Getting acquainted with Heart Butte and Browning, Dinner out with Departing team

Having settled in to the sounds and rhythms of the Heart Butte facility, I slept well until after 8am.  I headed up the steep gravel road for an early morning walk.  Already hot under the cloudless sky, with the peaks of Glacier in the distance.  Noone around except for the neighbors dog.

Norman arrived to show me the sights and sounds of Browning.  All the high spots:  the gas station, not one, but two grocery stores, the nursing home, the hospital, the assisted living and meal center, and Pastor Hill's ranch.  Having moved to Browning about two years ago, the Pastor and his wife have become formidable influences here.  He is a Navajo Indian, ordained as a Methodist minister.  He circuit rides to 3 churches every Sunday.  During the week, he is using his knowledge and his energy to work on community issues.  He has been a major supporter of Global Volunteers of late, and assured me that he had two great projects for my teens to work on since the day camp is closed. I am anxious to have a chance to hear more of his complicated story.

While the current team was having their final meeting, I headed off for my first shopping expedition, with many more to come.  Several hundred dollars later, the van was full of the non perishable items we will need for the first few days.  I rejoined the current team, and we headed to East Glacier for their final celebratory dinner.  They expressed satisfaction with their week, and the projects they worked on, but as with my Crow teams, dissatisfaction with the lack of coherent community support, and the disorganization with which projects the community is really invested in.  Sound familiar?

With the sky deepening, I headed back to Heart Butte, through amazing scenery.  Arriving here, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the trash had been removed, the laundry done, and a second, deeper cleaner.  A great and unexpected surprise.  That just left me to organize the beds and linen, and think about plans for the week.  It is very quiet here, and I am taking advantage of that, as by tomorrow evening at this time, it will be filled with 24 more people!

I was relieved to hear that  the brief fire in Golden is fully contained.  No damages.

Stay safe and cool,
Love from Heart Butte,
Barbara

Saturday am:  test to see if this is publishing

Blackfeet Reservation: its not the Hilton and the last day of camp was today

Several months ago I was surprised to get a call from Andrew at Global Volunteers, asking if I would consider an additional team leader week to the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana.  When I hesitated(having already committed to a 2 week Cuba trip this fall), he told me they needed me for a very special team:  a group of teens who are survivors and witnesses of the Sandy Hook shooting , who through an organization called Ben's Lighthouse, have been doing community service projects as part of their recovery.  Then he said:  the accommodations are like the Hilton compared to Crow, and the teens will be working at the day camp every day, it will be like a vacation for you.......

Norman, the current team leader, picked me up in Great Falls, a stunning 2 hour drive from Browning and the Blackfeet reservation.  The light was fading over the rolling hills as we approached the mountains, and Heart Butte(a 600 person "suburb" of Browning), which will be our home for the week.  With the team not arriving till late Saturday evening, I have time to get acquainted and figure out the "lay of the land".  And.....surprise....Norman informed me that the last day of camp was today:  what will I do with 20 teens and their 4 adult chaperones???????  Flexibility is key.........

The church building has remarkable similarities to Beards Fork, West Virginia.  It's spacious, has plenty of bunk beds(yes beds, no air mattresses this year), a  huge , well stocked kitchen.....and well, you can imagine the rest:  bedding strewn everywhere, mattresses here and there, old furniture waiting to be picked up... you get the picture.  On the other hand, normal sized toilets(no tiny Head start toilets like in Crow), showers and working wifi.  No cell service.  Good news:  no mopping for me tonight as the place had recently been cleaned.

I am looking forward to the morning, when I hope to take an early morning walk up the hill and see the mountains, then will spend the day with Norman's team(they are housed in Browning tonight), and help them celebrate their last night with a dinner out in East Glacier, right near the park.  I will spend tomorrow and Saturday getting organized for my teams arrival late Saturday.

Despite the initial (and not unexpected) surprises, I am content to be here, and looking forward to getting to know our hosts on the reservation as well as this team of young adults.  In light of all the horror of the last few months, I will be interested to learn how they are handling that kind of trauma.  we are hoping to have our native hosts share some healing rituals with them.

Stay safe. Hug those you love.

With love from Heart Butte,
Barbara

another test Sat am