Rosebud in Review, Part 3

June 27th, 2005 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0) |

Rosebud 2005
Rosebud in Review, Part 1
Rosebud in Review, Part 2
Rosebud in Review, Part 3
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“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.”
- Mother Teresa

“Real poverty is less a state of income than a state of mind.”
- George F. Gilder

Rosebud Indian Reservation did not feel like the United States of America. It was a foreign country. Neglected, Rosebud is the black sheep in the family of America. It is true that they are supported financially by the government, but - this just in - money does not equal care.

There is a popular theme in movies in which there is a child of wealthy and/or time consumed parents who is kept “happily” occupied by expensive toys and such (read: Richie Rich, First Kid). Throughout the course of these movies, there is a realization in the character and the viewer that it is not money and material things that foster happiness, but relationships. Love. They want their parents to spend time with them, they want to have a best friend. And so it is with Rosebud. Sure, Uncle Sam sends them a hefty check every month, but the check is just a way for Uncle Sam to say, “Of course I care! I support them financially, don’t I?” We are the distant, uninvolved parent making mandated child support payments to a people desperately in need of a real relationship.

The American Indian Releif Council (AIRC) website says this about life on the Rosebud reservation:

The Rosebud Reservation is economically depressed and ranks second (after the Pine Ridge Reservation) in per capita income on Plains Reservations. Unemployment sometimes reaches over 80%, and the lack of job opportunities leaves a devastating mark on Rosebud families. Many heads of the family are forced to leave the reservation to seek work. Extended families pool their meager resources together in order to try and provide their basic needs.

Indian Country Today has reported that one out of three residents of the Rosebud Reservation was homeless and that six out of ten live in substandard housing. Overcrowding is common as most families will not turn away even extended family members in need of a place to stay. Sadly, gangs and other social ills impact some of the youth struggling to come to terms living in an environment with an uncertain future.

For many Rosebud Sicangu, it is a day to day challenge to get access to even the most basic food and medical care. Families often live far from community centers in remote areas with little access to transportation. Many roads are often in poor repair and can only be navigated by four-wheel drive vehicles.

That is all very sad and interesting, but why are things that way and why do they not change? Myself and many students in the youth group struggled with this question as we encountered the reservation environment. We were able to address these questions late in the week, when we were blessed with the opportunity to have a Q&A session with a native of the reservation, Gabe.

I believe Gabe would disagree with the AIRC’s statement that it is “a day to day challenge to get access to even the most basic food.” The government, he said, helps families quite well in the area of food. I don’t want to misquote him, but I think he said that a family of four with both parents unemployed receieves $300 in food money per week. He also used the example of his massive belly to refute the statement.

Receiving money for food, however helpful and pleasant it may seem, actually only perpetuates the problem. Along with food, an unemployed person(s) may receive money for rent, utilities, and other expenses. This, Gabe said, creates a terrible cycle. Unlike urban poverty, where it is nearly impossible for the impoverished to escape from the lowest rung on the socioeconomic ladder, these people are being “paid to live the way they do,” as Gabe said. I will not forget when he said that phrase, because it made so much sense to me. Why would an Indian on the reservation attempt to get a job to claw his or her way out of the lifestyle to which they’ve become so accustomed when the government rewards them for not doing so?

Gabe told us that when he and his wife got jobs, the rent on his government-provided house skyrocketed so much that they were forced to move out and buy a mobile home. In my limited experience of seeing the inside of homes in Parmelee, I noticed that there was seldom no less than five people - sometimes up to ten - gathered in one room, sitting around a table or watching television. If it seemed like nobody was at work, it is because nobody was. There is no need. There is very much a sense of family, with very large extended families living within a 2 minute walk of one another and spending so much time together because they don’t have to work.

One of the students asked me this week (as if I would know the answer) why the Indians don’t move out of the reservation to live the “American Dream.” Besides being paid to live in poverty and the stereotypical attachment to the land, there is a lot at stake in family. Although it seems well-intentioned, a move away from one’s home town - let alone the reservation - is seen as an abandoning of the family.

So what does all this mean? The Rosebud Sioux are desperately in need of help. Our money is not helping them, in fact, it actually binds them. They need the news of the Gospel. Amos 8:11 says,

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD,
when I will send a famine on the land–
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the LORD.”

The land of southern South Dakota is dry - physically, emotionally, and spiritually. They need to know the love of Christ. And they need real relationships that go beyond habitually mailing a check.

I believe God and the students of Valley Church Student Ministries made a dent in this problem last week, and began heal the famine that has these people in a stranglehold. I hope to return soon to the reservation to further the relationships that I began while I was there, and I will constantly be searching and praying for opportunities to give myself and my resources to the beautiful people of Rosebud.

And yes, I did use a Richie Rich reference.