Blizzard at Pine Ridge.
Pine Ridge Reservation, in South Dakota, is the eighth largest Indian Reservation in the 'States. It's an Oglala Sioux reservation, and one of the poorest areas in the US. It's just near Wounded Knee, and was also the site of the 1973 "Wounded Knee Incident". Living conditions are horrible:
Wiki: Although Pine Ridge is the eighth largest reservation in the United States, it is the poorest reservation. Unemployment on the Reservation hovers around 80% and 49% live below the Federal poverty level.[1] Adolescent suicide is four times the national average. Many of the families have no electricity, telephone, running water, or sewer. Many families use wood stoves to heat their homes. The population on Pine Ridge has among the shortest life expectancies of any group in the Western Hemisphere: approximately 47 years for males and in the low 50s for females. The infant mortality rate is five times the United States national average. Reservation population was estimated at 15,000 in the 2000 census, but that number was raised to 28,000 by HUD, following a University of Colorado door-to-door study. [2]
Fire-keepers: If not for AIDS related deaths in Africa, Pine Ridge would have the lowest life expectancy on the planet
Photographer Aaron Huey has done an amazing photo-essay on the Pine Ridge Reservation, viewable here:http://www.aaronhuey.com/main.php (It's in Photo-galleries 1; click and it'll give the link to Pine Ridge. There are some amazing images).
Pine Ridge has been declared a State of Emergency following an early-season blizzard. People, who already have no water, no heating, and a bare minimum of food, now have none of those. In keeping with the longstanding tradition of overlooking the difficulties faced by its indigenous people, there has been little mainstream reportage in the US, and the people there are desperate for donations of food, clothing, firewood, medicine, and money for the above.
One place to send donations for heat for Pine Ridge is:
www.linkcenterfoundation.org.
Republic of Lakotah
help@republicoflakotah.com
605-867-1111
Another is:
http://nativeprogress.org/ (scroll down)
If you want to help the people of Pine Ridge in a more general fashion, these people, I believe, do good work:
http://friendsofpineridgereservation.org/
Next time you're considering Oxfam, please consider this as an alternative. Oxfam gets a *lot* of donations; these guys don't, and they need them every bit as much as anywhere Oxfam gives aid to.
Wiki: Although Pine Ridge is the eighth largest reservation in the United States, it is the poorest reservation. Unemployment on the Reservation hovers around 80% and 49% live below the Federal poverty level.[1] Adolescent suicide is four times the national average. Many of the families have no electricity, telephone, running water, or sewer. Many families use wood stoves to heat their homes. The population on Pine Ridge has among the shortest life expectancies of any group in the Western Hemisphere: approximately 47 years for males and in the low 50s for females. The infant mortality rate is five times the United States national average. Reservation population was estimated at 15,000 in the 2000 census, but that number was raised to 28,000 by HUD, following a University of Colorado door-to-door study. [2]
Fire-keepers: If not for AIDS related deaths in Africa, Pine Ridge would have the lowest life expectancy on the planet
Photographer Aaron Huey has done an amazing photo-essay on the Pine Ridge Reservation, viewable here:http://www.aaronhuey.com/main.php (It's in Photo-galleries 1; click and it'll give the link to Pine Ridge. There are some amazing images).
Pine Ridge has been declared a State of Emergency following an early-season blizzard. People, who already have no water, no heating, and a bare minimum of food, now have none of those. In keeping with the longstanding tradition of overlooking the difficulties faced by its indigenous people, there has been little mainstream reportage in the US, and the people there are desperate for donations of food, clothing, firewood, medicine, and money for the above.
One place to send donations for heat for Pine Ridge is:
www.linkcenterfoundation.org.
Republic of Lakotah
help@republicoflakotah.com
605-867-1111
Another is:
http://nativeprogress.org/ (scroll down)
If you want to help the people of Pine Ridge in a more general fashion, these people, I believe, do good work:
http://friendsofpineridgereservation.org/
Next time you're considering Oxfam, please consider this as an alternative. Oxfam gets a *lot* of donations; these guys don't, and they need them every bit as much as anywhere Oxfam gives aid to.