By Eileen Iron Cloud | Board Member
Who We Are
UN TUWE PI (Who we are). The Knife Chief Buffalo Nation Society is a volunteer-led grassroots organization on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota that is committed to caring for the members of the buffalo nation as relatives and learning from them. Further, the buffalo that are in our care are used for sustenance as well as for ceremonial and spiritual purposes. We are a small Indigenous organization with an average operating budget of approximately $30,000 per year, prior to the corona virus pandemic. We do not maintain full time staff and all financial resources go directly to the maintenance of the herd and to knowledge sharing during ceremonies, cultural healing camps and community training sessions.
During this time when our community is suffering from the ravages of Covid 19, the buffalo have become a key in strengthening the Lakota people. Now, in addition to traditional ceremonies where the buffalo nation play an integral role – ceremonies such as the Wicasa Ihuni (Becoming a Man ceremony) and the Isnati Awicalowanpi (“They Sing for Her that Lives Alone”— Womanhood ceremony), and Wi Wanyang Wacipi (Sundance ceremony), there is heightened need to address the increased hunger and food insecurity in our community. Our goal is to restore the respectful and spiritual relationship that we once had with the buffalo nation so that our future generations can continue the ceremonies while also providing food for the community.
We recognize how much the Pte Oyate can teach and we strive to adhere to and share these teachings with the community at large. For example, the buffalo nation shows respect to the earth and practice sustainability by tearing off the tops of the plants they eat, specifically not tearing out the roots so that the plants can grow again. Health wise, the Pte Oyate eat plants that have medicinal value, so when we eat the meat, we are actually eating medicine and understand the importance of a healthy diet, particularly now, during the Covid-19 pandemic which has left so many of us in need of a healthy, sustainable food source.
What We Are Doing
During the covid-19 pandemic, first and foremost is the protection of all and to find new ways to offer support and teachings to the people. With this in our hearts and minds, the traditional ceremonies during the spring and summer have been greatly scaled back. Knife Chief Buffalo Nation Society has partnered with other organizations to offer healthy meals cooked outdoors to elderly tribal members. The food donations, the cooking and the delivery of meals was an act of love and generosity by many volunteers and organizations. Another activity included offering viritual traditional teachings. The caretaker continues to check on the herd and the fence line three times per week.
What We Plan to Do
1. Increase buffalo herd size to range capacity. Currently we have twenty-five buffalo and the current 900-acre range capacity allows for thirty buffalo. Increased funding will enable us to provide buffalo meat at a greater capacity to the community in partnership with other non-profits. For example, in May 2020 and September 2020, we partnered with others to provide buffalo soup to Elders in the Porcupine community. A potential opportunity is to provide the meat directly to the elderly members of the community so that they have local access to the highly nutritious buffalo. The Buffalo that is raised by KCBNS are grass-fed and naturally raised without artificial hormones or other artificial growth chemicals. A pound of ground buffalo costs within the range of $10.00/lb. to $15.00/lb. in a grocery store, clearly not affordable for community elders. Further, the COVID-19 virus prevents our elderly community from safely going out, shopping and from engaging in community activities like feasts and ceremonial opportunities where buffalo meat would typically be served, so delivery of buffalo meat to them would be a key part of the plan.
2. Provide educational opportunities and cultural healing camps for children/youth and families based on the teachings of the buffalo nation. A key teaching from them is protect the young from any threats and nurture them to healthy development. The
educational opportunities and healing camps are provided in response to experiences of and exposure to trauma. These traumatic experiences and exposures threaten the healthy development of children and can have lifelong detrimental effects. With the advent of COVID-19, many children/youth and families who were impacted trauma, grief and loss were isolated and prevented from receiving help and this initiative will be implemented in response to that.
3. Purchase a one-ton truck and medium sized trailer. This transportation equipment is greatly needed to manage buffalo range, care for the buffalo and to transport the harvested buffalo meet as needed.
Wopila (Big Thank You)
We say Wopila to all who’ve contributed resources in many ways – prayers, time, energy, funds and to the grandfather/grandmother spirits who guide and help the two-legged and the four-legged relatives.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
