church, which would also be the same for Blow Out (children's night Wednesday).  I had started to rewrite the stories in the book of Joshua about Rahab and how she was saved in Jericho (Rahab was a prostitute, but we left that out of the story for now...I can just imagine some young kid asking what a prostitute was).  I was putting it into a play format because I thought the kids would be more interested in that.  I had plenty of our team offer to be in it (or volunteer others to be in it).

During lunch a lady had come over with some earrings made from antlers.  I liked them, but she had said she had bracelets and some necklaces that were at home drying.  I had heard her say she would come back with the rest later.  I confirmed this and told her I’d like to see what else she had to go with it so if I bought anything I could make a better color choice.  I had already purchased earrings made out of shell, a red beaded necklace, and a little beaded bracelet from a lady the day before.  I really like to purchase locally on these types of trips.  I know for many of these people this money is what helps them survive, and I also love local traditional crafts.  It brings a sense of pride to the people, as it should.  I find there is so much beauty in the diversity of different cultures.  Unfortunately though, she never returned.

Shortly after lunch I grabbed my actors for the evening skit on Rahab and the spies who came to Jericho.  Rahab was actually a prostitute, but we didn’t share that part of the story.   We went over our skit, costumes and all.  Ayren and I had picked out some costumes earlier that morning.  I loved how much our “actors” got into their parts.  It was really just a story read by the narrator (me) but when it came to their parts they were supposed to repeat their lines I had read, and act it out.  Jackie got really into the costumes and dug through the bins a bit more to improve on them.  I was knew the more we could get into this the more the kids would enjoy it. 

Chris and I decided to go on the bus to help pick up the kids for basketball camp.  We hopped on, helped to put each window down to about 2/3 of the way so that there would be plenty of airflow, but not enough space for a small child to fall out the window.  We put our faces right up into the open window to see that green green land speeding buy in almost a blur as we hustled down the BIA roads.  I saw clumps of purple flowers, swaths of yellow flowering grasses and sometime white flowers.  It was exhilarating and felt so free and open with the wind in our faces.  I imagined I looked a lot like Hannah at the car window!

The first area we drove into were on only a few short streets of clusters of homes.  The homes don't look at that run down at first, but then you can see that most of them have some work to be done once you are closer.  Several had multiple cars on their plot, and I remember reading this is so if their car breaks down that they are currently using, they can pull parts off the others to make it work.  Often the homes have several different family member there - grandparents may be taking care of the grandchildren, or there could be three generations living there.

We only picked up one girl in that area and then we moved on.  The next stop I remember was in the trailer area.  This had rows of trailers, varying in condition and upkeep.  Apparently a tornado had wiped out much of Oglala in the late 90's I believe and FEMA had brought in these trailers.  The trailers weren't meant to be permanent homes, so you can imagine more than 15 years later how these look.  Many more kids started to join us on the bus.  We had several little boys, very squirrely climbing over the seats, doing somersaults in the rows holding on to either side of the aisle, hanging out the windows, tossing trash out of the windows.  Then a few girls boarded the bus and immediately we started to bond, and the darling little girl with glasses wanted to sit on my knee for the bus ride, and her sister was right next to my side, with a third little girl next to her.  The little girl sitting on my knee had scars all over her arms that looked a lot like the scabs she had on her arms as well.

I was wondering if the scabs and scars were from mosquito bites (the mosquitos weren’t bothering me, but I’m an exception, Chris was using his bug spray daily), bed bugs or some other type of bug.   It could even be a skin condition.  I clearly wasn’t going to ask her, but I admit with her sitting on my knee, leaning on me and the other two so close I did look for evidence of lice.  It is a pretty common thing here on the reservation.  These girls were young, probably between 5-8 but overall they were pretty well behaved, polite, and bright.  

