ETHETE - Two lines of women sit facing each other, hidden from the afternoon sun under a tent canopy behind the Wind River Tribal College.

The hands of four of the women swing back and forth in time with beating drums, fists closed. Each woman hides a small stick on one of her hands. It is up to a player from the opposing team to guess where the sticks are hidden, earning points for her team in a traditional Arapaho hand game called koxouhtiit.

About 100 yards away, under another canopy, Arapaho adults step in a circle as drums echo off the stone of the old mission building nearby. They are learning traditional social dances, or nii'eihii ho'eii.

The games and social dances are not everyday activities for the Arapaho people living on the Wind River Indian Reservation, but they once were. Traditions as simple as games and dances, as integral as the Arapaho language and religion, have fallen by the wayside in recent decades. Some tribal leaders, however, are working to return such knowledge to their people.

Last month, the college hosted a three-day immersion language camp for adults, re-teaching not only language, but also elements of religion and culture.

"We teach on the protocol of the religion, the history of the tribe, wellness and health the way it used to be compared to now," said Eugene Ridgely, bilingual education coordinator for the college. "This afternoon, we get into traditional games, then some social dancing."

Though most of the participants won't walk away with more than a few words of Arapaho, several will buy English-Arapaho dictionaries and at-home tutorials. More importantly, some will gain a spark of interest in their culture, perhaps taking advantage of language classes offered regularly at the college or of other cultural renewal activities sponsored on the reservation.

The quest is about more than protecting a dying language and culture. It's about turning to the ways of the past to correct some of the modern challenges facing the Arapaho people.

"If we had retained the language like we should have, the family structure would still be strong," said Zona Moss, Ridgely's secretary at the college. "It lies within the language, within the culture."

Ardeline Spotted Elk, a great-grandmother who has spent her life on the reservation, spent the three days teaching about kinship, or neito'eino', traditions in the tribe. Weeks earlier, she shared her own memories of growing up in a different era and of how the world has changed in her lifetime.

"We lived in real old cabins, with dirt roofs and floors. We had to get water from the river. We had kerosene lamps. Everything was gravel," she recalled. "We learned Arapaho. We never spoke English until we went to school at St. Michael's (Mission).

"It was a real nice, real enjoyable life. We just enjoyed our lives. There was no alcohol, no drugs; we just lived a real peaceful life. The way it is now is a real terrible life."

Not everyone on the reservation agrees that life has changed so negatively, but some differences are indisputable.

Merle Haas, founder of the tribal college, said she prefers not to dwell on the negative.

"My people are a proud people," she said. "But I suppose we have all the social ills that are outside our reservation."

Employment problems

Empirically, it's hard to pinpoint just how extreme the reservation's social and economic problems are.

The Wind River Indian Reservation makes up a big piece of Wyoming's Fremont County, though most of the county's population is white. Even the 2000 U.S. Census includes the border city of Riverton in its definition of the reservation, making it difficult to separate the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho residents from their white neighbors.

Fremont County does consistently have the highest unemployment rate in Wyoming, and unemployment is even higher among American Indian workers, according to the Census.

Kathy Vann, who heads the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service office in Ethete, explained that many men lack the education necessary to get the few high-paying jobs on the reservation. Most are forced to choose between travel-intensive work in the region's oil fields or staying home with their families.

"I find that a lot of mothers work, and fathers, it's harder for me to find jobs than for women, because there aren't that many jobs," she said. "Men have to go to the biggest employer, the oil fields, where they work seven-on, seven-off."

"That puts a lot of stress on mothers, taking care of kids alone for seven days," added Lisa Perry, a 24-year-old UW student who works in the office during the summer.

Even with some men working the oil rigs making good money, families in Fremont County tend to bring home considerably less income than those in other parts of the state, making poverty a stark reality for reservation families.

Many families turn to grandparents for help; American Indian grandparents are more likely than any other demographic group to live in the same households with their grandchildren.

In Vann's family, for example, her ironworker sons gave up on traveling throughout the western states for work, and one of their families moved in with her.

"My (surrogate son) moved out of his mother's house and couldn't make it financially, so he moved back in, along with his wife and three kids," she said.

"My sons got tired of living in hotels. I don't know if they thought about getting their own place. They probably did, but didn't see why," she said with a laugh.

Perry said there is a shortage of housing on the reservation, and both she and Vann tell stories of families who spent years on waiting lists, applying for housing when their children were born and finally being approved as grandparents.

