ONE Spirit - our partner
Our main task is assisting the poorest of the Lakota Sioux Native Americans in their South Dakota reservations.
It is impossible to determine from the Netherlands what the main problems are, and how and by whom they may be solved.
For this reason we closely work together with ONE Spirit, a Rapid City non-profit, which concentrates on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Just like Stichting Cosmic Fire Foundation, ONE Spirit is a volunteer organisation, so we can be certain that all funds are spent on the proper projects.
We are in constant and good contact with chairwoman Jeri Baker, who helped us select some projects.
Our emphasis is, at her request, on the food program, besides that we also contributed to the Manderson Youth Center Safe House.
During our September 2012 visit to the Pine Ridge Reservation we stayed, at Jeri Baker's suggestion, at the Singing Horse Trading Post near Manderson, and we got into contact with various people who do the actual on the spot work. We have seen, heard and learned a lot, and hope we can pass some of that.
One of the people we met was John Dubray, who is currently building a youth safe house near the town of Allen, based on the Manderson Safe House example.
We encountered John during a large wacipi, a harvest festival, near Potato Creek, which explains his wonderfull regalia in this picture together with Candy Postma.