I pulled out my cell phone at one point and pulled up the Endless Alphabet app.  I don’t really have much in the way of kids games on my phone, but I do keep a few educational ones on there (that is in part for my nieces and nephews or friends’ youngsters who may need some type  of distraction or entertainment).  The little girl with the glasses was clearly the most outgoing of the three and maybe even a bit bossy.  She played the game (and knew her alphabet well and had pretty good fine motor skills and was certainly familiar with how to work touch screens – you don’t always know about their level of education here). She had a hard time sharing with the other two girls.  The one to my left was very polite about asking if she could have a turn.  Some of the children are so polite and some are just so demanding.  Of course, you find that everywhere depending on how parents raise their children. 

Education is a whole other topic…one I am all too familiar with in regards to the struggles of trying to educate in an area where poverty is prevalent.  I don’t want to make a judgment on the schools because I know from working at one of the lowest performing schools in Orange County that the obstacles facing the teachers and system are overwhelming.  I knew some of the most talented teachers working at that failing school, and I knew some dysfunctional.  It takes an extremely talented teacher with a very specific skill set and heart to succeed with students who come into a classroom with often very little background knowledge, malnutrition, daily stress due to instability, and possible trauma and grief stuffed inside.  It wears down on the teachers, and burn out comes quickly.  Dysfunction tends to breed dysfuction, from I saw in Santa Ana schools, so I can imagine it’s not too different out here on the reservation where there are many of the same struggles.  Fetal alcohol syndrome is also a common issue here, since the amount of alcohol abuse is so high (oddly enough since the reservation has been dry for over one hundred years).  

The bus ride took almost an hour and much of the time was reminding the boys and some girls to stay in their seats, not put their arms or heads out the windows, etc.  It wasn’t too bad though and the three girls around me with the flowering prairie made the trip quite enjoyable although that many little bodies on the bus meant it was pretty warm.  The air wasn’t too hot and the breezes that sweep across the hills made 90 degrees pretty tolerable, but the air had a bit of humidity to it since the grounds were so moist and there were still so many little swampy ponds around.  The perfume of the grasses I also enjoyed - it reminds me of being on my grandparents farm right after a rain.

As we pulled in to Oyate Concern grounds, Chris had the kids started to chant “Basketball Camp!” The kids joyfully followed each time he counted for them.  It felt like it helped to set a fun, excited attitude to the afternoon.  Chris is really a natural with young kids.  I’ve seen this time and time again with my nieces when they’ve stayed at our house, and it was just reaffirmed on our trip. 

Basketball camp seemed, to me, to go better this time around.  Since there were more kids I think the teen leaders stepped up a bit more than they had the day before.  We kept busy with refilling cups and giving the kids snacks.  I did notice that two of the three girls who sat with me on the trip coming in had been taken home by their parents shortly after the camp had started.  I don’t know if they hadn’t been given permission to come in the first place or if the parents just hadn’t realized the time, or if something had come up, but I was sad to see them go. 

 One little girl I had met the day before was back.  She really couldn’t seem to talk clearly most of the time.  It was very hard to understand her, but every now and then I could catch a few words.  Her cousin stayed very close to her every time I saw them.  She was only a year older, I would find out later, but she was quite a bit bigger so she looked a closer to probably ten than her actual age of 8.  She seemed to be able to understand her cousin and what she needed, so the little cousin didn’t have to talk much.  It was great seeing how often families stuck together. 

One thing we learned is that often they may call someone their sister who is really their cousin, or a cousin might not really be a cousin at all.  Family seemed somewhat fluid and flexible depending on the relationship.  There are definitely some strong family feuds in the area.  One of the bigger feuds is actually between the descendants of Red Cloud and Crazy Horse from what I was told.  Oglala is a Crazy Horse area.  

During basketball camp there was a phone call that the other leader had been hit while driving in Hot Springs.  Luckily there was no real injuries, but the van had been damaged.  So, one of our team members went to pick her up.  I think also the phones weren’t working quite right.  It was definitely turning into a chaotic week for the missionaries.  It was like Satan was working overtime to create difficulty and distraction.

At the end of the basketball camp, the participants ran around the court with their hands up in a “V” – like a victor’s run, then all received a t-shirt and a medal.  The theme of the camp was “treat others how you want to be treated”.  We had them repeat that several times.   Pretty quickly after the kids boarded the bus to return home. 

Dinner that night was going to be pulled pork, but when I came into the kitchen I found out that it was too spicy.  We aren’t sure what happened, but it was so spicy that the teen leaders still there didn’t like it when they had them try it.  A few of the women started working on trying to tone down by rinsing off the pork and adding some more vinegar and sugar (I think).  It was still pretty spicy, but much more tolerable.  I didn’t taste the original batch, but the toned down batch was about as spicy as I wanted to go.  We didn’t end up eating dinner before evening church since the food wasn’t ready, so we decided we would just eat quickly with the congregation afterward. 

The adults showed up mostly on their own.  We were outside when the kids started coming in from the bus trip.  We had about 60 kids arrive.  Chris and I helped again with cups because they were thirsty and kept going into the kitchen for it.  We moved it out to the teen room.  One little boy in a green plaid shirt climbed up on top of the serving bar and had a Bible on his lap.  He told me he wanted to read it to me, and so he opened up to a random part and began to read about Moses.  I was pretty impressed.  I’m not sure his age, but I’d guess around seven and I only had to help him a few times.  It didn’t last long because we were called together and they had the younger kids eleven and under stay in the teen room and the kids over that joined the adults for church. 

I was a bit nervous for this part because I was speaking to the kids.  I didn’t feel too prepared and without a power point to help me talk, I felt like I might be reading off my notes a little too much.  I may be a teacher but I don’t particularly like talking to large crowds and I knew some of our adults would be in there listening.  Ayren first stood up and made announcements.  There was a stool with white and blue balloons taped to it.  She explained that every time some one was being disruptive, they would pop a balloon depending on the gender.  If there were any blue balloons left at the end, the boys would get candy, any white balloons would mean the girls would get candy.  I thought this was pretty creative. Then I was on, so I had to go.  I got up and introduced our topic and asked some questions about the previous week.  It was so cute to see the little kids eagerly raise their hands to answer questions. 

They were quite interested in the dressed up actors standing on the side.  I introduced each character to come up to the stage.  The play went off well and the kids did a great job paying attention.  I asked review questions at the end and the kids again eagerly raised their hands to answer.  We then went through three points.  Rahab first believed in God even though she wasn’t an Israelite, she had a willing and courageous heart to serve God even though if she had been caught it could have meant death, and third she acted on it by saving the soldiers.  In return, she gained life – she and her family was saved when the Israelites came to destroy Jericho and she gained eternal life.  I interspersed some questions in there, and the kids answers were so cute and so pure.  I prayed a salvation message with the kids and that was it.  I went off the little stage and then around to the back to sit with the audience as Ayren spoke just a little.  I sat down next to these adorable little girls.  One looked to be maybe 4 or 5, also with glasses, and her sister along with another girl.  Immediately I was taken with them.  The little one eventually wanted to sit on my knee.  The older sister told me that her sister was potty trained when she was two and she wears panties now, but she was potty trained at one.  I asked her how she knew that and she told me it was because she is very smart and has a good memory.  Kids are so funny with what they say.  I found out later that the girl had told another one of our team members the same thing out on the swings when they were being pushed.

It was time to eat, and we went in to plates already dished up with the spicy pulled pork sandwiches, an Italian pasta salad and something else.  I grabbed a plate eventually and ate my own spicy pork, which I thought was good.  Some of the kids couldn’t eat it because it was too spicy.  I had put some sour cream on it to tone it down a little and we were encouraging others to do that as well.  It really tasted quite good,  and some people really enjoyed it.

 We went outside and played just a little while the adults chatted and then it was time to go home on the bus.  I walked over to say goodbye to the kids as they got on the bus.  The little boy in the plaid shirt hugged me and wanted me to go.  I said I wasn’t, but told the kids to come back tomorrow night for blowout.  The little girl with glasses had gotten out of line because she couldn’t find her sister.  I went back in with her looking for her sister, who we found with her cousin.  I walked them out, holding the little girls hands.  They just melted my heart.

