01 Joel Josie Lawrence: Introduction

I’m Joel Lawrence Shilpa everybody around here knows of me he had Josie he not I’m also a veteran you know I’m Korean better and now I’ve been looking at different places on the reservation here with mostly with the education kid I worked with the head start program for 20-some years and not as an aide I started other than aid and then I worked at uh I became uh I went to school became a teacher back in nineteen seventy two seventy four and at UND in Grand Forks and then I taught I became a teacher in then I taught head start for thirteen years and then I what three of the years I was the head teacher and then not I became the director in 1980 that became the director for four years and then I ran for tribal compo and I got elected and now so I had to give up my director job and now I became back at tribal council member for four years and I’ve always supported the children in the education and I worked almost all my life and education supporting and helping trying to get our kids to get a good education because I realized how important the education is myself I didn’t go back to school till 1970 not maybe I was the oldest one there I don’t know but at UND but I after that I knew how important power education and we need Anna today yet I’m so for that not I support school enough hopefully what this program were working on we need to teach our you the Dakota language you know I think all over probably talked about this too we’re losing some of our language and now we’d like to bring that back to the reservation you know and I think the only way to do that it’s like what we’re doing here and not a fear we need to educate our parents so in turn they can turn around and teach through children our grandkids and great-grandkids I have great grandchildren so I like to see someone keeping one when I’m going I’d like to see somebody carrying this on yeah like I always told my groups near we’re not gonna be here forever the elders so we need to educate our young people who they can carry this long after we’re gone and now I’m also a member of the chairman of the elder advisory boards on the reservation you know that’s where I was this morning so I couldn’t come in but we got done that noon huh we record the elders I work a lot with the elders tonight I speak language and some of the people that were here this morning uh-huh are the only ones that speak of the 1/4 language so and it’s kind of hard cuz we don’t have nobody to talk to language at home just when we meet someplace I see them from place we talk to the court the language in our homes my grandchildren don’t understand does the court the language no my in mind my children to mothers and I guess I could probably take the blame for that for not teaching them our taught the English language after started school and all the time then my mom and dad my grandparents they talked of the co2 language at home and that’s all I knew you know - I went to school in now and it would hurt - uh more talkin de the English language but I learned at school and I became like I said I started working now well first I was in the service then when I come back then I started working on different programs like I said those things that worked and today I work here with this is my second time working here at recovery and wellness program the former director hired me when the program first started okay and now we still have a meeting just him and I we started with two people in a night then we kept having meetings being there’s two people start coming and now we even had the people coming from Maddock Manoa come in slightly even as far as Sikeston became their meeting but some question didn’t have a meeting so they came all the way over here nah it was really nice and they’re not he retired and quit not and I left the program too I went to work for a shoe manufacturing over here oh the specialist enough I did like orientation in the kind of thing you know I’ve worked here six years and then they start when this program started up Neverland was running it and I they have this called culture of healing started and she asked me to work with them part-time as I had a lot of health problems because of alcoholism uh-huh so I came inside working now I work with that I do the cultural part of healing here I really enjoyed that and know how them uh I’ll call it myself way back not so I’m pretty well aware of what it’s like what alcohol does t drugs so that’s what we’re trying to do prevent that for my kids are young people right now we also work with the program called meth and suicide you know we have prayer services every month we’re going to eat the district have a purse service here with the children the kids and I really believe we need to teach our kids spirituality we need spirituality in our homes I really believe that Prakriti different religion I’m a Catholic but I work with the Lutheran minister I work with the Baptist minister over here not the Assembly of God we also have a Native American church that I still carry on my tradition I will say that my tradition they’ll never take away from me I always have that no matter and I welcome all religions having clear what and I work with them I’m not gonna say I’m Catholic I can’t work with know I work with everybody