Host Tiokasin Ghosthorse talks with Bryan Nurnberger, President and Founder of Simply Smiles, an organization that builds villages of foster homes for indigenous children. The Simply Smiles model of foster care is a new and progressive one that provides a desperately needed, scalable and culturally appropriate response for Native children in Oaxaca, Mexico and on the Cheyenne River Lakota Reservation in South Dakota. In 2002, Bryan was a professional mountain climbing guide recovering from a climbing injury when he began volunteering at a Mexican orphanage. His experiences there inspired him to create Simply Smiles. Bryan was given the Lakota name “Cante Waste Wicasa” which means “Kind Hearted Man.” Backed by tribal elders, the tribal council, and the local community, the Simply Smiles Children’s Village on the Cheyenne River Reservation is serving the immediate needs of the most-at-risk Lakota children, but also scaffolding a brighter future by guiding today’s most vulnerable children to become tomorrow’s strongest and most influential adults. Simply Smiles children’s villages foster leaders, role models, and citizens of the world. Bryan says: “Simply Smiles has an important role to play in reaching a brighter future. But when the success story is written it should not be a story of this organization. It should be the story of how Native children wanted something different, something better, and with a little help, worked to achieve it. An organization like ours should be felt not seen. We should be a wind at your back.” More information at https://www.simplysmiles.org/.
Production Credits:
Tiokasin Ghosthorse (Lakota), Host and Executive Producer
Liz Hill (Red Lake Ojibwe), Producer
Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Studio Engineer and Audio Editor, WIOX 91.3 FM, Roxbury, NY
Music Selections:
1. Song Title: Tahi Roots Mix (First Voices Radio Theme Song)
Artist: Moana and the Moa Hunters
CD: Tahi (1993)
Label: Southside Records (Australia and New Zealand)
(00:00:44)
2. Song Title: Warrior
Artist: Raye Zaragoza
CD: Woman in Color (2020)
Label: Rebel River Records
(00:31:25)
3. Song Title: Another Day in Paradise
Artist: Phil Collins
CD: But Seriously (1989)
Label: Atlantic Records
(00:35:00)
4. Title: Spiritual Logic
Artist: Tiokasin Ghosthorse
CD: Ghosthorse/Akantu: The Origin Series - Live at The National Sawdust, 2017, Brooklyn, NY ) (not yet released)
Label: Ghosthorse
(00:40:10)
5. Song Title: In the Air Tonight
Artist: Phil Collins
CD: Face Value (1981)
Label: Atlantic Records
(00:54:10)