Sierra slips out to the shower room in the corridor and steps under the warm water, still half asleep. Wrapped in a towel, she tip-toes back to the room and jumps straight back into bed for another hour before breakfast. At eight they have to leave. They have to take their valuables with them because there’s no lock on the door to their room. Nobody is allowed back into the shelter until late afternoon. Sierra goes to school, and her dad goes to work. “Don’t forget we have to practice for our next pow-wow tonight,” says her dad. “Okay,” Sierra replies.

She and her dad, Big Bear, are Native Americans and belong to the Hunkpapa Sioux Nation. Sierra dances, and her dad plays the drum. A pow-wow is a big party where Native Americans meet to talk, dance, sing, and play music together. Sierra loves doing traditional dances, especially the Fancy Shawl Dance that’s only for girls and women.“You spin round and round, swinging beautiful, colorful shawls until you almost look like a butterfly,” Sierra explains. “When I dance, I forget all my problems,”

Sierra is proud of being Native.

“In our culture, children and adults have the same value. We are allowed to join in their council and our voices are heard. It’s great.” Some of the kids at Sierra’s school have found out she lives at a shelter. “Some of them are mean and say ‘I don’t like her, she’s homeless. She’s poor.’ I only have three friends at school. People only want to hang out with people the same colour as them. It’s depressing. Just because I’m different I’m treated badly.”

Sierra Longfeather, 11

Lives: Shelter, Santa Barbara.
Likes: Playing drums, dancing, singing.
Sad: When adults don’t respect me.
Loves: My dad.
Looks up to: Martin Luther King.

We are the First Nation!

When the Europeans came to North America, around five million people were living there, people that are now called Native Americans. Back then, there were thousands of different groups and several hundred different languages and dialects, but now there are only about two million Native Americans left in the US and one million in Canada. Many were killed by the Europeans but most died of disease, starvation or other problems caused by the white people’s invasion. Native Americans are now the poorest minority group in the US.