Oliver

This is Oliver. He lived with us for a school year as part of the Indian Placement Program that the church sponsored while President Kimball was the prophet. Our family was so excited to have someone join us. Oliver had a sister that was supposed to come, but she chose not to get on the bus. Living with us was a culture shock for Oliver.

Cindy remembers him as being really quiet and shy. He wasn't used to having all the food we could eat, so he would sneak food into his room at night. Once we heard him using the restroom all night, and discovered a large pile of orange peels the next morning. He'd eaten so many oranges he had diarrhea! We also discovered cans in our food storage room that had been crudely opened with a pocket knife.

We were happy that he returned the following school year to live with a family full of boys that lived in the country. I'm sure he was much happier there.

The church discontinued the program after a few years. I suspect they discovered that removing the children from their culture wasn't the best way to help them.