The circles
Coming home is not a single day. It is every week after.
Two circles meet in Rapid City. Both are free, both are open, and both are led by people who have walked the same road. No intake, no paperwork, no requirement that you be doing well.
For people who have come home
V.O.I.C.E.S.
Voices of Indigenous Cultures Empowering Society
A weekly meeting with a meal and honest talk, led by men who have been where the room has been. It runs under Wiconi Lecala and was founded by Cody, Connie’s son, who came home three years ago.
There is no curriculum. People eat, and then people talk about the week they actually had: the job that did not call back, the check-in that went badly, the day that went right.
Founder of Voices
Cody
Connie’s son. He came home three years ago and started the meeting he wishes had been waiting for him.
For women who have come home
The women’s circle
A talking circle held our way, with inipi and the teachings, for women who understand what it costs to be a mother, a daughter and a relative on the other side of a sentence.
The women’s side of this work has always been the thinnest. When Connie was asked to come to the prison in Pierre, it was because the women had been left out entirely, with nobody running an inipi for them or offering any kind of support. This circle exists so that does not repeat on the outside.
Ask to be includedWhat a night looks like
Nobody is put on the spot
If you have never been to something like this, here is the whole shape of it. You can come, eat, listen, and leave without saying a word.
First
You eat
Food comes before anything else. For some people in the room it is the only hot meal that week.
Then
The circle opens
Someone opens the circle. What is said in the room stays in the room, and that is taken seriously.
Then
People talk
One at a time, for as long as they need. You can pass. Plenty of people pass for weeks before they speak.
After
Practical help
Rides, job leads, paperwork, a phone number. Most of the real problem solving happens once the circle closes.
A note on ceremony
Some of this is not for the internet.
Inipi and the ceremonies that go with these circles are not events, and they are not content. We do not photograph them, we do not livestream them, and we do not describe what happens inside them on a website.
If you are Native and coming home, you already know how to ask. If you are not, and you want to support this part of the work, the way to help is to fund it and let the people who carry it decide how it is carried.
Support the circles
A meal is the cheapest thing that keeps somebody coming back.
The circles cost almost nothing to run, because nobody is paid. What they cost is food, fuel and a room. That is the whole budget.
Come sit down
You do not need to call ahead, but it helps.
Reach out and Connie will tell you when and where the next one meets. If you are still inside, or you are a family member asking on someone’s behalf, that is fine too.
How to reach us
Call 605-786-7130. She answers her own phone.
Email connieh272@gmail.com.
Writing from inside? Mail us at 724 Haines Ave, Rapid City, SD 57701.
Walk with us
The first week home is the hardest. So is the fortieth.
Keep a chair, a meal and a circle waiting for whoever comes home next.
Support the circles