Blog #1 from the TWM website

Come Join Us
Posted by winyanmaka07 on July 21, 2010 at 3:13 AM

Greetings. Well, it will be time soon to start the french drain as well as the \"laying of the bags\". We are getting very excited. However, we really would like to have several more volunteers come up to help out with this phase of work. I promise it will be most rewarding in your future, when you think back on the family that you helped by sharing in giving them cost effective, environmentally sustainable housing.

While reflecting on how long neglect and abandonment of the Lakota Nation has been going on by this Federal Government, the State Government, the City and County Governments of this Nation, it re-enforces ones desire to make a difference for the People. It is in a small way, yes, but dreaming far into the future, knowing there are many trying to solve the housing shortage of the Lakota showcases \"HOPE\". I believe that hope starts out in the hearts of individuals, and spreads slowly from one person to the next, and as hope spreads, community's paradigm shifts, burdens shift...so they are shared by all.

Because we are not the only ones doing this work, we have been reaching out to other organizations to try to find the areas where we can work collaboratively. For example, one project had no volunteers to do a perma-culture garden, so we took our group over to their site and helped plant a very nice garden in one day. In the interim, we learned much about composting and the great work that earthworms do with the soil. A few short days later, they loaned us a trailer to haul a cement mixer to our site. It becomes magical when groups work together to bring their visions to life instead of feeling threatened by the work each is doing. There will never be a shortage of the need for safe, healthy, affordable housing on any given Reservation in this, the richest Nation in the world right now. You are most welcome to come join us in being a part of the solution. Be well all, stay strong on your individual journeys, and Wicosani to each of you and your loved ones.