Nicole Wroblewski A young woman’s commitment to community service has shed light on hardships that are faced by members of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe.
Struggles on the tribe’s reservation can only truly be understood through firsthand experience, according to Nicole Wroblewski.
Wroblewski, 19, of Manalapan, observed the poverty that fills the lives of Lakota Indians who live on the reservation in La Plant, South Dakota, where she spent a week volunteering for Simply Smiles during the summer.
Wroblewski said the reservation is not made for the Native American culture and said she believes the residents are set up to fail.
“Kids do not even know what they want to do with their lives because they do not see what is beyond their reservation,” she said. “It has been pushed into their minds that they are not good enough and they are beneath everyone else.”
Simply Smiles is a Connecticut-based nonprofit organization that works to provide a brighter future for impoverished children, their families and communities.
Simply Smiles president and founder Bryan Nurnberger, 37, said everything the organization does is considered to be volunteer work.
Nurnberger said Simply Smiles started in 2003 in Oaxaca, Mexico, and arrived at South Dakota’s reservations in 2009. Volunteers currently serve in Mexico and South Dakota.
“Before we started working (in South Dakota) in 2009 I was completely ignorant to the hardships these people faced,” Nurnberger said. “I never thought it would be as bad as a third world country, but it is the most entrenched, horrific poverty imaginable.”
“The reservation was large, but there are not many things to do there,” Wroblewski said. “There are so many things that make them feel their culture is gone and they are not as supported as normal citizens.”
Simply Smiles, she said, “checks up on the houses; they redid the community center and created a summer program for kids; they created a book club and made a patio (area) for community meals.”
Wroblewski said the reservation’s soil is not suitable for farming, nor is it suitable for the Lakota Indians’ style of life.
“The Native Americans were meant to die out on these reservations, but they are still alive today,” she said. “I personally feel they are forgotten about.”
Wroblewski said she prepared for her trip by reading books and watching documentaries about Native Americans, “but nothing prepared me for what I saw when I got there. Because of the history of the United States interfering with the Native Americans, it has left them in the situation they are in today.”
Nurnberger said the life expectancy for a male is 47 years old for members of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe.
“The suicide rate for kids is eight times the national average, there is almost complete unemployment among the people and on goes the line of horrible statistics,” he said.
Wroblewski said La Plant has one K-12 school.
She said most people on the reservation know someone who has died of alcohol poisoning or they have a drinking problem in general.
“While driving through the reservation, I saw signs that just said ‘think,’ ” she said. “I would assume that meant ‘think before you drink and drive’ because of all the flower memorials on the side of the road.”
Wroblewski said suicide among young people is a significant issue on the reservation. She said young people do not believe they have anything to live for.
“They do not have people like counselors or social workers to help in their family situations,” she said. “These kids have untapped potential and my job is to tap into that potential and encourage them to do whatever they want in life.
“Things need to change for these people. I plan on going back next summer and if I could go back during my winter break I would for the community’s Christmas party.”
Nurnberger said he appreciates the efforts that are being made by the volunteers who assist Simply Smiles.
Wroblewski graduated from Manalapan High School in 2014 and attends Fairfield University, Fairfield, Ct.
“I chose Fairfield because it is a Jesuit University and they have a huge volunteer program,” she said.