I had the amazing opportunity to be apart of a service-learning trip to Cheyenne River in the summer of 2019. I learned so much about the Native American culture and so much from the graffiti artist that came to create amazing murals. Here is the paper I wrote to reflect on the experience! Please read and hope you learn a bit more about this beautiful event and culture.
Native American people have gone through so much since the Americas were discovered. The loss of basic human rights and having their culture taken away from them is devastating and yet they are still resilient. Ursuline College has amazingly connected with the Cheyenne River Youth Project and they allowed us to come into their community. We were welcomed into Eagle Butte and were allowed to learn about the Lakota culture and serve the people and children. The service-learning trip to Cheyenne River has been an eye-opening and beautiful experience of helping with the Red Can Graffiti Jam event and being immersed in the culture. In this paper, the author will discuss the observations and experiences in Cheyenne River, the strengths, the struggles, and how the service-learning trip has affected global issues impacted me as a counselor and art therapist.
Observations and Experience
While traveling through South Dakota I was expecting to see dry desolate land going into the small town, but I was surprised to see green rolling hills. This was the start of our journey into Cheyenne River and I believe it put me in a different and positive mindset for this trip. The small town of Eagle Butte was as our teachers described, in the middle of nowhere. They have only the necessities in the stores and it seemed even those were hard to afford. Poverty and addiction are some of the struggles for this community and our professor discussed the issues with self-worth the Lakota struggle with. We as a group, talked a lot about the oppression and abuse our American government and people have done to the Lakota. The reservation is a small area, with very little resources, the Native Americans were forced into. After decades of this abuse and being told they have little worth, it would be hard to think differently of someone’s self-value. The Red Can Graffiti Jam event allowed a revitalization and excitement to flow into the community. I was able to work and serve the graffiti artist in the community by helping and retrieving paints. With this experience, I was able to hear community members' comments as they drove and walked past the building. Many community members commented on the beautiful artwork and mentioned how amazing it is to see the culture celebrated. To be able to see a culture that was taken from them now celebrated had to be a different and powerful experience for the Lakota people and I am happy I got to witness a small part of it.
Strengths and Skills
This trip allowed me to step outside of my comfort zone and I really connected with the community. While working and helping the artist out in the community the first couple of days, I was really able to use my outgoing personality to converse with the people. While being worried at first, if I would be adequate artist assistance or able to get people to talk with me, the worry slipped away as the people were so welcoming and wanted to talk and share. I was able to connect quickly with the artist and community members when they shared experiences and opinions on the artwork. I learned so much about the Lakota people by just chatting with them for a little bit of time. I was able to connect with them in those moments and really absorbed the excitement of having art represent the Lakota culture. It was an amazing experience working out in the community with the artist. The artists were so welcoming and willing to share. I felt by just serving and helping the artist, I played an important part in the Red Can event.
While serving with the Ursuline group, I worked and helped with the children as well. My normal job is working with kids, so I felt at ease when getting to play with spray paints and stamping T-shirts with them. Doing creative activities with them got me inspired and excited. The kids had so much artistic energy which shined through all of the activities we provided. Letting them express in a different way during the Red Can event showed how art can be so important and also connect families and culture.
Struggles and Challenges
While there were many highs and strengths throughout this trip, there were also some lows and struggles. One thing I struggled with the first couple of days when working out in the community, was the difference in the welcoming environment. While out with the artist and community, I felt so welcomed and proud of the part I played in the event. When coming back to the group, I struggled with not feeling apart of the group. I did not feel as welcomed as I did in the community with strangers. The Lakota are a ‘we’ culture while America is an ‘I’ culture and the difference might have been due to this culture change. It also could have been my own insecurity coming through after long days in the sun. Either way, it was something I had to work through, and I believe this challenge was something I needed, to grow more in this experience. The whole trip had me looking further than myself and really trying to understand things outside of my normal. American culture is very individualistic, which can be an isolating experience, and coming into another type of way can be very confusing. The Native American culture is about ‘we’ where the values are more so focused on the community as a whole. I have always understood the difference, but I’ve never truly experienced it. This brought on some adjustment struggles, but also growth and experience that I am grateful for.
Impacted View of Global Issues
This service-learning trip to Cheyenne River has opened my eyes to how America has treated Native Americans. Even if it is not something I directly did, I feel a weight and sadness for what has been done. The cycle of oppression keeps happening over and over and it feels like it won't ever stop. I am not sure of the step of how to change the system we have in place, but I do have a more empathetic heart for the people suffering from it. I feel a personal need to start calling out injustice and being more aware of what is going on in this world. I normally pay little attention to news or media because I find them biased and hard to uncover the truth. I want to start listening and becoming more aware but also do my own research. What has stopped me in the past is a lack of time and motivation, but it is necessary to know for my career and as a human to be informed. Maybe by starting small and becoming educated and then educating others about the injustices happening in the world, I can create a bigger shift toward change with global issues that affect my clients and myself.
Impacted View as a Counselor and Therapist
This trip has impacted how I view global issues, but also impacted me as a counselor and therapist. It has opened my eyes to real abuse and oppression that constantly happens in an endless cycle. In my own world, I was unaware of the global issues taking place because they do not directly affect me. I have learned more about what privilege really is. Privilege is being able to go into another community and serve them, become more educated, and go back home. This trip has created a new passion in me to use this privilege to help my clients and those oppressed. Like I mentioned before this experience has softened my heart and created a more empathetic view of the people under oppression and abuse. I know as a counselor and art therapist; I am to do no harm and struggle ‘through the mud’ with my clients. I believe through this trip I have become more empathetic to client struggle and while I might never know what they have gone through I can empower them through it. I would never want to unintentionally do harm by not being aware of cultural differences. I want to continue my education on different cultures to be competent for my clients and be someone they feel comfortable with no matter the color, religion, or culture.
Conclusion
Through all the up and down, this trip was an amazing experience and really took me outside of my normal perspective. It allowed me an opportunity to serve a community and people that have had awful oppressions done to them. It in no way made up for anything America has done to them, but it was a small gesture saying, we see you and we care. I thank the Cheyenne River Youth Project for allowing us to come and serve. I thank the artist for coming to create art and revitalize a community. I thank the community for welcoming us in and helping us learn about the culture and I thank Ursuline College and our professors for providing this opportunity in the first place and continuing to educate us on things outside of ourselves.
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