NATIVE SYES 2025-2026

A four-year commitment made in 2018 between Wendy Black-Nasta and Lionel Bordeaux on the Rosebud Reservation has been growing year after year. Black-Nasta is the Founding Director of both Artists for World Peace (AFWP) and the NATIVE EYES Free Eye Clinics. Lionel Bordeaux was the President of Sinte Gleska University for over 50 years.

The clinic opened in June of 2018, in memory of Chief Luciano Perez, spiritual leader and Uncle to Black-Nasta. Forty-five medical professionals, opticians, optometrist and ophthalmologists accompanied Black-Nasta and joined her travel team of artists and volunteers to Mission, South Dakota. A tribal team assembled by President Bordeaux and Wilma Bearshield Robertson assisted the NATIVE EYES Travel Team in taking care of 1,250 tribal members at the first clinic in 2018. Along with the doctors, the team included a diabetic educator, a physical exercise instructor, a chef who kept the large team fed as they worked, and several artists—all whom entertained and created art with the children waiting to be seen, many for the first time, by the doctors.

Frustrated with the fact that there are thousands of children in need of care on Rosebud, and having no transportation to the University, Black-Nasta called Roberta Bizardie, Superintendent of the Todd County School District, and forged a partnership with she and the Principle of Todd County Elementary School, Bobbie Cox. For the past two years, the NATIVE EYES Clinic was held in the gymnasium with a new Rosebud team of employees from the school .

Since launching her NATIVE EYES project, Artists for World Peace has provided free eye care to a total of 8,908 patients. In addition to Rosebud, AFWP has hosted free eye clinics in Tanzania and Connecticut. AFWP began with a large circle of artists, musicians and performers, and now includes doctors, dentists, attorneys, film makers, photographers, data specialists and many others who have joined Black-Nasta’s vision of creating peace through the arts. Her teams have traveled with AFWP to 35 countries on 5 continents over the past 23 years—helping change lives one child, one community, and one clinic at a time.

All of this began with one simple question: “How can artists help change the world?” NATIVE EYES was originally launched when AFWP was working in a remote village in Tanzania. Wendy realized her new partners couldn’t see. Many were literally blinded by working in the sun every day without UV protection, Her solution was to build a health center and begin bringing American doctors to the AFWP Health Center and provide free care to over 1,000 villagers at each clinic. In 2017 she wanted to bring the success of NATIVE EYES back home to America where there are large populations living with little to no eye care. Having close ties to Rosebud, Chief Leonard Crow Dog and many friends on the reservation, she met with President Bordeaux and asked if he would host her team. That first conversation, which ended in a handshake and with a verbal commitment, launched NATIVE EYES on Rosebud Reservation; where AFWP returns each year to provide much needed care. For the past two years the AFWP team has been focusing on the future of the tribe—starting with kindergarten through second grade students last year, and providing care to third, fourth and fifth graders this month. The plan is to return at least once a year to enable all children to see the board in their classroom, the words in their books and to guarantee that every child has an equal playing field with great eye care so that they can achieve success in the classroom.

The question is often asked:” How can AFWP afford to do what they do?” With the help of over 8,000 artists who have created a 6”x6” painting as part of their project, 6x6 4 PEACE, AFWP has sold many of the donated paintings. The sale of every painting directly supports the clinics. In addition, AFWP has two main partners helping them reach their goals. Every pair of prescription eyeglasses have been fabricated by the organization, Changing Life Through Lenses, the humanitarian arm of Essilor. Assisting them with purchasing state-of-the-art equipment has been the Padre Pio Foundation of America. Every year, when new equipment is needed to take care of a specific population on Rosebud, Black-Nasta has received funding through Padre Pio Foundation of America. Together, they are filling the needs of an entire population of children, adults and elders on Rosebud Reservation. Together, they are showing one person at a time what love looks like.