The Midway Point

Well on Wednesday we reached the midway point of our journey. Our ailing boys are getting back to normal and we had a pretty normal day at DLSBS. The CBC boys worked in the classrooms like normal and 4 of them along with Mr. Gerdes took some time out to visit "Medicine Bear" the local soup kitchen. Our contingent head up the road a bit to do some light labor and to serve food for the "homeless" in Browning.

Why did I put quotes around homeless. Well they are not really homeless since they have housing provided on the reservation. In many cases these are individuals who have been temporarily kicked out of their homes by their own families so that they can get their act together. Medicine Bear offers them food, a chance to get a shower and some clean clothes. It is an eye opening experience that unfortunately only half our group gets since they are closed the remainder of the week for the upcoming Holiday.

After a solid days work in the school we headed back to the Mission. We took some time to get some water and relax for a bit before we climbed the Buffalo Jumps. About a half a mile up from the Mission there is a series of bluffs and hills that served as the primary hunting method for the Blackfeet. They would hide members of the tribe among the Buffalo disguised. They would scare the Buffalo into a stampede and guide the stampede toward the cliff. At the bottom there would be Blackfeet women who would clean up the Buffalo where they would use nearly every part of the Buffalo. The climb up the Buffalo Jumps is usually something we do on day 1 after we get in. With the change in plans we did this later on.

What is remarkable is the way the CBC students get along and work in community. There has been no bickering or complaining and they seem to get along very well. They have helped clean up after meals and are great about saying Thank You.

We ended our evening watching the movie "Smoke Signals", which is about life on the reservation and the challenges of dealing with prejudice and stereotypes.