Mohawk writer changes activist's life

Page 26

If Pakon Bong Rodney becomes one of the fathers of a modern Indigenous state in Vanuatu in the South Pacifc, Six Nations writer Brian Maracle may become a venerated figure in that nation's history.

Rodney, a resident of the remote island village of Ranon on Ambrym Island in Vanuatu, a country located about an hour-and-a-half by plane from the northeastern tip of Australia, had a serious problem with alcohol before he read Maracle's Crazy Water. Now sober, Rodney works tirelessly to fight against an ingrained sense of inferiority that afflicts his people as a member of the Lolihor Youth Awareness Team (LYAT).

He calls it internal colonization, and he'll walk eight hours through dense jungle, over mountainous terrain, to tell his people it's something that's got to go.

Maracle's first book was a collection of interviews with First Nation people with alcohol problems. The book explored why they drank and what they thought about it.

Rodney is a gifted carver. He was earning a lot of money selling his artwork. He admits he was drinking away most of that money. He lived in Vanuatu's capital city, Port Vila, and was no stranger to the drunk tank there.

'I was in Cell 6 at least once a week," he said on May 2. "One time it was every day of the week."

The stories in Crazy Water touched a nerve in the young activist.

"I was lucky reading this book. I saw I was one of them," he said. "Maybe through that Crazy Water I'm still alive. If not, I'm dead already."

Instead of dead, he is playing a lead role in an important movement that seeks to encourage young Indigenous people to embrace their culture and take pride in their heritage.

Joel Simo, a LYAT supporter and advisor, says alcohol has done great damage in his society.

"Because it's not part of our custom, we abuse it," he said. "We don't know how to use it. The white man knows how to use it because it's part of his custom."

Careful and moderate use of alcohol is just one of the messages LYAT spreads to the young people of Vanuatu. It's a message close to Pakon Bong Rodney's heart.