Youth | |
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For many years, and especially during the 1970's, AAIA funded summer camps for tribal youth. In the Spring of 2000, AAIA announced the reintroduction of its summer camps program. In 2003 AAIA provided funding for the following four youth programs. The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Baseball Club in Agency Village, South Dakota received funds toward uniforms, equipment and transportation for their program which organizes adult volunteers from Law Enforcement, the Judicial System and related professional Dakota from the community with the goal of providing alternatives to youth crime and substance abuse on the reservation. Funding was provided for the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma Hasinai Summer Youth Camp in Binger, Oklahoma. This is an overnight camp for boys and girls aged 7-12. Tribal elders serve as instructors for the events. Campers were gathered in mixed groups of 4 with a teen leader. Groups moved together to each activity including archery, stick ball, pottery, shell making, bow & arrow making, drum stick making, and headdress making. Evening activities included cooking, singing, dancing, and games. The First Nations Community Healthsource Run to the Sun Youth Adventures Long Walk Back Trip in Albuquerque, NM is a joint project of the FNCH Diabetes and Prevention departments. The goal is to teach the significance of healthy lifestyles along with spiritual and cultural connectedness. Two three-day backpacking trips retraced a portion of the Navajo Long Walk in Canyon de Chelly, AZ. Participants carried their own supplies, including food and water. One of the elders took the campers on a hike to the top of a mesa where they studied the uses of plants. The hike back down took substantially longer because they were collecting and looking for all of the plants that they had learned about. The second trip was with younger campers and 2-3 of the older campers from the first trip were mentors. Each trip started with prayers of protection and ended with sweat lodge ceremonies. Wildfire devastation affecting the future of the timber industry in the western pine area of the White Mountain Apache Reservation led to the concept of this program by the Cibecue Community Education Board, Inc. The Cibecue Community School Orchard Project in Cibecue, AZ received an offered for a donation of some Juniper trees which yield Chinese dates. The development of an experimental orchard to see if growing Chinese dates would be a viable solution to the now economically devastated community was proposed. Funds were provided by AAIA for site development. Additional funds for other needs were sought from other sources in the community and nearby communities. AAIA
looks forward to continuing our support of these types of projects. If you have
the ability to contribute on a larger scale toward these initiatives, or are in
need of funding for a youth program please contact the Executive Office at 240-314-7155.
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