Following a 36 hour bus ride to Idaho to begin a missionary trip, the last thing junior Piper Rother expected to find was Native Americans disowned by the land which was once their own.
“When we saw the town, it just got quiet. Once we got off the bus, no one said anything. We were all just staring around in awe. We come from West County where we just don’t see that type of poverty, to see kids running around in dirty clothes that haven’t been washed for weeks and without shoes…It’s weird to think that’s going on in the United States,” Rother said.
The living conditions that Rother witnessed were horrific, and they could lead to problems beyond physical.
“There was a mother who had two daughters taken away because the living conditions in her house were unsuitable to raise children,” Rother said. “It just made me realize to not take what I had for granted, especially like where I live and my family.”
-Matt Frischer
