Wednesday

Whew! Today was a hot one! Right around 90 degrees and boy did we sweat! Kids Club was awesome and the new crews that were out on the worksites had fun painting, more scraping and a bit of yardwork.

The youth have been involved in making every aspect of "Youth Works" happen. We do all the meal prep and clean-up (yes, washing dishes by hand) for breakfast and supper. Lunches are made ahead at breakfast time and then packed to be eaten at the worksites. There is also a clean-up crew in the morning that cleans all of the bathrooms - yuck! With 60 youth using tiny bathrooms and a gym shower system, cleaning those is no laughing matter! Everybody gets their turn at each job as they rotate the groups each day for their responsibilities.

Tonight's activity was going to Wales Bulltail's house (see photo of him) for storytime. Wales is an elder of the tribe and tonight he talked to us about the method the Crow used to hunt Buffalo on horseback with bow & arrow, although he hadn't experienced that himself. He does hunt buffalo a couple times/year on the reservation using a gun.

He also showed us his Sweat Lodge he has in his back yard (see pic). The lodge functions like a sauna although much hotter, he said. The purpose of the lodge is to cleanse both the body and the soul/mind. They do 4 rounds (5-7 min. ea.) of prayer while in the lodge with 4-10 people total. They give thanks for their blessings and they pray for upcoming events as well. Seeing the Lodge (8-10ft diameter) and hearing the incredible meaning and importance it has in their tribe and their personal lives was awesome!