Disabled Native family with tiny home hopes

My name is Ali Watson. I am in my 50s, a single parent to two amazing young men in their 20s. Our family is disabled; I am an ambulatory wheelchair user, Raphael is autistic with ADHD, and Lio is partially paralyzed in a wheelchair. We are enrolled members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Our goal: as close to off-grid and independent living as possible.

We lived in Denver until about two years ago when many overwhelming crises forced us to move home. Two of us were suicidal during this time. For myself, I had weekly therapy for the months before we moved and continued after moving home to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It’s only been in recent months that my mental health feels solid again. The events of that time were very traumatic; people we considered family financially and emotionally abused us to the breaking point but we made it out. We survived.

When we moved back, we lived in a canvas tent for over a year. We’ve faced challenges of food and housing stability and throughout all of it, we became stronger as a family. Now we have our land ready as a blank canvas to paint. Our resources are few but our determination is high. Our goal is to build a trio of tiny homes where we will each have privacy and independence while being close enough to support each other. We began with one over a year ago and the platform is still solid, still ready to be moved to the land and finished. We have some lumber, insulation and a roof for it and hope to have it finished before winter. One of us will live in it and the other two will share a tent. Two tents would serve us best as we have medical equipment that needs space.

Our immediate needs:

Two canvas tents. The cheapest are around $250 while the most durable and affordable are around $1000 each.

A quality chainsaw. Our district does a lot to provide wood to those in need but there are many and we’ve run out of wood during cold weather before. Being able to cut and stock our own wood would be a huge help.

Electricity. We can have power at our location but we have to pay for a pole to be installed. We also need to pay an electrician to do the electric on the tiny home, at least for a fridge and outlets for appliances and tools. It’ll be around $400 for this part.

A refrigerator. We use a relative’s at the moment but we’ll need our own when we have electricity. We can look at used but a new one is around $500.

Medical equipment. It would be really helpful for Lio to have a portable electric wheelchair to get around our land. Most of it is fairly flat on a prairie and he wants to be able to garden. An affordable option is around $700. Two chairs would be nice so I have one too, but Lio is the priority right now.

Your donation isn’t a handout but support for a family striving for as much independence as possible while staying close to community and culture. We chose a gofundme for as much transparency as we could. Please consider donating and sharing our story and need. Wopila thanka (thank you very much).