Song for Adoptees
This song was created by Jerry M. Dearly, Sr., Oglala Lakota from Oglala, South Dakota. It was first sung at the Black Hills of South Dakota World Peace and Prayer Day, June 21, 2000. AHA is very honored to be entrusted with sharing it with the adoptee and foster communities-at-large. The lyrics are written below in Lakotah and English.
Wablenica ki blihic’i ya po
Lakol wicoh’an ki anagoptan po wowas’ake lo
hoka hoka he cancega ta ho ki nayah’un pelo
Orphans/adoptees find your strength/be strong
Lakota ways/teaching, listen to them, they are strong/way of life
Energize, energize, get well, the voice of the drum you hear
How the Song Came to Be (edited version)
by Sandra White Hawk, Sicangu Lakota adoptee from the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, founder of First Nations Orphan Association and AHA Advisory Group member
It was August 1999 and I was at Rosebud Fair, our tribe’s annual pow-wow, quite the event. These events are when all who can make it come to visit family and friends and make new friends. At every annual pow-wow there are also adoptees who are there looking for relatives. It was just about supper break when the pow-wow announcer said that there was going to be a ‘special.’ ‘Specials’ are when a person or family wants to acknowledge someone or some event with an honor song.
I have seen honor songs sung for someone’s sobriety, for a naming, for graduating (to name just a few), but I had never seen a song to welcome adoptees home. I thought “What if at every annual pow-wow the announcer would say, ‘At this time we are going to acknowledge our relatives who were separated from us and have made their way back to us. If you are an adoptee or someone who grew up in foster care, please come into the arena so we can acknowledge you. You adoptees, this song is for you. We are glad you’re here and we welcome you home?’” “And what if we took it even further and said, “Those of you who have a relative out there and you are waiting for them to return, join us. We’ll all dance together for their return.”
In the past ten years I healed many of the wounds caused by separation from family and culture. Much of my healing took place through songs and ceremonies. I also knew there were other adoptees there at the pow-wow feeling the same way I did in the beginning, like an outsider, not Indian enough. I wanted other adoptees to feel good about themselves. I wanted them to feel part of the circle and I knew a song would help.
Chris Leith is a highly respected First Nations Dakota spiritual leader and Korean War Air Force Veteran from the Prairie Island Reservation in Minnesota. It was during breakfast that we were talking and I am not sure how or why, but I began to talk with him about that fact that, “I never heard of a song for adoptees.” He put his fork down and said, “You’re right, there should be a song for adoptees. I’ll get Jerry Dearly to make a song and we’ll bring it out to the people at World Peace and Prayer Day in June.”
The year 2000, in the Black Hills, was the Wopila Ceremony (Thank you Ceremony) for the gift of the four events that brought many indigenous people together to pray for world peace and healing of our Mother Earth. The Black Hills are sacred to the Lakota, and are known as ‘the heart of everything that is.’ It was overwhelming. I scanned the circle and saw hundreds of people gathered. Chris Leith began to speak. He talked about how our families need healing and that we were going to do something today to begin healing those families who had been impacted by foster care and adoption. Then he said, “I am going to turn the microphone over to Sandy White Hawk so she can tell her story and vision.” I was standing right next to Chris and when he said, “and share her vision.”
I began, “I was born on the Rosebud reservation and adopted by a white missionary family. My life was not easy.” I told about..the isolation of being the only Indian girl in my hometown. I talked about how hard it was to make my way back to my family. I talked about a song being not just for adoptees but for all those who are behind every adoptee, a mother, father, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins and that, in that family circle, when one is taken it affects everyone. I said that I wanted a song, a song just for us, to encourage us. I said, “I know that the sound of the drum can go into that place in our heart where words can’t go; that the drum and the song can heal.” Chris then introduced Jerry Dearly. Jerry is an Oglala Lakota from the Pine Ridge Reservation and is the one Chris asked to make the song. Jerry is known for the gift of song-making that the Creator has given him. He is also an eyapaha, an announcer, speaking for the people. Jerry took the microphone and in his strong melodic voice began to tell a little about himself. “Chris called me and asked me to make a song for wablenica — orphans.”
Jerry was not immediately inspired to make the song. “Then one afternoon, I heard a bird singing and as I listened, it came to me,” he said.
