A Journey West

This project I studied Sacagawea and I wrote a story about her.

I am Smoked Lodge, chief of the North Shoshone tribe, and my daughter is the historical Sacagawea (Sack-og-a-wee-a), or Bird Woman. Now, I hope you are comfortable, for I have a story to tell.

In the beginning, the Shoshone were happy people, full of hope and courage. The men hunted, fished, and protected the others while the women dug roots, picked berries, cooked food, cared for the children, and made clothes. The children were very active, and were very respectful to each other, their elders, and the spirits. My dear daughter, only ten winters at the time, was the most active, but also the most helpful and respectful of all the youths. She was content. Unfortunately, things were about to change for her.

One fateful day, Sacagawea was with her mother and other girls when Hidatsa warriors planning to raid our tribe found them. The Hidatsa warriors captured Bird Woman and another girl. Bravely, the girls fought as hard as they could, but couldn’t escape the strong grasp of the Hidatsa warriors. The scoundrels took them on a long journey. I followed them. They took her to their tribe, and Fort Mandan.

Life in Fort Mandan was hard for me. Thankfully, Sacagawea was well taken care of. Later, unfortunately, she was forced to marry a french trapper by the name of Toussaint Charbonneau when she was only twelve winters. One day, she met two white men. Their names were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, and they were on an expedition. They decided to take Charbonneau and my daughter on the journey they were on. Soon after she agreed, Sacagawea gave birth to a son. Charbonneau named him Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, while Bird Woman called him pompey. Clark was especially fond of pompey and my beloved daughter.

The expeditions beginning of the was on the water. The Corps(Core) of Discovery, which was the name of the expedition, had great boats to mosey through the water with. One day, the coward, Charbonneau, almost tipped the boat when a strong gust of wind made him panic. In that particular boat, very important papers lay, and they all floated out onto the open water. Fortunately, Sacagawea, the brave-hearted girl that she was, reached out and rescued most of the papers and equipment. She proved to be very valuable to the journey afterwards.

Later, they had to pass through the Rocky mountains. For that, they needed horses, which of course they didn’t have. So they told my daughter to find our tribe. She did. And she found out her brother was chief. After a tearful reunion, she was told that only a few of her family had survived. And soon after that, she found out the warrior she was to marry didn’t want her anymore, because of the marriage with Charbonneau. She had no reason to stay, so she proceeded with the Corps of Discovery.

In the Rockies, it was freezing. But Sacagawea stayed tough and provided food for the men, herself, and her baby. It was slow going for the Corps of Discovery. But finally, they passed through the giant mountains, and traveled down another river to the lake of unending waters. Bird Woman loved to walk along the shore. Sadly, soon they had to leave.

After the expedition ended, Jean Baptiste proceeded with William Clark and lived with him. Sacagawea and her husband departed for a place they don’t want anyone to know. To my greatest agony, my lovely daughter soon died of fever.

Now I am mostly alone, without my family, my tribe, or my animals to keep me company. In a lonely wilderness I am still not used to. But the story of Sacagawea’s journey keeps me alive and well. Her bravery saved many people, and I am proud to call her my daughter.

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I also memorized the tribes and forts that Sacagawea passed:

Finally, I created a presentation about how Sacagawea's tribe interacted with animals:

A Safari in the Savana

For this project I got to study an amazing place, Africa! The country is so cool, with lions, zebras, cheetahs, and thousands and thousands of different strange and wonderful animals. Unfortunately, the majority of the population is poor and in need of help.

This essay I typed up might be more explanatory.

Sweat drips off the woman’s face while she saves the dying onions on her family’s plot of land. The broiling hot months of the summer are here. She does tedious work for hours on end. Otherwise, there would be no food, and she and her family would starve. Suddenly, the honk of the water truck sounds. If there was no truck to bring water to the village where the woman and her family live, then everyone would die of thirst, diseases, and heat. As she trudges toward the water truck, the woman worries that the meager dollars they aquired from her husband would not be enough to support her family. She feels trapped. Her and most of Africa needs help. We must rescue the dying community.

You may think the Africans can care for themselves. Or maybe you think it’s their problem, not yours. If so, you are very incorrect. They are in desperate need of our help. Here are some examples of why Africa needs our help. First of all, they don’t have enough water in the summers. They need truck carrying water to arrive so they can have barely enough water to drink, cook, bathe in, cool off in, and wash their clothes with. Second, in many cases, the men of the family need to move far away to find jobs to buy tools, clothing,etc,. The yearly pay for the average African is one-hundred thirty-seven dollars. That is way less than what anyone in America is paid. Third, food is really hard to collect. They usually grow their own food, but sometimes, they have no choice but to buy some. Third, unless they live in the city, Africans have cheap iron or mud houses. The iron houses are hot in the summer and freezing in the winter. The mud houses are cool in the summer and warm in the winter, but whenever it rains, it starts to crumble, and it is very hard to keep fixing it. Last of the examples, but not least, is that many Africans don’t obtain the privilege of an education. As you can see, Africans need to our care to help them survive.

We need money, food, and water ourselves. We also need to take care of poverty in our own nation, too. We are too “busy” to do anything about Africa. Do you recognize how selfish that sounds? We are way better off than Africa. We have many privileges, such as electricity, air conditioning, and running water. America also has schools and money. The majority of this country has the three most basic and most important things, food, water, and shelter. Most of the population of African doesn’t have that. Unfortunately, they don’t have much electricity, money, food, water, and shelter.

Many people claim the bible isn’t the word of God. They suggest that it is just a book. They declare we shouldn’t believe it. Well, what the bible states is true. It tells us we are to help people in need, such as the widows, and to love one another as yourself. It also proclaims that we should share what we have willingly. That means no excuses. Since God the father, the son, and the holy spirit want us to help, we will do so.

How can I help? Is there really any way? There are countless ways you could help Africa. Plenty of organizations help Africans in many ways. One of the things you can do is sponsor a child through CI. All you do is send money to the family, or the school that they attend, and you can even write letters back and forth! Another way you can help is buy someone an animal, such as a goat or a chicken, something they can gain food out of. Yet another thing you can do is Operation Christmas Child, which is filling a shoebox with toys, maybe a toothbrush, and maybe some bottled water or canned food. Although, the box you filled may not be received by an Africa, it still will make a child happy somewhere. And if you would prefer to attempt something extreme, there are plenty of places where you could train so you can help build houses in Africa or be a missionary. The ways you can help are numerous.

We need to help the Africans survive and flourish. Otherwise, almost everyone there will suffer. We cannot be so selfish that we can’t help them. If we love one another, joy will be found. Love will flourish, hope will survive, and the Africans will be content.

Afterwards, I did work to memorize all of the countries in Africa. It took about three weeks of hard studying, but I finally did it. Below is a screenshot of getting 100 percent on my test.

Next what I did is I planned and hosted a traditional African dinner. The dishes were: Quick Moroccan Chicken, Green Banana Fries, Beghrir(Moroccan Pancakes), and Puff-Puffs. Here are links to the different dishes, In case you want to try any of them.

Quick Moroccan Chicken

Beghrir(Moroccan Pancakes)

Green Banana Fries

Puff-Puff

Finally, these are some pics my mom and I took of the dinner: