UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 9
October 31, 1996
UD students volunteer at South Dakota reservation

     Students interested in a productive and unusual summer might
consider the experiences of 12 UD students who spent their
vacations on an American Indian reservation.
     The program began in 1994, when a small group of high school
and college students volunteered their services in support of a
Habitat For Humanity Jimmy Carter Work Project to build 30 houses
on the Cheyenne River Lakota Reservation at Eagle Butte, S.D.
     The success of the original project-and the relationships
formed between the volunteers from St. Thomas's Episcopal Church
in Newark and the members of the Lakota Tribe-has evolved into an
annual 4,000-mile trek each summer to what has been described as
the poorest county in America.
     Last summer, nearly 40 individuals, including several UD
students, took part in Faith Journey '96, a project that combined
a week of living and working with members of the Lakota Nation.
Also included was the establishment of a vacation Bible school at
St. John's Mission in Eagle Butte and a five-day journey through
the Black Hills of South Dakota.
     "This was a breakthrough year," the Rev. Kempton D.
Baldridge, St. Thomas' associate and vicar of Episcopal Ministry
at UD, said.
     During the 1995 mission, the group experienced a break-in,
with the personal belongings of the volunteers rifled and some
taken.
     "The things that were taken were not the cell phones and
calculators," Baldridge said, "but everyday things that people
use, like toothpaste and toothbrushes, plus some candy."
     Although the culprits, ages 10 and 11, were eventually
caught, the experience of the break-in and the nature of the
items taken caused some soul-searching among the volunteers.
     "We knew as a result of this that we needed to do something
different for the community," Baldridge said. "We made it a goal
that when we came back in 1996 we would reach out to the youth
and start a vacation Bible school for the children."
     Having been advised that the people on the Lakota
Reservation might be a bit reticent about having their children
attend a Bible school, Baldridge said he thought that he and his
fellow missionaries would consider themselves fortunate if five
or six kids showed up for the first day's activities.
     They were pleasantly surprised when 37 children arrived. The
number of children attending reached more than 100 by the close
of the five-day school. In addition to teaching the Bible,
Baldridge said, the Delaware group also fed lunch to the
children.
     "For many, it was their only meal of the day. Unemployment
on the reservation is currently 80 percent," he added.
     The volunteer students' habitat work included roofing three
houses and doing interior work on two more.
     While the trip provided an opportunity for the group from
St. Thomas' to share their talents and energy with the members of
the Lakota Nation, the tribe featured in the movie Dances With
Wolves, it also helped the volunteers to develop closer
relationships with each other.
     At the start of the long journey westward, Jen Peters, a
University freshman from Newark, said she wondered just what she
had gotten herself into.
     "There were perfect strangers in our group when we set out
in those vans for South Dakota," Peters said, "but by the time we
reached Eagle Butte, we had all gotten to be friends."
     An interest in meeting other teens and learning the Native
American dances led to the beginning of a friendship between
Peters and Lakota Nation member Charlene Charger, known to her
Lakota tribe as Little Eagle Woman.
     During a celebration by the Lakotas to honor their visitors
from Delaware, Peters joined the tribal members, taking part in
their shawl and grass dances.
     "It took great courage on Jen's part to honor our hosts as
she did," Baldridge said. "She honored all of us."
     During this year's powwow, the members of Faith Journey `96
were introduced by the Lakotas as "special friends who have come
all the way from the University of Delaware and St. Thomas' to
bless us and our children."
     After sharing an emotional week with the Lakotas at Eagle
Butte, the group embarked on a five-day journey through the Black
Hills of South Dakota, traveling on foot, horseback and wagon
train.
     Although the members of the Lakota Nation face many
problems, including poverty, a high rate of alcoholism and the
rise of gangs among the young, Baldridge said he feels that the
reservation is not a place without hope.
     "People still cling to their families and values despite the
influence from the popular culture," he said. "It is a place
where children are loved and respected. We have learned much from
them as well."
                                                    -Jerry Rhodes
     A return trip to the Lakota Reservation is being planned for
next year. For information, call Baldridge at 368-4644.