When Hyeon-Ju and I were planning what to do for our spring break, we realized that 2012 would be the last year we would have a family trip while all our children were living at home as Michael is leaving us for college.
Typically we have looked to vacation during spring break, the previous year splurging with a trip to Maui. For this year, Hyeon-Ju and I both felt strongly that we should do something more meaningful, perhaps organizing a service-oriented trip.
In December, I saw a Facebook post from a friend who was helping to spread the word about a non-profit organization serving children on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Pine Ridge is in South Dakota and is home of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe. Having grown up about 50 miles from Pine Ridge in Rapid City, I immediately felt that this was the place for us to go.
Pine Ridge is the poorest reservation in the United States. The population of Pine Ridge suffer health conditions commonly found in Third World countries, including high mortality rates, depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, malnutrition and diabetes.
Unemployment on the reservation hovers between 80% and 85%, and 49% of the population live below the federal poverty level. Many of the families have no electricity, telephone, running water, or sewage systems. The school drop-out rate is over 70%, and the teacher turnover rate is 800% that of the U.S. national average.
Most alarmingly to us, child abuse and neglect run rampant, leaving hundreds of children helpless and hopeless.
Here is a video describing our experience:
We invite you to donate and help. Please email me at vincentwhan@gmail-dot-com, message me on Twitter @vincehan or call if you have any questions. There are lots of ways you can help.
"Our spring break service trip to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation"
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