Belonging

I have always had a hard time feeling like I belong, and have often found myself feeling comfortable in strange places. When I studied aboard in Rome I loved going to church with local Italians I didn’t know, and when I was in China I would pray with Buddhists I had just met. In college I was in the South Asian Student Alliance and was the only white girl in a Bollywood dance number and I loved going to Puja services and the student mosque on campus. Once again, I have found myself at home in a unique place. I feel like I belong at St. Labre surrounded by the incredible Crow and Cheyenne students I serve. I belong in a room making moccasins, listening to drum circles, and eating fry bread and chili (which I swear the cafeteria serves almost every week). Basketball is incredibly important to the community here, and although I have never been a sports fan I have been at almost every home game this year. I even traveled three hours to see our students play in an away game at another small town in the middle of nowhere. I think it speaks to how much this place has changed me and touched my heart that I spent nearly eight hours sitting in a tiny gym cheering for our students and feeding them a never ending supply of snacks we snuck in my backpack. I love being there for our students especially the ones that never see anyone there to support them. Everyday there is hardship in seeing how much my students struggle but everyday is filled with grace. There is always a moment that makes me feel like I belong, that I am where I am meant to be, that I am making a difference. As strange as it may sound, in being in a seemingly strange place where I do things I never thought I would do like shooting a gun, eating tons of buffalo, and living small town life I have found a place that I belong. I belong here in Tall White Man Lodge, with my students, and with this amazing community.