Covenant Day students repurpose shipping containers into living space for Lakota Indian reservation

When Covenant Day students heard about the conditions on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, they knew they had to do something. Fewer than 40,000 Lakota Indians live on the more than 2-million acre Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The median income on the reservation is less than $3,500 per year, and more than 95% of the population lives below the federal poverty levels.

Although the sale and possession of alcohol on Pine Ridge Reservation has been prohibited since the early 1970s, alcoholism affects eight out of ten families on the reservation. The teenage suicide rate on the reservation is 150% higher than the U.S. national average for this group and the infant mortality rate is the highest on the continent and is around 300% higher than the U.S. national average. The school drop-out rate is over 70%. Mobile homes and trailers on the reservation are overcrowded, with many homes housing more than 15 people. Nearly 40% of the homes do not even have electricity. This reservation isn’t oceans away. It’s in the United States.

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