Vann said she believes some children are being raised by their grandparents because of rampant teen pregnancy and a culture of drug and alcohol abuse by parents.

Residents of the reservation say alcoholism remains a chronic problem, and methamphetamine use is on the rise.

Brian and Margo Williams, a couple raising seven children in their blended family, tell of family members, friends and acquaintances who have become addicted to the drug, sometimes abandoning their children to get high or stealing from friends and neighbors to support their habit.

"Meth around here is getting crazy," Margo said.

Brian's uncle and aunt, Darrell and Billy Hanway, are raising their 3-year-old granddaughter, whose father was killed in an impaired driving accident. They also have a 1-month-old grandchild who was born in a treatment facility due to his mother's drug addiction.

Not just the reservation

But while the numbers are somewhat worse, many Arapaho people said the problems aren't limited to the reservation.

"I don't know if it has anything to do with the situation on the reservation," Vann said. "I think, statewide, a lot of communities are like that. It reflects what's going on in Wyoming."

Tribal elder William "Icky-John" C'Hair went a step further.

"I find that the problem is not within any one group or within any one location," he said. "The problem is of such a magnitude, it's not only nationwide, I think it's pretty much worldwide. We're just like any group identified as a community - the south side of Chicago, the east side of New York. I think that the problem is prevalent."

The difference is that, in a community as small and tight-knit as the reservation, such issues hit every home.

And, on the reservation, people are looking to different kinds of solutions: ones from the past.

The Wind River Indian Reservation has several programs to combat its social troubles, including the Indian Health Service Center, Bureau of Indian Affairs Social Services and an Intergenerational Family Resource Help Center.

Schools work with these agencies to provide services for children, and Wyoming Indian Schools also work with the tribe to bring back traditional values. The Arapaho language is part of the curriculum at Wyoming Indian elementary, junior high and high schools, though C'Hair said it is given too little time in the school day. He wants to see a new immersion preschool program grow, introducing the language to 3- and 4-year-olds, whose linguistic abilities are the most ripe, and following them through their academic careers.

This fall, Arapaho Charter High School will open near the town of Arapahoe. Designed to combat high dropout rates among reservation students, the school will be centered on Arapaho language, culture and values and will use more hands-on and individual teaching styles to keep teens interested in education.

The Arapaho Council of Elders also works to provide education to all tribal members on traditional skills, from radio personality Big Joe's daily Arapaho language lessons beamed into cars and homes to subsidized courses in language and nearly lost skills such as meat cutting.

It's not just about history or identity, C'Hair said. He said the Arapaho language and culture provide a lifestyle guide that can help stem the tide of social challenges.

"We believe, we firmly do believe, that the language was a gift from our Creator. As such, it is sacred to us," he said. "Without it, we cannot exist in the manner the Creator intended for us."

Heritage and Hope

Arapaho families turn to tradition to combat modern problems

* Sunday: Margo and Brian Williams use cultural activities, respect and discipline to protect their seven children from outside temptation.

* Monday: Billy and Darrell Hanway help raise their grandchildren, hoping to produce a stronger generation.

* Today: The Northern Arapaho tribe struggles to bring back language and culture to repel poverty and drug and alcohol abuse on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

On the Web at http://www.casperstartribune.net:

* An Arapaho elder tells his history of the tribe.

* A Star-Tribune writer and photographer share their experiences producing "Heritage and Hope."

The 2004 Wyoming KIDS COUNT data book offers insight into economic and health care conditions for Fremont County, where the Wind River Indian Reservation is located, compared to the rest of the state. With a population of about 36,000, Fremont County makes up about 7.2 percent of Wyoming's population.

Births to single mothers

* Wyoming: 30.3 percent

* Fremont County: 47.8 percent

Births to teen mothers

* Wyoming: 17.7 percent

* Fremont County: 26.8 percent

Special education population

* Wyoming: 13.7 percent

* Fremont County: 16.6 percent

Juvenile arrests for all crimes

* Wyoming: 6,155

* Fremont County: 619 (10 percent of state total)

Juvenile arrests for violent crimes

* Wyoming: 54

* Fremont County: 4 (7 percent of state total)

Teen death by accident, homicide, suicide

* Wyoming: 163

* Fremont County: 19 (11.6 percent of state total)

Motor vehicle teen deaths

* Wyoming: 86

* Fremont County: 10 (11.6 percent of state total)

Staff writer Jenni Dillon can be reached at (307) 266-0619 or Jenni.Dillon@casperstartribune.net.

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