My trip to Rapid City South Dakota on March 30/31 was an eye opener for me. I had read about Native Americans in several novels but have never engaged them in conversation before. The closest I have come to meeting one has been my friend Ruth Yellow Hawk who is related to the Lakota’s. I was therefore excited about sitting in meeting with Lakota youth and elders.
The youth met a day earlier to reflect and respond to radio documentaries featuring Lakota elders. It was my first experience with the Talking Stone. The talking stone is Participants sat in a circle and the stone was passed from one person to the other, when the stone go to you, you were encouraged to speak to the issue at hand.
It was a pleasure for me meeting these indigenous group of people and observing them speaking. I notice the Lakota are very friendly, reflective people who choose their words carefully and are never in a rush to have their voices heard. They weight everything in relative terms drawing a contrast in the way their life style was and what it is now.
These youth who were learning the Lakota culture including their language at a High School on the Rosebud Reservation near Rapid City. I listened to these young people struggle to identify with the Lakota culture, they introduced themselves and identified their lineage in the Lakota language. I was impressed that they were willing to learn about their culture. They have such a rich culture, which has been kept by the elders who are now passing it down to their grand children. I found some bonding as soon as we started talking about their way of life and seeking to retain what had worked for them in the past.
I heard the elders talk about their youth and how their culture of the Lakota people modeled their life style. They were concerned about suicide, rape, incest, teenage pregnancy and alcoholism on the reservation.
It was snowing so I didn’t get to see any tourist attractions but surprisingly found a Bolgatanga basket in Rapid City in a far away South Dakota. My host, Ruth Yellow Hawk walked up to me and asks if I knew where the basket was hand crafted. I excitedly said yes I do and explained to how the basket are woven and what they are used.
We had fried Bread and traditional soup made from Vegetables, buffalo and herbs for lunch. It was delicious, reminded me of a watered down version of Ghanaian light soup.
