BACKGROUND
The Healing History Project is a grassroots team forming a foundation to provide sustainable support to the Lakota Nation in South Dakota. The Lakota (Dakota/Nakota) community currently has the highest teenage suicide rate in the nation. This is clearly a cry for help from our youth and we are committed to ending this and other issues within the Lakota Nation and all Nations.

CURRENT NEWS
Healing History Project co-founder, Jerilyn Church, is currently working on the Cheyenne River Reservation on an internship from MSU. Jerilyn is researching intervention programs and sustainable structures that can be adapted and put into place so that they are culturally relevant to the community for which they will serve.

She is working with the Tribal Health Center and reviewing proven effective models and programs for teens that can be adapted to create behavioral interventions that incorporate traditional native values. Jerilyn is in the "Meta Analysis" stage of the research. She and Jerry Clown, producer of "Riding with Ghosts" a haunting documentary that addresses real and shocking issues taking place on many Indian Reservations today (see: www.ridingwithghosts.com), are interviewing Tribal Counsel and Health Center officials to better understand where the gaps exist and what the needs on the reservation are.

The reservation Health Center is literally in emergency mode; they do not have the resources or man power to create or implement prevention or outreach programs for their youth. They are instead at the effect of a mounting problem of suicide, depression and gang activity.

The Healing History Project's mission is to address these issues and setup up programs that will continue to work over time in creating a healthy environment that not only tackle the problems the community is faced with, but also offer the youth and community culturally rich experiences that create hope and prosperity on all levels.

It is our belief that our children (I say "our children" because it does not matter who children are born to they belong to all of us) are acting out a past that has not been properly addressed by us as a nation. This is not a journey of revenge, but an opening to look at, explore, heal and move beyond a tragic past that has ailed Native American peoples and this country as a whole since its beings.

Your contribution makes a big difference. Please buy a t-shirt or if you are moved to donate money directly or would like to help us in our fundraising events please contact us.

TRIBAL HISTORY - www.sioux.org
WAKPA WASTE OYANKE
(The Good River Reservation)
by Sebastian (Bronco) LeBeau

A QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE SIOUX HISTORY - www.fourbands.org
In 1889, through twists of fate and the intricacies of U.S. Indian Policy, the area that is now officially (and federally) designated as the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation became home to four of the seven bands of the Lakota Nation. Lakota means "allies" or "friends." It is the name that the people of this area gave to themselves long before Lewis and Clark and other explorers arrived. It is common for Lakota tribes and tribal members to refer to themselves and their tribes with their traditional name, Lakota, rather than their federal name, Sioux. The Lakota people make up what is called the OCETI SAKOWIN (Seven Council Fires).

The four bands of the Lakota Nation that make up the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation are the:

the Mnicoujou "Plants by the Water"

O'Ohenumpa "Two Kettle"

Itazipco "No Bows"

and the Sihasapa "Blackfoot"

The other three bands of the Lakota Nation are the:

Oglala Scatters Their Own (currently live on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota)

Sicangu Burnt Thighs (currently live on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota)

Hunkpapa Camps at the Entrance (currently live on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota)

While the traditional home of the Lakota is the north-central portion of the Great Plains, these four bands were thrown together on the land that would become known as the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation.

Important definitions and terms:

Oceti Sakowin "Seven Council Fires"

the seven main groups or bands made up of the peoples speaking Lakota, Dakota and Nakota.

Teton or Tetonwan "Dwellers on the prairie" the Lakota speaking bands of the Seven Council Fires. These bands (including the four living on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation) are:

Mnicoujou "Plants by the Water"

O'Ohenumpa "Two Kettle or Two Boilings"

Itazipco or Itazipi Cola "Without Bows"

Sihasapa "Blackfoot"

Oglala "Scatters Their Own"

Sicangu "Burnt Thighs"

and the Hunkpapa "Camps at the Entrance"

Lakota "Friends" or "Allies" the peoples' name for themselves. A related term is Kola, the male word meaning "friend" in the Lakota language.

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