Developing a Comprehensive Health and Well-being Survey

By Bunmi Afolabi and Amber Balan

Hello!

I'm Bunmi Afolabi, and I’m Amber Balan. We are 2nd year MDP students. We completed our second field placement with the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation (SVDN) Health Centre, which involved developing and designing a comprehensive Health and Well-being Survey questionnaire that captures relevant information about the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation community members.

Our placement community is Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, the largest Dakota Nation in Canada and the only self-governing First Nation with recognized jurisdiction by Canada and Manitoba. On July 1st, 2014, SVDN was no longer a signatory to the Treaty [1]. This means the Indian Act ceased to apply to Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, Sioux Valley Dakota Nation Lands and persons found on those lands.

We collaborated with the Health Centre staff team to design a survey questionnaire that includes questions relating to housing, nutrition, cultural safety, healthcare access, mental health, etc. This survey hopes to capture community-level information about the characteristics of the various demographics in SVDN and how the social determinants of health impact the quality of their lives and well-being.  To inform the design of the survey questionnaire, we conducted literature review to identify surveys carried out by other First Nations, Inuit, or Métis communities and Indigenous organizations. This has resulted in producing a draft survey with over 30 subsections. Each question has been reviewed and refined to ensure the language is simple, clear, concise, accurate, culturally appropriate, and relevant. 

This project is vital because the data obtained from the survey can be used to identify strengths and gaps while demonstrating the importance of developing and implementing programs and services that support every aspect of a community member's health and well-being. This will also support the community towards their goal of collecting, storing, and being stewards of their own data.

Project: Indigenous Spiritual Biography as the Matrix for Reconciliation

By Shane Patterson, 1st year MDP student

Hau mitakiyapi, iyuha chante waste nape chiyuzapi-Greeting my relatives, I greet you all with a heartfelt handshake. My name is Shane Patterson and I come from the original lands of the Ihanktowan Oyate also known as the Yankton Dakota reservation. I am part of the Seven Council Fires of the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota speaking people. Our Ihanktowan Tribe are known as the ‘People of the End Village’ identified as the band that stood at the eastern doorway in the camp. I have resided in Canada for the last 20 plus years obtaining dual citizenship in 2010. I was adopted by my tanke Katherine Whitecloud and into the Whitecloud tiwahe through a hunka ceremony. This hunka ceremony spiritually and culturally connects to the community of Wipazoka Wakpa also known as Sioux Valley Dakota Nation.

This year I connected with Dr. Mark Ruml building a relationship with him as a mentor while in the MDP program. Dr. Ruml has given me the opportunity to work on a research project titled ‘Indigenous Spiritual Biography as the Matrix for Truth and Reconciliation.

This project examines spiritual biographies and teachings of Indigenous healers as well as spiritual leaders as part of the matrix for reconciliation. It focuses on documenting the spiritual biographies of well-known Indigenous healers and spiritual leaders. Throughout the summer, Dr. Ruml and I have been conducting video interviews healers and spiritual leaders within Winnipeg and southern Manitoba. The project goal is to interview 100 healers and spiritual leaders. Some activities I have been involved with are: scheduling interviews, collaborating, and facilitating interviews, transcribing, presentations, networking, taking ethics training, and attending sundances. These activities provided insight on the usage of audio and video equipment that were required for usage of the project.

Shane and Mark Ruml

This research grew out of a book project that the late Don Daniels, from Long Plain First Nation, and Dr. Ruml were collaborating on: "Don Daniels: The Life and Teachings of an Anishinaabe (Ojibway) Healer." This research project examines the spiritual biography and teachings of Indigenous healers and spiritual leaders. Documenting the spiritual biography of well-known Indigenous healers, spiritual leaders, and those who have embraced Indigenous spirituality is an act of reconciliation itself. It values their life story and the significant contributions that they have made to the survival of their people and to Canadian society.

The project uses an Indigenous advisory circle to ensure that the research is conducted in a culturally respectfully approach. This project has been thoroughly rewarding and enriching especially listening to Indigenous knowledge keepers who have doing amazing and wonderful work at the community level. I will continue being apart of interviews, being apart of the Indigenous Advisory Circle, and supporting the research project with the continued guidance of Dr. Ruml.

 

Natural Farming in India

By Katherine Rempel, 2nd year MDP student

VIKASA office

My name is Katherine Rempel and this year I completed my international field placement with VIKASA in Visakhapatnam, India.  VIKASA is a Natural Resources Management organization with a focus on agriculture and horticulture-based interventions to sustain and strengthen the livelihoods of tribal farming communities in Andhra Pradesh.  They are working to develop a social order that values the real significance of environment protection, social justice, women empowerment and moves towards sustainable development with offices in Visakhapatnam and Araku Valley.  I had the opportunity to visit both office sites while working in a hybrid environment.  At VIKASA I worked under Dr. Kiran who supervised my placement and guided me for each of the projects I worked on. 

My role at this field placement was to work with the team and independently on two project streams that involved building meaningful relationships, developing a case study on recent success stories, and developing content for updating the organizational website.

The first project is called Graduating Maa Thota farmers into Natural farmers in the Paderu Region - A case study on natural farming. The case study documents the history of the “green revolution” in India and shows how VIKASA’s work has improved productivity of major crops cultivation and processing methods, developed natural pest control alternatives, initiated gravity-based irrigation methods, and provided training and outreach in tribal communities.

Kate with VIKASA team members and farmers from the Araku Valley

Developing content for updating the organizational website had many different components.  I worked on turning productivity and processing methods into infographics, I developed multiple slide shows to showcase the work done and projects completed over the years and turned data sheets into graphics and charts to visually represent the results.  To complete this work, I converted the list of projects over the years into a living excel file that can track impacts, developments, and outcomes.

I am grateful for the experience of conducting my field placement at VIKASA.  I walked away with many skills such as time management, organizational development, and the opportunity of working in tribal communities.  Getting to experience firsthand what it’s like to live and work in a completely different environment and culture was a life changing.  I look forward to being able to apply this knowledge and understanding to my work in the future.