Owe Aku International Justice Project

Ama's Freedom School - Ama's Freedom School is a series of educational workshops designed primarily for young girls ages 7 through 13 (although we are always flexible as to sex and age). The workshops concentrate on traditional Lakota cultural skills including such things as tipi making, buffalo relations and use, ceremonial clothing, and traditional healing and plants. It also focuses issues relevant to today's environmental struggles including clean land and water, social justice and fundraising for for-profit projects. Each session also includes a discussion on critical thinking, teaching our young people to look critically at any issue and to analyze that issue based on relevant facts and data. The program was created beacuse it was clear to us and our sommunity tha these skills and traditions were not being taught in the reservation schools and, as a result, would be lost. in we held 30 sessions of Ama‘s Freedom School and each session was attened by between 7 and 30 girls (and boys), depending the nature of the topic being discussed

Environmental Improvements/nftrastructure - The Pine Ridg Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota is statistically of the top five poorest counties in the United States. Housing, food, transportation, and health are huge issues facing our People. To respond to these issues we started an environmental improvement and infrastructure program that works to improve these conditions by reapiring housing, infrastructure for food production and family garden plots, and renewable energy sources These improvements for families can be as simple as building a gate or a fence or as complex as a water catchment system. Owe Aku is experimenting with solar and wind power and has long range plans to make our organization self-sustaining

Garden Projects/Ceremonial Gardens - The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is nearly the size of the state of Connecticut, yet it has only grocery store on the reservation. Needless to say, access to fresh, affordable food is challenging. As a result, Owe Aku established its Family Garden Project designed to provide individual families with the know how and resources to plant gardens of fresh fruits and vegetables. This involves educational forums on growing, hands on assistance by Owe Aku volunteers, clearing of Jand for the garden plot, wildlife mitigation, and watering sources. In 2018 we were.able.to begin provide them with the seeds and plants necessary for their first harvest. Additionally, in coalition with the girls of Ama's Freedom School, a Ceremonial Garden has been established which includes plants used in traditional Lakota ceremonies. Many ofthese Plants ar endangered and preserving them for our ceremonies is an important cultural aspect of our work for future generations of Lakota people. These plants were either cultivated or gathere from the prairie by the girls of Ama’s Freedom School