Shelter to protect women and children opens

Norma Rendon stands inside Winyan Wicanyuonihan Oyanke (Where All Women Are Honored) located on the Sioux San campus in Rapid City. This newly opened women’s shelter provides services for victims of domestic violence, sex trafficking, and sexual assault. (Photo by Richie Richards)

RAPID CITY – There is a new shelter in Rapid City to protect women and children who have been victims of sex trafficking, sexual assault, and domestic violence.
Norma Rendon has been fighting to protect women and children from violence and sex crimes since the mid 1970’s. She began this crusade in Minneapolis in 1975, and since then she has been primarily serving women and children in Rapid City and on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
In late November, 2019, Rendon opened up Winyan Wicanyuonihan Oyanke (Where All Women Are Honored) on the campus of Sioux San. This has not been an easy task, but the need is there for a domestic violence shelter which also serves victims of sex trafficking and sexual assault. A major part of her program is healing; this means healing in all aspects of life including physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual healing. Each morning, Rendon and the clients in the home pray and burn sage. This reconnection to spirituality is important in the lives of the women she serves, according to Rendon.
“I first started grassroots organizing in the mid 70’s in Minneapolis. We started a young mother’s support group. I don’t believe there were shelters back then, if there was, we sure didn’t know about them,” Rendon said. “When I left Minneapolis, I went into education. But still, I been working on domestic violence and sexual assault.”
After doing some work on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Rendon soon came to Rapid City and helped to start a program called “Standing Strong Woman”. The building she is currently in is the same building as this now expired program. She said the Standing Strong Woman was a great success and a much needed program in Rapid City. They served people living on South Dakota reservations, as well as from other states. This became a program which served countless women.
Rendon said Rapid City is a place where women and families come to work; pursue education, and other economic opportunities. “A lot of them (families) come here because they believe they have access to better education. There’s more to do and lots of things for their children to have access to.”
As families migrate to the Black Hills town, she feels that families bring some of their issues from the reservations to Rapid City. A change in geography does not mean a change in family life, according to Rendon. “They think their lives are going to be better once they get up here, but without healing, without help, they’re lives are going to stay the same; the domestic violence, the sexual assaults,” she said.
She feels that a major leading factor to domestic violence is drug or alcohol addiction. She said a man could be a good father and husband, but once he is drunk or drugged, then the abuse is likely to take place.
Rendon stated that with the pending KXL Pipeline construction about to take place there will be an increase in drug and alcohol use by the builders and outside community members. She feels this will have a direct impact on the sexual assaults and sex trafficking victims whom a majority will be from tribal communities and reservations. Her program is set in place to shelter women and children who have been victimized and trafficked.
“This shelter is for all women. It doesn’t matter their socio-economic background, their race. This shelter is for all women. Our primary focus, our primary mission is healing. We don’t have a set standard of time that you (clients) can be here, as long as you feel safe,” she said. “We work with you on your healing process.”
Part of the breaking down of the woman by an abuser is the loss of belief in the higher power and prayers. “Because your abuser becomes your higher power,” she said. “You start to pray less and less. And you lose that connection to your family, you’re isolated.” With her program, reestablishing those familial and spiritual relationships is key to the success of healing. “Your belief in tunkasila, or a higher power, is what leads us through life.”
Rendon said many women’s shelter put strict timeframes on the amount of time that a woman is permitted to be housed in facilities. This set standard of time is not good for a woman who decides on her own time when it is time to leave. Each woman has her own time by which she feels safe to leave, or to get on her feet. She said women are permitted to stay at Where All Women Are Honored for as long as they see fit. This may be two hours, two days, two weeks, or two months. “However long it takes,” she said.
Currently, her program can house four small families. Each room in the home has two beds and a television set. If needed, she can pull out some rollaway beds for larger families. She has been working on a shoestring budget, but looks forward to funding opportunities and grants to be coming in. As of now, she is working with private donations and a major portion of her own SSI check goes into the home’s needs.
Rendon looks forward to continuing to build relationships with law enforcement agencies and public safety organizations, as this is a shelter to serve women and children in Rapid City. “We really want to establish a positive relationship with public safety, and with the fire department. Many times, it is the paramedic that will bring them (victims) to the shelter and to help them find a place that is safe,” she said. She said she has been involved with public meetings and community conversations, and wants to continue to bring awareness and have clients referred to her program.
The staffing of the 24/7 shelter is done through volunteerism, including Rendon who is not on any payroll. She commits well over 40 hours per week to the shelter and uses her own fixed income to provide to clients. “I do grant writing and that funding will come down in January,” she said. “That’s for sex trafficking.”
During the week of the Lakota Nation Invitational, Rendon organized a two-day event to inform first responders on the needs of human trafficking. The Second Annual First Responders Conference will be on December 19 and 20, 2019 and will take place at the Grand Gateway Hotel in Rapid City. This event has speakers coming in from local and national organizations, including a longtime public safety officer whom will discuss the identifying factors of sex trafficking for law enforcement. “She did that on the highway for so many years. She’s going to talk about what to look for when a police officer makes a stop,” she said. The primary goal is to find the trafficker and not penalizing the person being trafficked, according to Rendon.
Services provided by Winyan Wicanyuonihan Oyanke include, shelter, outreach advocacy, 24 hour crisis hotline, women’s support group, women’s and men’s re-education, emergency items, respond to emergency calls, protection orders, advocacy in court, community education and awareness.
She has been actively seeking donations which include food, clothing, baby needs, feminine hygiene products, and items such as pillows, blankets and towels. If a person or organization wants to donate, Norma Rendon can be contacted at 605-391-2609.
“I really want to say that I was fortunate in ceremony that I met a medicine man named Robert Steed. He told us that our men’s lives changed in one day. He said it was the day they walked onto the reservation. Their hair was cut. Their language was taken from them. Their weapons were taken. They could no longer hunt and provide for the women. Their religion was taken. Everything was stripped from them,” she said. “Prior to that day, no woman ever fought for a man. No woman ever provided for a man. We never protected them. They were our protectors.”
The medicine man continued to tell Rendon to never protect the sons. The sons are supposed to be the protectors. If a man, or son, harms a woman he needs to suffer the consequences, according to Rendon. “Never pity your son. No man should ever live with pity. It really taught me as a mother to never to protect my sons. Make your sons suffer the consequences of their actions. Stop protecting them,” she said.
Norma Rendon is providing services in protection of women and children in Rapid City and the area. Her personality is that of a grandmother, but her conviction is that of a fierce warrior. She is looking for support for her program and hopes these much needed services are in Rapid City for a long time. She wants to stress spiritual healing through her program, and this includes for the men who abuse.
Winyan Wicanyuonihan Oyanke can be found on Facebook at “Where All Women Are Honored”.