They had all loaded and Tyler was getting ready to shut the door when he asked if we wanted to go because he could use the help, so Chris and I jumped on last minute, one standing in the middle and one standing in the back.  The bus was so full – many of the seats had 3-4 little kids on them, one or two older kids were standing in the very back.  We had quite a job keeping the super energetic kids from standing up.  In fact Tyler had to pull over pretty quickly to remind the kids they had to sit or the bus wouldn’t go.  He even turned music on and off if he saw a kid stand up.  Most kids really were pretty good, but there were a few of the boys particularly pushing the limits.

After a few stops, the bus began to get a little less crowded so I sat in the seat with my three favorite little girls, one on one knee, the other on the other knee.  They were some dropped off somewhere in the middle of the ride, but by then the bus was fairly empty.  The older sister had moved up closer to where her girl cousin was sitting and started talking more with Chris.  It was funny the kids reactions when they found out that we were married.  The boys made kind of a grossed out sound.  The older cousin wouldn’t believe it.  I started to pull up pictures on my phone to prove it and then began to show pictures of my dogs. 

After those little girls got off the bus, I began to talk more with the last few girls left on the bus as well– the little girl from basketball camp who was very hard to understand and her cousin. We all kind of had our faces right at the opening of the windows to see out over the moon soaked prairie. The cousin talked a lot, and was showing me where they had gone to school at Loneman.  It looked like a nice facility well lit.  The older cousin asked if I wanted to hear a story that would make me think she shouldn’t go back and that concerned me a bit.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to hear…but then she told me that the school was haunted and that she was walking down the hall one day after going to the bathroom and saw a little girl.  She talked to the girl briefly and asked here where she was going and then the girl disappeared.  A little farther down the road she pointed out some homes and said they were haunted and something about a man and little girl, but I didn’t catch all of it.  She pointed out at a car that had gone off the road, but I missed it.  We dropped off another student and then turned around to head back to this mission.  I guess the girls weren’t getting dropped off, their aunt was still back at the place.  She pointed out the car and it was so strange, it had clearly ran off the road into a little gully that must have been really soft mud because the tires and very bottom part of the body were submerged in the soft grass. 

The older cousin moved up closer to Chris and started talking with him, and that left me with the girl I could barely understand.  At one point the night before she had asked me something a few times that I couldn’t understand and when I finally bent down and put my ear to her mouth, she cupped it and spoke clearly that she was thirsty.  I thought maybe the problem was that she was really shy and she would be easier to understand tonight.  That was not the case.  Most of the words seemed garbled, and I did my best to understand.  She had her hands out the window, moving them around, and I finally understand she was saying “gold” because the light was turning her skin a golden color.  Then she was pointing at the moon, which took me a while to figure out too.  I felt so bad, but she just kept talking and pointing at things.  She really was so cute too, and it made me sad whatever was going on with her. 

We returned and found we could take showers again at night– originally we thought we’d have to go over to Aryen and Tyler’s to take showers..and with sixteen of us, that’s a lot of people for so few showers.  But, they figured the tank could just fill up and then they could pump it out tomorrow.  There were some more people coming to look at it.  One of our team members, who had been working so hard the last two days on the septic tank came in and said he had a new name – the “Pastor of Poop”.  We all had a good laugh.  If you are familiar with the Bible you know the metaphor of the church as the body, some are hands, feet, eyes, etc.  He then said “Someone has to be the anus”.  We were laughing so hard over this.  That is one thing though about this team – both times I’ve traveled here – they really have good attitudes.  It has been so easy to work with the people and I believe it’s because their hearts are in the right place and they come with the attitude to just serve. 

I learned a little too late that it was better to let my little sleeping pad deflate just slightly.  The night before I had made sure I blew it full, but that actually made it too hard.  I really wasn’t sleeping too well, and felt like I woke up frequently to turn and was a little cold.  We had an air conditioner blowing constantly in our little school room.  So I hoped that sleep would be kinder to me that night.