August 20th to 25th, four Indigenous and four non-Indigenous youth took part in Neechi Camp at Sandy Saulteaux Spiritual Centre (SSSC). At the same time, SSSC was hosting an all ages family camp called “Mamawe Ota Askihk – Sharing Life Together Here on Earth.” The Neechi campers were fortunate to be included in all the activities that Mamawe Ota Askihk offered, while sleeping in their own little tent village and building friendships amongst themselves and with the whole community of children, youth and adults who were gathered for the week at SSSC.
![People gathered around a turtle shaped fire circle](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230825_091534-300x225.jpg)
Gathering for morning circle around the fire
![4 youth singing and drumming on the big drum](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230824_234420-300x225.jpg)
Learning Ceremonial Drum Songs
![3 women braiding sweetgrass](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230824_104119-scaled-e1695161684492-300x222.jpg)
Braiding Sweetgrass after going Medicine Picking and Receiving a Teaching about Sweet Grass and Braiding
![3 people working around a table covered with a hide](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230823_120143-300x225.jpg)
Scraping Hair off Deer Hides with Bone tools and Modern Tools (many found the bones worked best!) A hard, stinky, but satisfying job!
![youth working with a hammer and punch to make holes in hide for tying drum](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230824_100935-scaled-e1695163635538-198x300.jpg)
Using a punch and hammer to make holes in hide for tying it to the drum frame
![Boy holding hand drum](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230825_110427-scaled-e1695163709445-194x300.jpg)
Showing off his completed drum
![Girl working with deer hide](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230824_143619-225x300.jpg)
Determining whether she has scraped enough of the hide to cut an 18 foot strip of hide to tie the drum head (also cut out of hide) to her drum frame
![Boy pinning ribbon to fabric](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230823_130858-300x225.jpg)
Pinning Ribbon to fabric for a skirt for his Grandma
![Girl at sewing machine sewing ribbon on fabric](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230823_130904-300x225.jpg)
Sewing her ribbon skirt
![Girl at sewing machine with fabric and ribbons](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230822_114818-225x300.jpg)
Sewing her Ribbon Skirt
![Girl wearing Ribbon Skirt standing by sewing machine](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230823_121937-225x300.jpg)
Finally completed and it turned out beautifully!
![3 youth cutting meat from a side of beef](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230822_101406-300x225.jpg)
Cutting meat from a side of Beef, Learning from where different cuts come and for what they would be used
![People around a table cutting chickens](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230823_141728-300x225.jpg)
Learning how to cut up a whole chickens
![2 people with baskets in waist-high grasses near a river](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230821_143158-300x225.jpg)
Harvesting Wild Rice from the Brokenhead River right at SSSC
![Youth at tables mixing cookie dough, surrounded by ingredients](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230821_171148-300x225.jpg)
Mixing Cookie Dough. Will let chill. Then bake later to share with everyone!
![Girl and man holding a horse on halter](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230824_163320-300x225.jpg)
Learning horsemanship
![Youth on horse, being led by someone holding halter.](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230824_162452-300x225.jpg)
Being led around by the horse’s care-giver. For some youth, being on a horse was a new experience!
The photos included here, show a lot of what we did, but there were even more things that didn’t make it into pictures, like scavenger hunt, screen printing on t-shirts, cooking walleye over a fire, bun making, dehydrating apples, making drum sticks for our drums, a teaching by an elder finding comparisons in the Bible to the Seven Sacred Teachings, chopping and stripping young trees to build a smoker from branches and tarps, smoking beef and salmon, tending the fire by the smoker and adding hot coals to the smoker as needed, medicine picking (tobacco, sage, cedar, and sweet grass), washing and hanging tobacco leaves to dry, participating in a sweat lodge ceremony, creating a frisbee golf course for the Centre, playing outdoor games including learning Indian baseball from Elder Stan McKay, along with a teaching about the benefits of active community games that can be played with things you have on hand like a ball made from a pair of socks and a shoelace, a stick from the woods as a bat, and jackets put down as bases. The youth found time to connect and build friendships while doing planned activities and creating their own fun. We hope the friendships made, teachings learned, and new activities tried will make a difference in their lives, and in our journey as a community towards reconciliation!
![3 youth sitting in a grassy field, playing a game](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230823_112901-1-scaled-e1695223894430-300x216.jpg)
![Group of youth running around in a grassy field playing a game](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230823_111005-scaled-e1695224193696-300x214.jpg)
![Youth gathered around a table, playing cards](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230823_230436-300x225.jpg)
![People gathered around a large drum, drumming and singing](https://prairietopinerc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230821_102516-300x225.jpg)