Camp at Belwin Conservancy focuses on teaching Dakota language: "We're keeping it alive"

At a recent camp at Belwin Conservancy in Afton, Minnesota, children and adults spent the day learning a language that was almost wiped out.

"It was our ancesters who were told not to speak our language when they were children. And so they grew up kind of disconnected from the Dakota language," said Sisokaduta, Dakota linguistic director.

He says that because of that disconnect, the language wasn't passed down.

"And then that's kind of where the language started dying out," he said.

But there are many people interested in learning the language, he added.

"We're keeping it alive. We're speaking it with each other, and we're encouraging more families to come together," said Dakota language teacher Nichole Subola.

"That's what makes me smile, is to see the children speaking the language