Today, we would like to introduce summer volunteer Matthias Schmidt, 37, who came to us from Germany. He will be leaving Eagle Butte this Friday. He shares this with us:

“We are facing an ever more fragmented world. As a teacher, I want to teach ethics that enable young people to feel good in their bodies, spirits and relationships and envision new perspectives concerning the ‘good life’ – not just human life, but the life of all living things.
“I wanted to learn to act outside Western theory and practice, so I joined CRYP as a volunteer in August 2024, attracted to its multifaceted approach to transform the harmful effects of colonization on the Lakota community, especially the youth. I found a team dedicated to the idea that the first step in healing their people is to give back to the children their heritage, in a way that is relevant to the contemporary world.

“Take Mitakuye Oyasin, ‘all our relations’ or ‘we are all related,’ an acknowledgment that teaches us that we human beings are among, not above, all living creatures and cannot live well without heeding their lessons. It is a source of wisdom, at once Indigenous and universal, for shaping a resilient world for ourselves and our children. At CRYP, the reclamation of cultural spaces and the revitalization of traditional Lakota methodologies, practices, lifeways and values is done through a whole-body approach that always starts with listening to the children. This makes this project unique to me.”