First day of work, Native dancers, and Pastor Hill’s story

Monday, July 25, 2016

The day started cool and clear, with a lovely walk up the ridge to see the horses, they posed for photos this am.  Eight hours of sleep did wonders!  With vans loaded up, we headed to Browning with a team ready to get to work.  We were greeted by Pastor Hill, as well as several other community members, all filled with ideas for work that needed to be done.  (Can you hear my sigh of relief)?

Half the team went to work on the Pastor/churches ranch:  building a fence, cleaning up rocks, and moving lumber.  Very tired they were by the end of the day.  The other group went to the volunteer fire department to help with all sorts of maintenance, cleaning equipment, and meeting the locals.  This included a tamale lunch and cinnamon rolls promised for tomorrow morning. Meantime, while the teams were working I was scouting the neighborhood, stopped into the nursing home and the head start and worked on plans for the week.  Many of the locals , noting my Global Volunteers T shirt, greeted  me warmly, having experienced prior teams this summer.

Return to Heart Butte brought a very tired team a respite while we helped the cook with dinner.  Pastor Hill, his wife Sheri, friend Marti and her 4 daughters joined us.  Soon we were hearing their stories:  Marti, a Blackfeet and native to Browning, returning time after time when she has left, mother of 7 children, volunteer firefighter, and aspiring nurse practitioner.  Her main frustration:  all the stereotypes about Indians.  Sheri, wife of Pastor Hill, mother of 7 and strong supporter of the Indian way of caring for community and family.  She grew up in Detroit, of Chippewa descent, and met Pastor Hill at a rodeo.  Lastly , Pastor Hill was kind enough to tell us his story:  of being forcibly removed from his family and the reservation as a child, of being passed ultimately through various missionary families where he suffered repeated emotional, physical and sexual abuse.  He told of how as a teenager, his father finally realized what was happening and was able to bring him back to the reservation.  He spoke of how hard it was for him to forgive “white society” for had been done to him.  Eventually he graduated from Northwestern, and went on to be ordained as a Methodist minister.  He spoke of integrating his native religious heritage with his Methodist teachings, and when he talked about recovery from trauma there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. 

Ending the evening, was drumming and dancing by Pastor Hill and Marti’s beautiful daughters, then a campfire, and smores by the fire with the local gaggle of kids showing up from Heart Butte to join in the fun.  Tomorrow brings more work projects than we can do, and a healing ceremony and feast to follow in the evening. 

Before heading for bed, I overheard one of the kids say:  “I can’t stop writing, so much happened today”

With love and humility from Heart Butte,

Barbara