By Michael H. Varhola | President, Solar Empowerment Initiative
Our major activity during this reporting period was to deliver 400 solar lanterns to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The reservation is home to the Oglala Lakota people. Our primary contact there is the Reverend Michelle Dayton, the pastor of the Episcopal Church there. She actually serves several churches on the reservation, as she is the only Episcopal Minister there. Sadly, her major activity is presiding at funerals. Pine Ridge is the poorest Indian reservation in the country and the causes of death there are many, with murders, suicides, and overdoses all ranking high on the list.
The Reverend Dayton and I gave two cases (96 lanterns) to the Pine Ridge Reconciliation Center. They will in turn distribute the lanterns to those in need, to include the famiies of school children as well as the many homeless on the reservation. For more insight into their good works please go their website.
Miraculously (some might say), while we were in the town of Pine Ridge, the Reverend Dayton got a phone call from one of her parishioners, who told her of her desperate need for light at night for herself and many more like her. Many, many households on the reservation do not have reliable electricity. Her timing could not have been better. We set aside two cases for her, which we delivered to her parents’ house. While there I noted on the living room wall a picture of a young Native American man in military uniform. On his shoulder was the patch of the 82nd Airborne Division. The grandfather was also there and said that he had been in the division in 1953. I told him my son had been a company commander in the division, which impressed him. As we left, I shouted “Airborne!” He promptly came back with the traditional response, “All the way!” It’s a little thing, but I think this link to an earlier existence meant a lot to him – and to me.
We had also set aside several lanterns to bestow on targets of opportunity as we explored the reservation. That opportunity came in the personage of Jerilyn Elk who sold necklaces she made and other items at her stand at Wounded Knee, which I suggest you Google, i.e., Wounded Knee Massacre. Jerilyn is one of the last for whom Lakota was the first language. We told her about our solar lanterns, and she stated she knew many families that did not have reliable electricity or any electricity at all. We wound up leaving three with her, which she characterized as “awesome!” That is what we live for. We have since sent her 100 rechargeable solar light bulbs and 100 rechargeable solar flashlights, which she will distribute.
Finally, we encourage our supporters and partners, whenever they travel to places without reliable electricity, to take an extra suitcase andd fill it with solar lanterns. Our partner, Praveen, recently traveled to some poor parts of Peru, and he brought with him a suitcase packed with solar lanterns. He gave them out to the people he met, with the priority on mothers with young children.
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By Michael Varhola | President, Solar Empowerment Initiative
By Michael H. Varhola | President, Solar Empowerment Initiative
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